Ghost Town: Coventry fears a return to the '80s

Coventry was a city hit hard by the recession of the 1980s.
An energy crisis and rising inflation sent unemployment soaring - the mood was captured by Coventry band The Specials in their song Ghost Town.
Becky Johnson visits the city and talks to residents about their fears.
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[@quokkapirquish6825]

As a business owner, if our electricity bills go up from 20,000 a year to 70,000 a year, as it looks at the moment, we will shut down. We don’t make enough to cover it.

[@dubiouscaesar3709]

Stand your ground.

[@howardbowen-RC-Pilot]

So to buy a big diesel generator and run it for a year.. far less than 70 grand.

[@L117music]

The government need to reavaluate the fifty year plans for this country, because the plan simply isn't working. it's not inflation it's the result of thirty years of greed for more profits and cut backs. at some point the system has to collapse causing a ressession or worse.

[@Tazza81]

Exactly. Inflation is not been caused by increased demand or capital flight but instead by previously unheard of shortages in essential commodities and corporate greed.

[@owainwilliams7993]

Recession is the nice word for it civil unrest rioting looting and massive crime are the real words for what’s coming

[@derrenlambert2279]

I'm from Coventry, but I moved..✌❤🇬🇧

[@howardbowen-RC-Pilot]

Hey if nothing else the 80's generated some great music 🎶

[@luishsteuer1660]

That’s the consequences of designing your cities around cars, not people. I remember visiting a few weeks ago and it was miserable to navigate the city on foot or bike. I felt like I was surrounded by motorways; even in the heart of the town.

[@brettharter143]

I would say it the cities are actually designed to stop cars entering.

[@moonnightbricks3948]

Coventry city centre is pedestrianised. And I might add looks fantastic with all the new projects finished and with more to come.

[@Vbomavboma55]

Lol not really come to london there are roadwork signs everywhere

[@warwickshiremidlandsweathe9067]

Who would wanna go to shithole Coventry it's horrible

[@apathyintheuk265]

This comment must have been started before the poster fell into a 40 year long coma before hitting 'send'.

[@jadegblueparrot8606]

crime , addiction and riots will happen more and more something has to change

[@jaywalkercrew4446]

😄😄😄😄😄😄😃😃😃😃

[@cliffsofmoher4220]

The only solution to this problem is that to invest in solar panels and wind turbine more using tax payers money then something will be done

[@Anonymous56657]

@@jaywalkercrew4446 😂

[@arsenalfan1653]

Not really British people love to complan but dont do anything to change it

[@marmaduke9844]

They could solve the problem by stopping the continuous building of student accommodation we have a whole area being knocked down just for more of it when we dont need it

[@antoinettex95]

Really??

[@marmaduke9844]

@@antoinettex95 yes our city centre is mainly built up of student accommodation when we have other areas we could use

[@nothereandthereanywhere]

@@marmaduke9844 What is the point of having an accomodation for students(often foreigner), if the locals can't afford a house/flat?

[@drownedcactus5618]

What other income does the city have though?

[@moonnightbricks3948]

Brings a huge income into the city though.

[@1984sebb]

England without the Empire was always going end up grim...

[@davidgray2653]

Nothing has changed since the eighties remember the specials song living in a ghost town history repeating its self and inn

[@DaveJenvey]

haha that is exactly the song that I thought of.

[@peterbergman2131]

I would give everything i own to return to the 80's. The 70's would be better but i would settle for the 80's

[@leevancleef451]

Isn't Britain already in a recession..

[@inside1283]

Getting there, although technically not just yet. Worst is yet to come

[@paulbroderick8438]

Alfred Herbert and William Lyons must be spinning in their graves. Back when, Coventry was a powerhouse of industrialization and productivity. Now? I suppose everyone has a useless PhD in something or other and 'works from home'. Greetings from a former Coventry engineering apprentice in the USA.

[@jimmorrison2657]

Why the quotes around 'works from home' ??

[@mjjveritas]

@@jimmorrison2657 They probably mean that people who work from home, are at home, but don't actually DO any work, even though they are supposed to. It's an opportunity to slack off, because guess what, the boss is not in your spare bedroom.

[@sun-sea-solar]

Won't just be Coventry. A lot of people will rely on overtime and extra part time jobs. The 20% and 40% tax need to lowered and the 45% need to be higher.

[@owainwilliams7993]

And your government are on holiday partying or worrying about who’s going to shaft the country next they work for the energy companies not us

[@findAplaceToCallHome]

I lived in Coventry for 10 years. Moved away in 2020. The city was a dump then, at its “peak”. It’s a dump now

[@sydnorth5868]

I lived in Coventry for 8 years from 1985 to 1993. Back then it had a reputation as the city that had been bombed during WW2 and then badly rebuilt in the 60's. I last visited in 2015 and was pleasantly surprised as to how well it had regenerated over the 22 years that I hadn't been there. That's not to say that it might have become a complete shambles under the current government!

[@warwickshiremidlandsweathe9067]

Yeppp I hate the place

[@badmawededu6078]

Your Car, TV, Computer, cloth, bicycle and every human made thing loses its value when it is in use. It has also an age limit. The only thing it has an age limit but its values are getting higher and higher every time is a house. How come? Is it because of the capitalists can easily speculate and cheat the citizens by changing the narrative when it come to the house? Increasing the house price or rent in the west particularly in UK, US and the likes is really the worst criminal activities the capitalists are doing against the society working together with the so called politicians elected by the victim citizens.

[@clam4597]

It's the location not the house. Some locations houses are losing value.

[@48billy0]

Nearby Nuneaton is the same. Many shops closed months ago. The market, which used to fill the centre isn't a patch on what it was. I don't know if it is true, but someone once told me that the Nuneaton business rates were among the highest in the country. I can't imagine what the future holds for the thousands of such towns all over the country.

[@kevinmassey7675]

That was true , the Labour Council there also made the taxi cabs charge as much as central London ..Car parking too .....Luckily , the council has changed and there are now some incentives to get the wheels of commerce turning again , and a complete regeneration of the town centre

[@eddiebirch2067]

@@kevinmassey7675 The council may have changed, but the town centre definitely hasn't, literally every other shop is closed

[@kevinmassey7675]

@@eddiebirch2067 quite a few of those town centre businesses have been relocated to places like Bermuda by the council so they can crack on with the regeneration project ....It's a long term programme which fingers crossed will be worth the upheaval , investment and wait .

[@eddiebirch2067]

@@kevinmassey7675 which ones have relocated to Bermuda ? I don't want to be negative but the town centre is horrible , I went there for the first time in a long time yesterday and it was worse than ever . ,and don't say this is nationwide , because I visit Atherstone, Hincley and Tamworth etc . and they look much better , generally, maintained better and more shops , the council need to stop talking about cracking on and actually start doing it.

[@kevinmassey7675]

@@eddiebirch2067 I agree , Nuneaton is currently , and has been for sometime , so a disgrace as a result of years of neglect ...but there are ambitious plans in place to modernise it and create a business hub , college , and entertainment venues....I'm not sure which businesses moved to make way for the construction to go ahead ....I only know from stuff I've read on Cov live etc. ....What is reassuring is , I would assume Hilton hotels would not be investing millions building a hotel on the old CO-OP car park if they didn't think they were going to make money from the regeneration

[@frankupton5821]

Somebody in Coventry ought to protest against ever-higher taxes.

[@Mike_5]

This is Rishi Sunak's fault for diverting money from deprived areas

[@TheBigJenks]

Heaven forbid money needs to be correctly budgeted...

[@49cchris]

Ture point as petrol & energy goes up, no one wants to spend!

[@D1Snr]

People in my peer group were calling Coventry a ghost town back in 2010. It seems like the recession hit Coventy years ago

[@kevinmassey7675]

2010 was the middle of the worst recession in memory.....brought on by the banking crisis ... At the end of the last Labour government that same year , , .they themselves left a note in Downing Street for the Tory coalition when they lost the election saying "there is no money left"

[@rorylyons1091]

2010 ? The Specials, a Coventry band, made a song about it in 1981, check out Ghost Town.

[@chamonix4658]

​@@kevinmassey767510+ years of tory incompetence and yet some people are still talking about 'the last labour government' like its relevant

[@kevinmassey7675]

@chamonix4658 just some FACTS that were relevant to the top comment .., ..The top comment was relevant to the video ...Isn't that how this works ? If anything , the only irrelevant thing mentioned was the current Tory government??? Which yes , are a shower of sh1t

[@amfearliathmor9747]

My friend used to live in Coventry after moving from Dundee. He said his first day there was seeing an Asian fellow getting thrown through a shop front window by half a dozen NF skinheads in DMs during a riot like My Beautiful Laundrette. Said he had a good time back in the early 80s compared to the awful days we have today.

[@a4paper754]

I used to work in Coventry and had a friend I would sometimes go to gigs with in the mid 2000s and I encountered a gang of skinheads in one of the underpasses. Still had the same style from the 80s. They didn't give me no trouble. I thought Coventry was pretty cool. Lots of good music venues there. My friend even showed me the street where 'The Specials' shot the 'Ghost Town' video.

[@Paul-eb4jp]

This isn't really about Coventry, it's any town or City in the UK.

[@bt3743]

Now I dont know your friend but that sounds like an implication that he is fine with NF thugs

[@eddiebirch2067]

@@a4paper754 He was bullshitting then because it was filmed in east London

[@888ssss]

nobody is going to work to own nothing.

[@needleontherecord]

Living in a Box, by Living in a Box from the album Living in a Box. Is that 80s enough?

[@jayreyndogz1791]

This is pathetic they are talking like coventry is the only place in UK

[@rahuldahoob4513]

Isn't it??

[@tigerstripey4885]

Get over yourself, they are just spotlighting one area, sorry your little area didn't get a mention little baby boo boo need his rattle?

[@millerforester6237]

A little plastic cup of something with Oreos in it is one reason there isn't enough money to buy food. People waste what money they have on junk

[@jackbeswick4662]

I mean inflation, energy prices and the general cost of living is going through the roof - but obviously buying one cup of oreos is the problem.

[@jadegblueparrot8606]

@@jackbeswick4662 🤣🤣

[@ywiggan]

I cannot see it being this bad I remember the 70s and 80s

[@melaniemoon4463]

It's now worse

[@zach1252]

what a lovely day

[@nigellacey559]

Did it ever leave the 80s ?

[@carlosfixon5077]

Yeah but back then, neighbours watched out for each other

[@oysteroid4030]

Ghost Town suits Suella Braverman and Pritti Patel to stay . The ghost town comes with Topless bar.

[@Walkin2046]

i wish everything related to Internet and phone will vanish one day and people go back to 1998, where people more connected and less sensitive ( over thinking)

[@HShango]

I was 4 years old back then (I'm 28 now), literally had no clue about how things were, it's a a blur to me now (my childhood).

[@jaywalkercrew4446]

There was mobile phone in 98

[@Walkin2046]

@@jaywalkercrew4446 i mean before Smart phone...........hehe

[@jaywalkercrew4446]

@@Walkin2046 yeah it was the basic stuff then, texting was a big thing

[@Walkin2046]

@@jaywalkercrew4446 simple texting back in 1998 or before is fine, People nowadays became over sensitive and offensive easily problably because of information explore too fast from the digital devices........

[@UNAI.EMERY.]

Rich get richer poor get poorer

[@TomNook.]

"it was very dfficult for BIG families to make ends meeet" Er, yes?

[@A5H_01]

Says Tom Nook, the guy profiting off my back and taking my gold coins 🤣

[@user-we6vc7lg4u]

Least the music was better in the 80's

[@mikehanlon530]

My dad told me the 70s and 80s was brilliant it wasn't like they're saying on the news ups he had a scrap metal business was booming it was making making about 3 days pay every day,

[@dorothyorr1537]

tragic PRAYERS for the people ......

[@10NVXII]

Me who lives in Coventry and near the cathedral

[@strikeeaglemodels1588]

We already have ghost towns no thanks to internet shopping 🤔

[@yerhan1572]

Long time in the past there were shops that specialised in different things all gone now . Things i need to buy for my hobby's i can only source online

[@strikeeaglemodels1588]

@@yerhan1572 Exactly mate,Once upon a time the internet was cheaper now it’s more expensive.Nothing like buying something from a shop.

[@Paul-eb4jp]

There are 4 major reasons for the crisis heading our way, the first is Ukraine, the second is the pandemic and neither of these could have been avoided, however reasons 3 and 4 are of our making, Brexit has hit our economy twice as hard as the pandemic and the 4th reason is Johnson, he's responsible for putting together a shambolic cabinet which made any challenge to his leadership unlikely, he then oversaw the pandemic which made many Tory donors even wealthier. I really don't see a way back from this.

[@coventrypunx1014]

Your forgot 5 … uncontrolled Cultral enrichment

[@ianhirst1148]

So blame David Cameron then. He shouldn't have called an election but his arrogance meant he believed he would win.

[@Ordinary_Peasant]

@@coventrypunx1014 ah yes, blame everything on immigration they've always been a scapegoat throughout history

[@tonyubr]

Couldn't agree more. They are talking of a recession looming. I would call it a depression more like

[@looselipssinkships333]

But all of them were planned and are a stage to enslave us right

[@rahuldahoob4513]

Well this is cheerful!!

[@silaswild6233]

It's not meant to be cheerful, it's meant to be informative

[@warwickshiremidlandsweathe9067]

Well Coventry is a shithole after all

[@DrumToTheBassWoop]

It's a bit of a state when I I visited it, so no change I guess.

[@melaniemoon4463]

As Zara sultana says, 'This is not a recession. It is a hoarding of wealth'. The Tory way 😢

[@TheOnly1JLDN]

There was a recession after the eighties as well why don't they speak about that

[@TheSlinq]

We're going back to t he 70s before we go back to the 80s.

[@Andygb78]

We need to go out eating and drinking otherwise we're all going to suffer.

[@marybailey7881]

she doesn't look like she is necessarily starving

[@zexal4217]

She works 2 jobs but yeah, let's mock her weight. Jesus some of these comments lack any form of empathy whatsoever.

[@joannalewis5279]

A hole comment

[@MrStevieb00]

Ignorance is alive and well

[@silondon9010]

Always good news from sky 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@aytw661]

Yeah let’s pretend everything is great 🙄

[@richardanthonygilbey]

⭐️They haven’t left Amsterdam 100’000 b.c yet

[@DavidGetling]

How does the old saying go? "Come gentle bombs and fall on Coventry"

[@royharpershat8059]

Tory britain....welcomes Maggie Thatcher cosplayer liz truss...it'll be just like the 80's...

[@RS-jb1lf]

Grim! The government needs to support business and the self employed.

[@mriad6705]

Going back 2 the s80

[@legendkhanproductions5263]

So sad for these families im struggling but what can I do.there nights where I can't eat as short of cash.

[@Anonymous56657]

I blame the immigrants.

[@marajesty311]

what? immigrants aren't causing inflation. use your brain.

[@robertallen591]

that was nothing to whats coming, but we have mad lizzy what could go wrong

[@Islamicones1]

People should vote for labour

[@billkingston4402]

More Ghost's in the town

[@jorgevieira4489]

Lucky Boris and farage made all uk millionaires thanks to brexit so no need to worry Brexit Victory

[@andrewsweeney1869]

All thanks to the Green Agenda!

[@moneymanifestation9505]

She owns her own store but still complaining 🙄

[@manulemos219]

Well well well... Coventry DID vote for Brexit Britain afterall...

[@moonnightbricks3948]

Of course we did, we're not stupid.

[@anthonyclegg1511]

What, the 1680s.?.

[@jasbindersingh2441]

This is great. Interest rates are going up , throw away mortgage cash is disappearing and house prices are finally starting to drop. As Mrs T used to say.... rejoice !

[@mamalives6938]

Oh no a broken down Cathedral heaven has fallen

[@kylewestrip531]

Imagine actually watching the video.

[@davey2363]

I see no poverty at all. I see a tumble dryer and all the white goods. Go to India to see poverty and grow up.

[@mcfrosty8739]

Ah the classic 'someone else has it worse so your issues are null and void' pathetic argument

[@davey2363]

@@mcfrosty8739 true though. We British are weak and second rate.

[@spellbound4383]

Exactly

[@angelsackson]

@@davey2363 speak for yourself ya peasant.

[@diannegoode9010]

2 Tim 3: 1 - 5

[@darwinsfish]

Don’t worry the tattooed rhino women will have enough blubber reserves to get through both the food crisis and winter cold.

[@GeorgeAusters]

Use a recession to your advantage.. It's a time to get very wealthy so get rid of debt and start investing!

[@jacksoncrate]

Women had a smile on the whole time must be really bad

[@teamblitz1990]

Ghost town

[@elizabethhurtado2829]

🥚

[@gamingtonight1526]

... And all because the world is still addicted to fossil fuels...

[@finanzferdinand9874]

People not going out and wasting money on recreation isn't a bad thing

[@peterstewart8758]

Tories again?

[@dinaworkman306]

Foreigners

[@bt3743]

@@dinaworkman306 wasn't brexit supposed to get rid of the foreigners? Does that mean its failed then

[@lose8447]

​@@bt3743 it got rid of the foreigners and that's partly why crops are rotting in our fields while families go hungry!

[@maiy1187]

God bless ukraine amen

[@lumpi806]

No worry, zelensky will help us all !

[@chamonix4658]

we can atleast help them out, rather inflation than bombs

[@thomaslynch4776]

Dumb dumb sky news !

[@tombartram7384]

BANDS!!!! don't play no more

[@samcarena4702]

This is going to get slot worse especially with Brexshit

[@tigerstripey4885]

Brexit is a divide and conquer tactic, it never meant a thing. Nothings changed.

[@chilliboy8448]

Hillfields is always fool of life ....

[@thomaslynch4776]

Let’s me like Fox News 🤡