Farewell To Hora Street.
Hora Street, Bradford, Manchester, Wednesday 10th November 1971. All these houses were empty and ready for demolition. I have no way of knowing whether they were technically slums. No doubt they were run-down and in need of modernisation, but basically they were sound and perfectly serviceable. The cost of renovation would surely have been much less than the cost of replacement. But then, nobody would have made money out of it. No lucrative contracts for construction firms, architects, property developers, hauliers, waste disposal companies, demolition contractors and people in the building trades. And, who can doubt, no sweeteners and back-handers for the people in local government who awarded the contracts. The tide was beginning to turn against this sort of thing and the developers wouldn't be able to get away with it much longer ...at least not so blatantly. In the meantime the townscapes of Britain had been ruined. It has been one of the great social disasters of my lifetime.
Farewell To Hora Street.
Hora Street, Bradford, Manchester, Wednesday 10th November 1971. All these houses were empty and ready for demolition. I have no way of knowing whether they were technically slums. No doubt they were run-down and in need of modernisation, but basically they were sound and perfectly serviceable. The cost of renovation would surely have been much less than the cost of replacement. But then, nobody would have made money out of it. No lucrative contracts for construction firms, architects, property developers, hauliers, waste disposal companies, demolition contractors and people in the building trades. And, who can doubt, no sweeteners and back-handers for the people in local government who awarded the contracts. The tide was beginning to turn against this sort of thing and the developers wouldn't be able to get away with it much longer ...at least not so blatantly. In the meantime the townscapes of Britain had been ruined. It has been one of the great social disasters of my lifetime.