Harlow New Town, Home Town 1979

[@leoniewarwick5835]

such a great town then and so much greenery. now stolen by plastic housing and London drop-outs. have lived here all my life now 68 and still love the bones of it and the old Londoners who came here to build a town. like my mum now 91

[@Jackdog011]

I was born in Harlow in 1971. It was the best place to grow up running around Milwards estate and the cycle paths on my bike. Moved out in 1995 and glad i got out to the West Country.

[@beardtrick]

I grew up in Milwards. Used to play run outs. A great place growing up in the late 80s early 90s. We had the paddling pool over sumners. Was great in the summer

[@Jackdog011]

@@beardtrick Haha, yeah run outs. It was the later half of the 70's we were doing that. Plenty of good places with the flats and gardens to run through. The paddling pool in Sumners wasn't there then but we had the concrete lined ones at Great Parndon park next to Abercrombie Way which have long gone. Great times.

[@beardtrick]

@@Jackdog011 yes! The flats. So many good places to hide

[@jeffjackson43]

Great town to grow up in during the 1960's and 70's. Have some great memories. I left in 1977 but returned for 4 years in 2003 before departing in 2007. Changed too much

[@deathextreme9]

Jeff Jackson It's only gotten worse sadly fella...

[@IAmSoMuchBetterThanYou]

We also moved away, to Leeds, in 1977 - my parents were from Yorkshire - which wasn't an improvement over Harlow.

[@ajs41]

Most people looked like they were quite smartly dressed in this video. I bet that isn't the case today.

[@infinitesimotel]

"Changed" as in choked out by dark masses from alien nations that shouldn't be here.

[@sglenny001]

@@IAmSoMuchBetterThanYou I hate Leeds It's a city that always grows to Fail

[@FatzzTv]

I live in Harlow it’s crazyyyyyyy how much it’s changed

[@petebest22]

Proper London acent the boy at the beginning 😊 miss that these days 😂

[@LacerationVX]

"Harlow was planned in the days before every family was expected to have a car". And the council still sticks to this, even though most families now have 2-3 cars and the entire area is terrible for parking.

[@JaniceCole1950]

Harlow was called pram town, prams everywhere with babies strapped in outside shops. Couldn’t do that these days. Harlow was a nice town, not now

[@ralphbubb564]

Omg I went to Harlow and I reconised so much of this

[@cdfboy6133]

I grew up in The Chantry and then moved to Ladyshot before leaving Harlow for good. Still come back to visit every ten years or so, love how not much has changed.

[@simonsparaguay]

My grandparents lived there. It is the Harlow of that time I remember

[@user-vs2wd6fk3m]

Hi..live in Harlow late 60...like it ..move from London.. like Harlow..

[@mikepinker]

My family moved to Harlow in 1954 and we stayed until 1964. It was a wonderful place in those days with everything brand new, especially our schools and lots of green space dotted with sculptures. I occasionally return for a sentimental visit but the place has been spoiled by over-development and has lost the ethos created by Gibberd.

[@martinhsl68hw]

I like Harlow in the same way that I like Blake's Seven

[@kevg707]

oh how times have changed....

[@stevewildeagle965]

Looks like Barn Mead area 1 min in, 1st house i lived in in Harlow was there, then The Fennels then The Maples. The Odeon was great for Saturday morning pictures, Great area back then i went to Stewards school and eventually left Harlow in 1993, but my farther still lives there so i visit quite regularly, shame though it's changed allot.

[@Jackdog011]

The Maples, I remember it well. Went to Milwards school (lived in Milwards) and then Stewards school, sneaking out at lunch to go Staple Tye shops which was out of bounds. I think most people I knew moved out eventually but look back with fond memories.

[@kieranbest9726]

what a town

[@davider3568]

Well that didn't age well, did it?

[@_arkadal8910]

My family date back to 1850 in Great Parndon.

[@matthewkent8796]

Harlow is a rough place.

[@19seventy97]

That sentence is the new definition of understatement.

[@speedyboishan87]

@@19seventy97 Not rough you get good and bad everywhere...

[@briggs5569]

well to be fair, anywhere is a rough place if you're a complete pussy of a man.

[@corserine]

Sir Frederick Gibberd did not live in the new town of Harlow that he developed, but in a rather idyllic country house a few miles outside of his creation and who would blame him? After all, he knew full well that the houses which were built for Harlow New Town were tiny, little rabbit hutches constructed with low-grade materials and were not fit for conducive family life. However, I will hand it to him that the green spaces and the cycle track network were a great idea. It is such a pity that all the greenery has more or less been built upon and that Harlow has become an overpopulated dump.

[@IAmSoMuchBetterThanYou]

Our new build house in Old Harlow was, as far as I can recall, not bad. I saw it was for sale recently (because of course all the council hoses were sold off) for over 300,000 quids. Building an entirely new town from scratch was a massive undertaking so kudos to them for doing it. On the one hand, yes the houses were built to a budget, but it seems that the positive side was having a brand new house in a clean environment. Our house was the first new house my parents had ever lived in. My mother told me she was 'over the moon' about having a new house. For us kids we had the former college wasteland to play on, until it was developed in the 1970s and became Jocelyn's estate

[@ajs41]

Those houses were probably better than what the people had been living in before, which was slums in London.

[@paulhorton5247]

Not so sure about the low grade materials.

[@goodfella573]

What went wrong!!?

[@deathextreme9]

Good Fella Yes mate, you made my day. Thank you 😂

[@19seventy97]

Too much. Too much has gone wrong to fix it. Over populated, A council who don't care. Citizens who are inconsiderate.

[@ajs41]

@@19seventy97 My mum worked at the hospital as a junior doctor for a short time in about 1975. She didn't stay very long, I don't think she liked the town very much.

[@19seventy97]

I don't think it's all down to Harlow alone, the people don't help. Most people have just neglected it. I think we need the market back for one!

[@speedyboishan87]

@@19seventy97 Yep i agree people have neglected Harlow, if it had alot of jobs and places to visit would have been a great place...

[@220773]

Is the first lady a wee bit from Scotland???????? Must've had relatives there at least.

[@Nina5144]

This is hilarious- a few of the kids saying they wouldn’t live in ‘London’ as there are vandals, it’s dirty, houses are smashed’. Is that all of London? Daft statements. Brainwashed by parents We lived in London, the beautiful area of Southgate, Wonderful houses, old and new, so much green space, tree etc. When we visited cousins in Harlow it was characterless, soulless, concrete and brick. Awful place.

[@sglenny001]

The factor it was planed before cars says alot on well cars ruined City's

[@ajs41]

No fat people in 1979.

[@paulhorton5247]

Plenty now of course

[@ajs41]

@@john-mg3ex 1953 was the actual date when sugar rationing ended.

[@jansaunders3015]

People started getting fat after the Low Fat Revolution in the 1980's

[@KansasStorm72]

No chavs either..... Look at how normal people were back then.....