1970s Belfast | Northern Ireland | Poverty in Belfast | Falls Road | Shankhill | This Week | 1970

Northern Ireland, has the highest unemployment in the UK. For those lucky enough to have jobs, wages are 25% less than those in the rest of the UK - but the cost of living is high. Housing conditions are rivalled only in the Gorbals in Scotland.
This Week reports on what it is like to be poor, unemployed, and appallingly housed in Ulster, in fact how the inhabitants of the Shankill and Falls area in Belfast Live.
First shown: 02/04/1970
If you would like to license a clip from this video please e mail: [e-mail]
Quote: VT101038

[@tessaadie659]

I would say that Belfast was far poorer than anywhere in UK. My dad was born into a Birmingham slum area in 1920 but what he described was more palatial than this. He was lucky as my grandparents went on to have 12 children and they got a brand new council house in another area. Only 3 bedrooms so they were squeezed in but dad said they thought it was amazing as they had a garden to grow vegetables. I admire the people who were living in these conditions, unsung heroes who made the best of the little they had and that went across the religious divide.

[@franceskronenwett3539]

It is so sad to see the grinding poverty in which many people in Belfast were forced to live and maybe still do. The case of Mr and Mrs Henry was particularly tragic. That man had probably worked all of his adult life, maybe even served in WWII and raised a family. People like him deserve better than this.

[@harrisonmckenzie4905]

There was a massive slum clear-out in Belfast in the 70s to make way for a motorway, most of the these house where demolished and new houses were built in the out skirts of the city, which most of the families were moved it.

[@margueriteoreilly2168]

It seems this is always happening in Belfast Don't even know Belfast in this and I was born in the 70s

[@harrisonmckenzie4905]

@@margueriteoreilly2168 They built over, Sailortown and Greencastle village aswell when building the M2.

[@margueriteoreilly2168]

@@harrisonmckenzie4905 My Great grandparents came from Sailors Town It's very sad, How so many people drop below tge property tramp So many left with nothing Even I this day nd age

[@nathanjohnston1176]

Tearing down a slum in a city considered an active war zone during an insurgency is a fucking stupid idea...🇮🇪🚗💣💥

[@Hope-un5wv]

I lived in that area as a young child and this is how we lived and starved. I would return to England and my English grandmother would be horrified at the sight of me because I was so emaciated and then her goal was to fatten me up again before I went back.

[@Drifty40]

So did I, and I still live here...... your comment is nonsense.

[@Drifty40]

@ManannanmacLir69 Absolute drivel !

[@Drifty40]

@ManannanmacLir69 Me too since 1967. ..nobody had 2d to rub together, they could barely get by themselves in sub standard terrace housing, nevermind being able to help others, but they helped where they could and made an extra dinner for some elderly or non abled neighbour thet knew needed help. Just like every other inner city in the UK or Ireland during those times. But we/I were always happy as children but a lot harder for parents in those areas, however......there was always a good strong community...., which was destroyed and ripped out of Belfast and virtually every other UK and Irish city, when new social housing was built. They built less houses in the inner city community areas and more "social housing estates", on the outskirts, forcing families to be split up and communities ripped apart through lack of housing in their original community areas and seek housing elsewhere (usually a housing estate). That's fact pal.

[@Drifty40]

@ManannanmacLir69 So did I since 1967....nobody had 2d to rub together and could barely get by themselves, but they had a good sense of community and helped out where they could, in sub standard housing, just like any other inner city within the UK and Ireland during those times. And I was perfectly happy as a child. Your comment about abuse is ridiculous, no different to any other city and something never heard of.

[@Drifty40]

@ManannanmacLir69 Clearly you know nothing.

[@paulwhite2533]

poor buggers...what a life

[@tomratican6345]

i lived in Belfast during the 60s and 70s and it was hard. Live in England now. But i remember how hard it was back then. God love that wee man and his wife x

[@Drifty40]

You're safer in Northern Ireland, than you are in England.

[@j2msu341]

@@Drifty40 according to you 🤣

[@Drifty40]

@@j2msu341 No......according to statistics....there is a hell of a lot more murder and knife crime in England than Northern Ireland. Use your search and confirm for yourself. 🙄 Just to start you off...there were 11 murders in NI in 2022....compare that to England Scotland and Wales. 🤡 What was it you said on the other thread you were trolling with your 5 month old trolling account.........oh yes......not very bright, are you. 👶 Away and boil your head kid ! You've no idea what the hell your talking about on either thread. Stick with school ! You need the education. Or give that phone back to your mum,.......you're clearly too young to be using it without adult supervision. 👶

[@tomratican6345]

@@j2msu341 according to me is right

[@msives]

This is heartbreaking

[@sararyan1255]

👍🥰💔🙏💕

[@theSam91]

Utterly sobering, some of the entitled people today should watch this.

[@mrchickenfeathers9184]

My mum and dad used to live in an old two up two down house in 1989, still had an outside toilet. They got a brand new build in 1990 when I was born.

[@melissabyrne8749]

How lucky are we now? So sad

[@margueriteoreilly2168]

Heartbreaking

[@gremlinuk1968]

Was born in 23rd May 1968 , in a village called bushmills, I remember as a kid in the 70s going to bed in the winter, no heating, & my late gran putting coats on the bed to keep me warm,!

[@Drifty40]

The same as any other working class area in the UK or Ireland during that era. A coal fire to heat the whole house.

[@vanseventy]

Have the same birthday 1970. Growing up here in the US in the north in farm community, we grew up happy and didn’t have much. I remember lighting many a fire in the coal burners and wood stoves. Moved way south back in the late 80’s. Never lived up north again due to that cold weather and always overcast. Kids nowadays have too much and get confused by so many material things and exposed to to much info at a young age. Seems like there is no childhood much anymore like these days. Can’t let an eye off your kids!

[@RobertK1993]

@@Drifty40 British rule is more poverty Ulster Scots Presbyterians sure do love poverty under British Protestant domination rule sad Irish Republicans offered them non sectarian secular Republic they spat in their faces since days United Irishmen only few Ulster Presbyterians sided with Irish Republicanism rest all delusional under seige Ulster Unionists.

[@user-vy3vb8gf7e]

What a lovely man Mr Henry was

[@herbertjohnston4608]

I was brought up in donegall pass and remember daddy finding pawn tickets in his suit that's where mummy hide them hard times but thing we all had nothing. 😔

[@Alfredromeothatsme]

Shame on the leaders of these countries that allowed this to happen. The sad part is it still goes on today!

[@catherinemccullough299]

Another example of ‘white privlidge’!

[@Sean-sn9ld]

@@catherinemccullough299 it was orange privilege not white privilege... Everyone there was Caucasian

[@catherinemccullough299]

@@Sean-sn9ld I don't understand what you mean, I meant that certain people, in the world, are forever going on about how badly they were/are treated, they think that every white person was somehow privileged. This was an example of how many people were living in abject poverty, whilst white Caucasian. Orange was neither mentioned nor implied. The article showed both the Shankill and Falls residents to be equally deprived.

[@Sean-sn9ld]

@@catherinemccullough299 "White privilege" is not something that occured in Ireland though, although "orange privilege" was a serious issue in the north of Ireland

[@FannyShmellar]

Seán How was it Orange privilege? That old man and his wife living in a cold damp cave were obviously Protestant. Guess the Orange privileges must have missed their house!

[@RandomnessTube.]

Horrible times poverty has no religion some of the nicest people came from this era.

[@scottblack9213]

"I wouldn't mind dying, get a bit of peace and quiet" ... Jesus. It's was extremely grim in certain parts of Ireland and the U.K. Scandinavia had good standards of living, at least in Spain and Italy they had the heat during summer. These Isles were the worst in Western Europe - the damp, the poverty, the slums. I can't abide the way young people behave these days, so entitled, on the whole (not always), they truly never experienced the set of circumstances these people had.

[@Drifty40]

This could be any city in the UK or Ireland during the 60's and 70's. Social housing and amenities at that time, were not fit for purpose.

[@j2msu341]

Apart from 30years of civil war

[@Drifty40]

@@j2msu341 Where did you see that in this vid ?

[@j2msu341]

@@Drifty40 see what ?

[@Drifty40]

@@j2msu341 Cival war.......the OP said... ..this could be any city in the UK or Ireland at that time......yet you chimed in about civil war. 🙄

[@j2msu341]

@@Drifty40 I didn't

[@Sean-sn9ld]

Makes it a little easier to understand the factors that drove people to conflict

[@monkeybone39]

what? occupation and inequality drove the 'conflict'. Dont kid yourself, 'great' britain experienced similar poverty; be it Wales Scotland or England

[@mrchickenfeathers9184]

@@monkeybone39 what occupation and inequality was that

[@billbo2117]

This kind of poverty in Belfast didn't discriminate, it was on both sides of the divide !

[@ogrebattle22763]

This is very sad.... these poor people... families with kids....

[@gerry5134]

That was a good video . Recognized some of the areas . Do you have anymore of it ?🙂

[@patcom1013]

I was born '72 into these conditions and to be honest, had no idea I was living in poverty. It was all 'normal' to me. Only later did I realise.

[@7kingkev]

Appalling how people were forced to live , good people , but the sad thing is , it’s still going on in 2023 .

[@DaraM73]

Kept in poverty by the state.

[@tomratican6345]

The Falls and Shankill people all struggled .....unfortunately others made it worse

[@j2msu341]

Down the bookies, cigarettes and vodka but no money for food or credit for the meter

[@karenbrowne5800]

My grannie had to go to the pawn every Monday and pawn my dads suit and sometime the clock just to feed the family , 11 of them in Small house in sailor town . It was collected on Friday and this was a continual on going thing , just to feed the family . Such hard times as someone else commented poverty has no religion .

[@mateot7170]

So sad to see this and from the 70’s and not the 1870’s! Disgraceful

[@RobertK1993]

Northern Ireland part the UK not as Rosey Ulster Loyalists make out.

[@Drifty40]

@@RobertK1993 What a load of old sectarian bollox ! Have a look at some vids from Dublin, Limerick, Cork from the same period...or any other inner city around the UK and Ireland at that time....you'll find similar or worse. 🤡

[@syedadeelhussain2691]

Poverty even exists in the first world. Unfortunately, Economists focus more on solving the development problems of the Third World, but, they have happily ignored the advanced capitalist economies, and industrial democracies/societies. To reduce poverty, we must create more wealth, and redistribute less. With too much emphasis on redistributing wealth, the postwar consensus had not helped the UK!

[@paulrickards4921]

It's coming bk with the cost of living crisis

[@robbiethepict2783]

Grim.

[@seamusdebuitleir20]

Sectarian kills the common man.....

[@RobertK1993]

Ulster Scots are obessed with Irish Roman Catholics Ulster Presbyterians especially

[@Hazztech]

I truly feel like Richard hammond

[@dirkdaring3073]

that guy with the radio was only 25 in that clip-thats what a hard life does to you

[@machida58]

LMFAO

[@franceskronenwett3539]

I have just written a comment on this documentary and wrote about Mr. Henry, the man with the radio in the belief that he was an old man.

[@rizzledizzle9801]

Im from this area, what a miserable existance that seems, thank god things have changed.

[@KyleNornIreland]

What an utter f*cking Disgrace that people Lived in such Horrible Conditions poor souls SMFH

[@RobertK1993]

British imperialism for you Ulster Protestants Unionists live so much this what loyalty to British Crown gets you no wonder Irish Roman Catholics became Irish Republican/Nationalist

[@KyleNornIreland]

@Robert Kelly I'm not political I dispise the all Governments they r evil Criminals

[@billbo2117]

​@@RobertK1993 it was all over the UK ,Glasgow, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, London Cardiff and many other City's had slums like these ,with totally unfit living conditions! I'm sure the utopian Irish Republic had a few more !

[@SAKERKW]

6.55

[@Brekner]

"Mother of 10 children"...as always, the poor playing the lottery with their children, hoping that one of them will make it big and take care of the rest...these "parents" are literally destroying millions of lives each year...shame on them...

[@johndoe-jr7gc]

actually you do realise this was common place in ireland!! the church would push for people to have kids.

[@Brekner]

@@johndoe-jr7gc And your point is? They're still horrible parents...

[@elisamcgowan4774]

10 children, and living in poverty!, AND self entitled too!.

[@dirkdaring3073]

History is now repeating itself, I wonder how much he'd get for a Bluetooth speaker?

[@michaelsalt4565]

My experience of NI in the 70s was that these conditions were self inflicted.

[@michaelsalt4565]

@Bees1970 the choices that many made in these areas.

[@Sean-sn9ld]

@@michaelsalt4565 if there wasn't so much poverty , there wouldn't of been so many people volunteering ... It was impoverished before 69/71

[@michaelsalt4565]

@@Sean-sn9ld the poverty that existed in these communities was a product of the choices that those communities made.

[@Sean-sn9ld]

@@michaelsalt4565 are you saying it was the Ulster Catholic community's own fault it was poor?

[@_monti142]

@@michaelsalt4565 what where their choices? im asking because i dont know

[@francismadden8561]

Fish an chips on a Friday night.

[@Mr---mr4ll]

Up the …….😏🥰

[@TheVintageApplianceEmporium]

Young Couple: We've not got enough money to survive on Also Young Couple: Let's have TEN CHILDREN! You couldn't make it up. If ya can't feed 'em, don't breed 'em. It literally is that simple

[@Sean-sn9ld]

"Tell me you don't understand socio-economics without telling me you don't understand socio-economics"

[@Jim-ok9zi]

I was thinking the same thing.

[@paddypenman2682]

ain't hindsight a great thing

[@wmtrader]

This is 1970. Birth control pills weren't available until the late 1960s.

[@machida58]

Why would anyone WANT to have children???

[@MisterPolitical1]

I'll 🤤 on the 🇬🇧 because the 🇮🇪 loves me more.

[@RobertK1993]

This is a flag of loser imperialists where much worse than Nazis 🇬🇧

[@tonyhancock3912]

Simpler happier times no mobile phones

[@lowrydan111]

The horrible result of socialism

[@Sean-sn9ld]

?? Which socialism now??

[@solid7468]

???

[@iVenge]

Uh… there has never been socialism in Norn Iron, and likely never will be anywhere in Ireland so long as those brains are still imprisoned by the Catholic Church.

[@fidelcatsro6948]

Viva revolucion!!

[@RobertK1993]

British imperialism actually Shankill road in Belfast is part the UK a corrupt.

[@regplasma7906]

With the shite they play on the Radio now ,I wouldn't go back to the Pawn Shop after 3 days.Instead of a radio ,a few packs of Durex would have saved him not having a starving football team to feed.

[@j2msu341]

Or buying cigarettes instead of food !

[@vanseventy]

Socialism is great , isn’t it!

[@RobertK1993]

This Ulster Unionist domination they sided with the rich Sir James Craig despised the poor Presbyterians and other Protestants that voted for him used his own sectarian bigotry divide Ulster Protestants and Irish Roman Catholics only non sectarian Ulster Unionists where Sir Edward Carson he felt uncomfortable about Home rule being Rome rule banner being Anglican he knew that was blatantly sectarian. A d Terence O'Neil was only good Northern Ireland Prime Minister and he would though Revered Ian Paisley tí be hypocrite to go into power with Sinn Féin in 2007