Decline of the high street | 1970s Slough | Vox Pops | Drive in | 1976
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- Опубліковано 25 сер 2024
- 'Drive in' presenter Shaw Taylor takes a look at the newly Pedestrianised Slough High street to see how the lack of cars is affecting shopping habits and footfall.
First shown: 01/06/1976
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Quote: VT13446
Wow, Slough looks actually respectable there! I sometimes have to go in there and it's pretty grim. All you see is mobile phone repair shops, takeaways, gold pawning shops, pound shops/tat shops, and charity shops. That's without considering the amount of alcoholics sitting on benches drinking or wandering about with a fosters can in their hands.
Pretty much the same anywhere in the country nowadays everything you have described is very true.
Waffle
@Roborav Don't come to inner city London, it's worse!
@@citizen1163 Don't worry we won't be coming, the third world's not safe at the moment.
@@jayrobthorn6847 agreed..... you can repeat this to nearly every town in the UK. I think its only some niche places like Bath or Cambridge where there's still some life left.
Born in Slough have lived here all my life , I’m 36 now, I would love to jump into this video & have a look around ! Even as a kid in the 90’s it was fine. The last 10+ years however the town has gone completely downhill , such a shame. There’s lots of talk about it being rejuvenated, much like Bracknell , Bracknell is thriving now and great for shopping etc. I hope Slough High st. lands up the same 🙏
Do you remember a burger outlet at the end of the high street called Molly Blooms? it was a Irish type burger joint it was a yummy place near blockbuster?
Leave while you can.
Slough wasn't bad up until I left school around 2004 then it went down hill very quickly afterwards. What a shame watching old videos of slough from the 50s, 60s and 70s compared too what it is now.
I grew up in this wonderful town left in 1994 at 16 and moved to London but could never shake off my past in slough I go back every 5 years and it just gets worse and worse the high street was amazing with top shops! Anybody remember slough joke shop I think it was called Tommy's loosely linked to Tommy cooper? and slough computers that was where all the geeks like me met on Saturday morning! It has declined however that is a similar story with many high streets, Slough was thriving it was a fun place to be there used to be a big waitrose in the observatory centre Christmas was always a fun place to be in the high street, it was fun miss those great times xxx
I remember it well. I was born in 1970 and lived around Slough until 1997 when I uprooted to Bicester, Oxon. Coopers was two shops, one magic and jokes, the adjacent one being a theatre costume and equipment hire. It was indeed closely linked with Tommy Cooper. I actually remember The Observatory being built during the 1980's.
@@paulanderson7796 Hello Paul yes I do remember Coopers was actually 2 units now that is a flashback!! this will really test your memory however do you recall a big burger type fast food restaurant near the old Blockbuster it was called Molly Blooms he did not last long but those burgers were very tasty!!
I went into the Tommy Cooper joke shop. I sniffed the sneazing powder and coughed and sneazed all over the shop. I was about 7 then. It was so good, I turned around and asked if they did laughing powder. He's still looking at me now.
He probably is lol can you remember Molly Blooms it was not there long but a big type burger outlet near the end of the hight street? it was near or after the Blockbuster?@@DUDLEY2000
They don’t speak like that anymore in Slough that’s for sure 😂
Yes Sahib you are exactly correct
@captain mirrorboots it's still English captain jizzboots, Slough is in England not Norway.
@captain mirrorboots of course it's culturally English. The vast majority of people there brown, black and polish have citizenship and they're bringing their own rich cultures with them and integrating into a beautiful evolving English culture. It's great.
Agree
@jack jarvis ahlie
Look how much ‘progress’ we have made.
Depends what you define as progress. I'm not sure many people now would enjoy having yo waste your Saturday every week going into town just to pay bills. The high street hasn't died for no reason - it's because WE have found ways to do things that are more convenient for us than trudging round a high street. If we preferred going to the High Street we would still be doing it now.
Look how slim and healthy people looked then!!!!
It's because they had to walk to Slough high-street.
In 2011 Slough was 34% white British, a fall from 58% ten years earlier. What would you guess today? 25%, 20%?
@Vic Denton we'll need to wait for the results of the 2021 census - though I wouldn't be surprised if by then, the ethnicity question is removed. They will claim this is because we are post racial and it's a racist question. The reality is they don't want people to see just how far our displacement has gone.
In the meantime I can get the schools demographic data for Slough. I'll look for it.
As an example, white British children fell from 80% to 20% in schools in Enfield, north London between 1991 and 2018. I don't expect Slough to be any different.
@Vic Denton well said Vic...it not a rascism thing as "they" clam. It's British identity and way of life. Mass immigration of non intergraters is not a good thing
And how white they were.
Slough has much improved since with the introduction of hard drugs and knife related crime.
Great comment.
Slough was quite a decent places in the mid 70's when I worked for Lloyds Bank in the high street and altho I'm still relatively local , I haven't been back there in 30 years. And nobody I know ever goes there anymore. NOBODY !.
Well it's not a theme park 🙃
aaah back when life was great here.
No it was shit and backward then. Why do you think we moved on.
@@Cloughjordan23 how long have you lived in Slough for?
Shaw Taylor,Police 5,, Used to watch him growing up in the 1970s,,well finally met him at the 1977 Brands Hatch Grand Prix,he was signing autographs and even as a youngster you could see he was a happy chap,,RIP to a nice fella,,Luv this channel was at the Morris Minor festival this weekend it's been going since 1976 luv the old days,,,Thanx for a great vid,wishing everyone well,,
Remember keep em peeled
I love the fashion of the 70's and just how things were back then I miss it very much , I was born 1971 I do remember how it was back then
yes I was young but I do remember how it was especially in the U,S,A,
it is cool that the fashion is back but not everything came back from the 70's Damn !!!!!!!!!🤔👍💜👢👡👖👕👜👒👙🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
The high street has been dieing since the 70's
It's now called the bazzar
The 90s more like.
There is a great You Tube video on here called 'Home James' where James Mason goes to Huddersfield his old hometown in 1972?, the difference between then and now socially is astonishing, well worth a view..
Thanks have added it to my watch list - love 70s docs!
Little known fact but L Lollita's final house in the film of the same name and starring James Mason was filed in a quiet road on Charvey. Filmed in England but tried to make it look like America.
They should see it now lol
Slough. I have been here 20 years now and am beginning to realise why its so bad. Clearly its not appealing, but it is what it is, but the thing I have recently realised is that 'nice' people don't come here. If they are in Reading or Windsor or Maidenhead or even Staines, they are quie unlucky to go to Slough for a change of shopping, unless its drugs. However, they might go to other places. This means if your expecting a miracle in Slough, maybe meeting someone nice, its not likely to happen. I remember feeling sorry for the few people I saw populating the small cafe in Marks and Spencers. Clearly they wanted the 'bettter' life, but having a coffee in a Marks and Spencers in Slough is a bit of an oxymoronic thing to do. Not to say it was a bad thing, someone had to raise the bar. Unfortunately I don't think shopping will ever be the same again. I think we have passed several points of no return. I think it might work for the kids, teens, girls, doing their first shopping, but the shopping centres were once an ecosystem, and young people felt safe as mums and dads were also out shopping, but without the mature shopper its almost dangerous as homeless people pray on the young and innocent that don't understand the game. I don't know what the answer is. But it does amaze me that people have any money to spend.
1st June, 1976...this film heralds Day One of 100 days of 90+' F scorching heat, yes EVERY DAY!... as UK
underwent a very severe drought when reservoirs dried up to virtually nothing.
Gardens and lawns especially went yellow, then brown under relentless ferocious heat...it was UNBEARABLE!
40 years later and we are having the same issues and arguments about the high street...
The argument over buses on the (supposedly) pedestrianised bit of the High Street must have raged on for a long time. I remember as a kid in the 80s the buses would have to kind of nudge their way through the Saturday crowds - it was crazy, really. Then in the mid 90s they diverted westbound buses to serve the back door of the Queensmere centre and eastbound buses to serve the High Street but diverting around the pedestrianised section via Herschel Street. Much more sensible, imho.
Not sure where they were stopping in 1976? Gerrards Cross you'd think, from the way that bald chap was carrying on!
Looking at slough 2019 shit hole love this video look how good the people was
shaw taylor visited slough quite a few times in the 70s and he visited langley aswell
Slough is just a dump. The trading estate is good. But that's it. Nobody I know would go to Slough to socialise on a night out. You wouldn't want to know anyone who'd want to have a night out in Slough.
At one time it was a normal town. It had a prestigious store called Suters. It had a Waitrose too which is unbelievable now. Waitrose saw the writing on the wall and left in the late 90s. They'll never return. Anything of quality left Slough years ago to be replaced by trash. And that includes the people. That's sounds a bad thing to say, but in essence it's fact.
High Street is full of tat shops chicken shops and charity shops and it stinks to high heavenIt’s a filthy High Street!🤮
And I have to say slough high street has unfortunately disappeared slowly. Left with few shops which customers do find very unhelpful
I remember bhs restaurant upstairs as a kid i used in there restaurant..nice fish and chips..cakes and lots more
I see plenty of shoppers walking around in flared trousers!!!
What a beautiful time in Britain when you still saw white people. An era never to come again.
Parking spaces, pedestrianization and chain stores. That's why it all went pear shaped. Slough could have been Birkenhead or Middlesbrough. Town planning made in UK.
And technology. The High Street has been in decline for many, many years because we've found simpler, more convenient ways of doing things. For example, who on Earth these days would want to waste your Saturday trudging round a high street just to pay bills, like you used to have to in those days. The actual need to for High Streets has gone down and down and down - it's just that we haven't connected the dots. We actually prefer doing things the way we do them now, otherwise things wouldn't changed.
@@zeddeka You keep going on about paying bills but there was no trudging around, Saturday shopping was a day out for many and that included popping into the gas/electric show room to pay a bill.
These issues are as valid today as in 1970. Local councils prefer to avoid risks, making decisions that are least likely to disturb the status quo, which understandable as they are operating with one hand tied behind their backs by Westminster. If there were more Mavericks that would make the sacrifice of running for council, rather than doing work that was perceived as more “successful” I would expect many towns will thrive just like Hebden Bridge.
try walking down there at night now
So little diversity.
Looks great.
It does, which is how I know you wouldn't fit in. Should have stayed in school longer - that way you wouldn't be blaming others for your lack of achievement in life.
@@007JNR So, my observation
and my opinion about that observation makes you believe you "know"
where I would/wouldn't fit in,
how much time I spent in school,
the number of achievements I accomplished in life,
and, most inexplicably of all,
that I blame others for the presumed lack of those, right?
What do you call that?
@@HenningDiesel He presumes this because you correlate unrelated things without evidence. In this case, skin colour of inhabitants with the decline of a town. Educated people don't do this because they stayed in school long enough to learn about statistics. Hope that helps.
@@rupertbollywood1190
You're one of those educated people who are still confused how simple things like this can come about?
I'm not impressed.
Btw, I don't care about skin color; I care about race and ethnicity.
Lived there , years ago ,boy, Bland aint the word !
I see a Ratner's shop - I'd forgotten about him - Haha.
I worked for Ratner's Head Office in Colindale, NW9. Ratner's had quite a suite of high street operations under the SIgnet Group banner. Zales, Ernest Jones, H Samuel, and many others. Much like Connell's Estate Agents. Most high street agents are part of Connell's Corporate Sales Division.
@@paulanderson7796 He may have gone but the 'tat' is alive and well in H. Samuel, but it is no longer that 'cheap'.
@@marklatimer7333 Tell me about it. They want about twenty quid to swap a watch battery.
@@paulanderson7796 At my Son-in-Laws shop he changes the battery for free if you bought the watch from his shop.
@@marklatimer7333 Next time I need a watch I'll buy one from your son-in-law. A twenty quid watch with a battery is better value than a twenty quid battery for a twenty year old watch. :)
Wonder how it compares to today..slight change in demography me thinks..looks quite pleasant back then!
It was it was safe
Where Ratners used to be is now a Startbucks, from overpriced Cr@p to overpriced Frappe in 40 short years.
😦 what country or place was this?
Who wants to trudge around shops on a busy high street, where assistants carry on their private conversations and totally ignore customers?? Not me. Online shopping yahoo!
It looks far from 'dead' then compared to now. But people are far too harsh on Slough, it's a brilliant location with plenty of amenities. The reality is there are still far worse places to live in the UK.
And far better....
So quaint back then, derelict? the place looked like it was thriving
It was
Interesting. I watched another video today about Slough in 2023. If you thought 1976 was bad in Slough, watch this...
Notice the Ratners sign?
Probably the first tweet that closed a business...
It was a spoken quote pre social media, but did Mr. Ratner just as much damage as a tweet or post!
And now all town centres are pedestrianised and people with mobility problems not yet in wheelchairs can’t get around. I’ve not been to my city centre in years cos cabs aren’t allowed in to drop me off.
Thank God Wernham Hogg moved into The Slough Trading Estate and saved the place.....
"...and when it rains, they get wet".
If only someone could invent raincoats, umbrellas, decent shoes etc.
Nobody ever intends to go to Slough, it's somewhere you end up, usually because of work. Everyone is on their way to somewhere else. It was no different in 1976, an anonymous mediocre town where genuinely nobody cares who you are or what you're up to. It was a great place to grow up in some ways. The pedestrianisation non-issue had been long forgotten by the time Star Wars came out. At least they got rid of that ugly car park and the library, even if they did replace it with something out of Dune.
I preferred the old library.
@@tonybroderick4808 And the old Brunel Bus Station.
Ugly? How dare you!
@@philwoodward5069 the Brunel Bus station was vile 😀
"Nobody ever intends to go to Slough, it's somewhere you end up, usually because of work. Everyone is on their way to somewhere else." Most accurate comment here.
It's a honeytrap. It takes a long time to learn this. Sometimes, generations. You think you're building up something, or slipping through the cracks en route to a greater goal. But you find your energy has been redirected, and you can't manage it. Nobody ever does. It's like an inverted American Dream, the British way.
Am I the only one who thought the interviewer was Peter Sellers at first?
No you are not alone. :D
the scourge of pedestrianisation
Looks to be where the kfc is and the corner by the cinema
I use to live in slough ,but now I live in London sorry I will not be going back to the future any time soon no no .☎️
Keep m peeled😊
Well
It is Slough
Ratners adverts were a bit tenuous back then
Still the same just no marks and Spencer
and fulctum
Reporter looks like Peter Sellers
Wizz Freely I thought so too!
Complaints about parking charges, nothing new there then!
Its that Peter Sellers guy again.....
Viewing this in 2019 shows the stark “decline” of Britain.
Years of “cultural enrichment” , lack of discipline and mind numbing television has taken its toll.
The Slough of the past is truly a different country
Dont act like your cultural country colonised nearly half the world, what do you expect? If your country didnt interfere with other countries personal business maybe you wouldn't have mass immigration you dumb twat
@@CallOfPoop1 We made their elites rich, they wanted us to do business in their countries, build rail links, shipping links, electricity grids, telephone exchanges & business links... they had absolutely bugger all anyway
Where is wernham and hogg paper where is David Brent
Where is chasers nite club
The high streets now dead, I just buy online,,it great,! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👍🇬🇧
Or just go to Uxbridge
Had the biggest trading estate in Europe. Now the heroin capital of Europe! Once a large thriving tough working class town but predictabley now, just another bankrupt run down part of Bangladesh
Mr Police 5
Slough has been developed so much in the last few years. I have uploaded Vlogs on recent activities that occurred in Slough. Need feedback to improve my channel.
Police 5 ...tell us you're a boot-licker without telling us that you're a boot-licker, Shaw Taylor!
And then they invented shopping malls and everything became good again. Given that this clip is over 40 years old Slough's doing alright now.
Far too much white privilege in this film.
The good ol' days.
How sad the decline of standards, accent's even waist lines. No self respect these days. Different people, different strokes. I would never visit Slough it's a dump.
Pakistan's and Indians invaded Slough and Luton .
@@sarahfemi9862 Invaded, or invited in?
What are they moaning about. Do your shopping online if bothers you that much. Good grief
all full of no one who speaks english these days, progression????
You tell me. grammar
The demographic has changed beyond recognition.
Stopped going to Slough when I was in a pub hearing 4 different conversations in 4 different languages, none of which were English.
the scourge of pedestrianisation