Your original home town.

[captain nemo1701]

In the 70's I could walk down down a lane from the family house between a large barley field on one side, wooden fence then cows in the next . We lived on literally the very edge of town. Now, both fields gone under housing only a strip of grass around the estate edge is left now. I have an old photo of that lane taken in 1985, glad I took it (using up old film at the time) because the view has long gone now. My old school is hardly recognisable having been expanded and what to me was a 'modern' (built circa 1963) estate I grew up in the 1970's looks now a bit grubby. The swimming pool I learnt to swim in became a car park. Even the river passing the town changed itself, a gravel island emerging in the last 30 years to divert its course slightly. I have now lived away from my home town longer than i was actually there and it feels quite alien now in an odd way, just full of old memories, a bit like visiting a museum of a former life. I'm planning a trip there this year, first in 5 years.

 

[fossyant]

I haven't really moved. Quite like it in South East Manchester. Cycling Nirvana it is (if you avoid the city centre). Right near the Peaks, suits me.

City Centre good for a night out (provided you do early doors and get the train home).

 

[postman]

Got to say since retiring in 2006 i only go in to Leeds now and again.Dont like the John Lewis Centre too cold and icy and i dont mean the temperature,Leeds Market indoor and outdoor is dying.Roads pavements there is always something being done to improve them but it looks crap.Bus service is sheat so many complaints on many routes.A few very good high rise blocks which are student accom.Maybe its just my age and general grumpiness.

 

[welsh dragon]

I left my home town in 1965 and came to the UK.

I have never been back and probably never will.

 

[classic33]

Got to say since retiring in 2006 i only go in to Leeds now and again.Dont like the John Lewis Centre too cold and icy and i dont mean the temperature,Leeds Market indoor and outdoor is dying.Roads pavements there is always something being done to improve them but it looks crap.Bus service is sheat so many complaints on many routes.A few very good high rise blocks which are student accom.Maybe its just my age and general grumpiness.

You have to remember that day in April 1974 when the new councils were formed. All awash with new ideas on how they were going to rebuild by knocking down.

I can say that when the New York Road was being built, I was there. Same for the interchange, and police station/court* in Bradford, I was there!



*They never found "Jack" when they knocked the police station down.

 

[Flick of the Elbow]

I don’t remember much about my 1970’s home city of Birmingham because I never knew it as an adult. As a child though, some of the things I remember were the large flocks of starlings that used to roost on the building ledges, I remember them from Saturday afternoon Christmas shopping trips. I have good memories too of Gas Street Basin on the canal network, I remember accessing it though a gap in a wall near the ATV studios, it was a wonderfully colourful mooring place for what I believed at the time were authentic narrow boats. Some of them used to sell hand painted trinkets, often decorated with motifs of roses. And I remember a huge King Kong statue that you used to see from a flyover on the Stratford Road, although the main thing I remember from that flyover was how high up and narrow it felt from the top deck of a double decker bus.

 

[GetFatty]

Pendle Inn in Barley?
If so, yes, great pub and nice outside space with a bike - far preferable to the pub opposite which went somewhat poncified, though the company that owned it for a while recently went bust I think.

yes that's the one. The Barley Mow was owned by the Seafood Pub Company which did briefly go bust, they are back now though

 

[Ming the Merciless]

I went to my old home town a while back. I hardly recognised it, not so much as a broken window to be seen.

No more glass left in the gaps?

 

[Ming the Merciless]

I do remember you could get from one side of Greater Manchester to the other for 2p. Used to get bus to Altrincham for the ice skating, or bus to Stalybridge for the skate board park on Saturday‘s.

 

[stephec]

I do remember you could get from one side of Greater Manchester to the other for 2p. Used to get bus to Altrincham for the ice skating, or bus to Stalybridge for the skate board park on Saturday‘s.

You must be older than me, it was 4p when I was about six years old.

 

[Dave7]

I was born and bred in Seacombe, Wallasey.........a 10 minute walk to the "ferry across the Mersey" and I was fortunate to work in Liverpool in the early 60s.
Moved to Warrington when we married (1968).
Seacombe>New Brighton>West Kirby is a fabulous traffic free 70 mile ride.
Due to health issues we don't get back now but I have good memories.
I worked at Cadburys which was a good company.

 

[figbat]

I could define a home town based on various criteria, and one probably fits the bill, but I have no deep attachment to anywhere other than where I have ended up now.

Born in Oxford.
First three years in a nearby Oxfordshire town (can't recall any of it).
Two years in Shropshire - my first memories are from here.
Three years on the Moray Firth coast.
Three years in West Germany.
Several weeks back in Oxfordshire living with grandparents.
A year in a military house in the first town I lived in (Town 1).
My formative years (secondary school through to 'A'-levels) then spent in this same town.
Three years at university in Leicestershire.
Back 'home' again for a couple of years.
Various short-term locations around Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire following an ex-partner's business.
Home again (Town 1).
Settled with by wife-to-be in Reading for about 12 years - started a family.
Moved to our current location about 8 years ago.

So in summary yes, I was a military child and I went to 7 schools by the time I was 11 years old. As a consequence I made no long-term childhood friends but am able to quickly (but possibly superficially) socialise.

Conversely I have worked for the same company for 30 years this year and some of my colleagues are now friends. I met my wife at work and have done most of my global travelling through work. I would never call work "home" though and strive to keep work and home lives distinct, despite working in the same location as my wife, for a while at the next desk.

I guess I'd call Town 1 (where I first lived and subsequently spent my formative years) "home", but besides my parents still living there, I have little other reason to return. My life is here and now and I love the rural village we moved to.

 

[Mike_P]

Despite the avatar another originating from Nottingham. Left in 1987 when many shops were still local. local commercial radio was thriving and the buses were green and white. Always had relations in North Yorkshire so many holidays were spent there in the years before.

 

[yello]

Thanks both @Flick of the Elbow and @figbat - I love little reminisce stories...

 

[PK99]

This is where I grew up, 1955-74

Aerial photograph mid 60's
Clayton Green, Twixt Preston and Chorley

we lived 100m north of the central crossroad on the A6
Note the canal running parallel to the east

This is the same area now:

Same central crossroad

The canal is now the M61

I do not go back very often...