There used to be a pretty dodgy pub next to my parents, I spent many a night watching fights break out and police vans roll up, was usually more entertaining than watching TV.

We have a Weatherspoons in Cambridge, which has a police presence most nights…

yet former mining towns and villages seem to think they were entitled to jobs for life from the coal industry

The problem was never with the decline of the coal industry as a principle. Everyone knew it wasn’t going to last forever. Remember that the people complaining were the ones going underground themselves.

The issue is with how it was handled. The Tories at the time just closed the mines (even if there was coal still left) and then wanted to let the market work naturally and let the towns die. They didn’t care about the human cost of such a strategy.

As for suggesting you’re lazy if you don’t want to drive 90 mins to work – what kind of a world would we end up with if everyone did that? A shit one. No-one (who isn’t a taxi/lorry/bus driver) should spend three hours a day sat in a car.

Some fascinating insights here. Never realised it was all so simple.
Basically, valleys people are either strivers or shirkers.
The shirkers need to get on their bikes to find work.
Great stuff.

As for suggesting you’re lazy if you don’t want to drive 90 mins to work – what kind of a world would we end up with if everyone did that? A shit one. No-one (who isn’t a taxi/lorry/bus driver) should spend three hours a day sat in a car.

Personally I think anyone who drives to work is a bit odd, given they could just buy a smaller house nearer work and walk/cycle. But each to their own!

The issue is with how it was handled. The Tories at the time just closed the mines (even if there was coal still left) and then wanted to let the market work naturally and let the towns die. They didn’t care about the human cost of such a strategy.

It was a deliberate strategy to destroy communities.

Fwiw I worked in Blackwood for a while.
It wasn’t very different to the place I grew up.

The issue is with how it was handled. The Tories at the time just closed the mines (even if there was coal still left) and then wanted to let the market work naturally and let the towns die. They didn’t care about the human cost of such a strategy.

It became a fight to be won in the end and the Miners are at least partly to blame, they allowed their union to hold the country to ransom – ‘pay us more or we’ll turn the lights out’ and they did from time to time.

It’s not surprising if you know the history of Mining in the UK, in the early days miners (which included Men, Women and Children) were effectively slaves, they were paid just enough to survive, but not in money, but in tokens that could only be spent in the Mine owned shops, which kept them poor and unable to leave to go anywhere else.

Still, Arthur Scargil and Thatcher ended up in a personal pissing contest and everyone else suffered which brought it to and end – sadly for South Wales though, unlike most other countries with large reserves of natural resources once the Bute’s were no longer involved no one thought to invest any of the money in the areas that it’s based to ensure there’s a plan for it to run out, they just sucked every penny out to build the South East and left everyone to rot once it ended.

It became a fight to be won in the end and the Miners are at least partly to blame, they allowed their union to hold the country to ransom – ‘pay us more or we’ll turn the lights out’ and they did from time to time.

What else were they supposed to do?

Personally I think anyone who drives to work is a bit odd, given they could just buy a smaller house nearer work and walk/cycle. But each to their own!

Increasingly people don’t have much in the way of job security so buying a new house everytime you switched jobs would be pretty stupid.

Personally I think anyone who drives to work is a bit odd, given they could just buy a smaller house nearer work and walk/cycle. But each to their own!

And I would rather my family and I live somewhere nice with more space and access to the countryside and open space than in a cramped, polluted dump near my work so I can cycle commute.

Each to their own I suppose…

What else were they supposed to do?

Massively increase productivity and efficiency in an attempt ot secure their future and still get screwed over anyway?

Thats what happened to the steelworkers round my way when they were in exactly the same position. It didn’t make a difference.

footflaps – Member

We have a Weatherspoons in Cambridge, which has a police presence most nights…

And the most middle class post of the week goes to… 😆

footflaps – Member
We have a Weatherspoons in Cambridge, which has a police presence most nights…

And the most middle class post of the week goes to…

Well…if the place cant supply enough gluten and dairy free quinoa salads, the locals will stand up for themselves and take action 😆

Personally I think anyone who drives to work is a bit odd, given they could just buy a smaller house nearer work and walk/cycle. But each to their own!

Increasingly people don’t have much in the way of job security so buying a new house everytime you switched jobs would be pretty stupid.

Beat me to it.

Hardly many “jobs for life” left these days and it costs upwards of £15k to move house last time I checked.

It’s a Welsh valley phenomenon. Industries collapse all over the world. Especially primary industries.

Limited other industries can offer some jobs but will never replace the mass employment of some large primary industry. It’s sad but most will need to travel for work, work away for some periods or move. The UK does need a geographically more balanced economy but you will never replace the mass employment in places like the valleys.

And I would rather my family and I live somewhere nice with more space and access to the countryside and open space than in a cramped, polluted dump near my work so I can cycle commute.

Each to their own I suppose…

I always assumed, that after having kids, we’d move out of the city for the reasons you give. But I’m very glad we didn’t. They have so much to do here, all of which accessible by foot or bike, and even if I get stuck at work, I can still be home in 15 minutes so I can spend some time for them rather than being stuck in traffic. Car commuting really is the pits.

Ransos – you are assuming that we all work in the city!

I work in an industrial estate off a motorway surrounded by noise and pollution from the motorway, noise and pollution from factories and other industrial units.

Give me a nice little village on the edge of the countryside and a 40 minute drive through the countryside any day.

I work in the middle of London and my commute is around 2 hours each way a day. I’m far from the only one doing it (check my train at 6:30am). Why? A) I’d never live in London and B)it’d cost a fortune to move here C)The wages are higher D)What I do is pretty niche and therefore limited to large cities.

However, its grim and I hate it – the plan is to stop in a few years when I’ll look to move north again and finally have some decent biking on my doorstep. I’m not sure how much longer I can leave the house at 6:30 and not get home until 20:00.

hooli, I agree, sounds ghastly, all that pollution from the motorway which carries the people from their currently quiet, cheap, outlying residences….

I don’t tend to use the motorway, prefer the back roads myself 😉

Ransos – you are assuming that we all work in the city!

I work in an industrial estate off a motorway surrounded by noise and pollution from the motorway, noise and pollution from factories and other industrial units.

No, I was telling you about my personal experience. Anyway, I used to commute by car from the city to an industrial estate by the motorway. Because I was heading out when everyone else was heading in, it took me 15 minutes.

It’s a Welsh valley phenomenon.

Geography is a pretty significant issue in this particular location.

Oh good, another commuting cock waving thread.

I commuted from Merthyr to Bristol for a year when I started my job down here – never again am I going to waste 2-3 hours of my life commuting each day (I get pissy if it’s 10 minutes these days…)

Oh good, another commuting cock waving thread.

I’m not a connoisseur of such threads. Is it usual to brag about your cock being small?

“The particular problem for the Welsh Valleys is geography.”

The new A465 should help I think. After years in discussion it looks like the final links in the project are finally moving ahead/ going out to tender next year.

It’s a Welsh valley phenomenon.

Geography is a pretty significant issue in this particular location

Sorry bloody auto correct phone that should have read “it’s not a Welsh valley phenomenon” which make the rest of the post make more sense.

The new A465 should help I think. After years in discussion it looks like the project is finally moving ahead/ going out to tender next year.

I wouldn’t be too optimistic about that just yet. The current works in the Gorge between Brynmawr and Gilwern ares sucking up all the funding for any next stages (over projected budget already). Add in that the EU funds are now lost for the next stages and it could be a while.

The biggest issue road-wise is that it would be great to interconnect each valley halfway down but that means going over the mountains, not easy and not suitable for heavy goods vehicles. The geography that worked so well for the old railways to the docks is now stifling any movements.

I didnt think it looked that bad to be honest.. Plenty of areas all over the uk just like it and many much worse. I can guarantee you wouldnt get a chance to film at all on many estates and those agreeing to appear wouldnt be dealt with too friendly either.

remember going to Asda at lunchtime and it was basically full of obese mums in onesies and a high proportion of mobility scooters.

Was in Wales for a two week MTB to back in May. This is one thing that really struck us. The number of fat, obese and people who looked like they had no self respect waddling around. You would think that with all those mountains and free time they would be a darn sight healthier than they appeared to be.

Amen to that. Something Germany does very well, though history is against us in the UK as London has been preeminent for – what – a millenium now?

Germany is a relatively young country. Germany as a nation has only existed since 1871. Before that (and to a great extent still is) it was a collection of independent principalities and lands, each with its own regional centre. Power and trade was never centralised like it is in the UK/London

The only reason Berlin is the capital is because it was the main city of Prussia which came to “rule” the new Germany. Its location is crap,<100kmm from Poland, rubbish transport links to most of the country, miles away from the profitable markets. In many ways Hamburg (ports & trade), Frankfurt (navigable rivers & long history as financial centre) or Cologne (industrial centre and on the Rhine) would be better locations for a capital city.
London is the UK capital as since Roman times it has been close to international markets and had good links to the rest of the country.

It is the same reason that Italy has so many smaller cities of real significance and Rome isn’t the one-stop-shop like London is.

*Sorry for the tangent…

Only on STW could people watch a tv program with an obvious agenda of playing to an ignorant stereotype … and believe it.

Go to any housing estate in any part of the UK and you will find the usual idiots that these type of programs love to show; it’s not a valleys thing.

I remember watching the Scheme set in Kilmarnock loads o bampots on that, I wouldn’t go there for a holiday weekend

I still have a soft spot for the valleys, even though I moved away last year…

Stunning scenery – mountains, forests, rivers, pretty good land access, good sense of community… Yes, there are some really skanky bits and the usual collection of wasters.

That said, most of the folks I knew / know loved the outdoors and were very proud of their “secret” local “paradise” – I could rarely be bothered to drive to a trail centre when all I really had to do was open the back gate and ride 🙂

In terms of “Valleys Sh!tholes” – most of them are honoured on here:

[video]https://youtu.be/LbkiFGtH8HY[/video]

I’ve only ever lived in the valleys, in the village where the tv series Stella is filmed. There is little employment locally, but I’ve rarely been out of work since leaving School in 1996. Alway travelled between 40 mins – 1&1/2 hrs to building sites in surrounding cities. I’ve also always thought that areas I travel to to work are far rougher and the crimes more serious than I see at home.
The types found on this show do exist, and there is plenty of lazy people around, but good far outweigh the bad.

Oh, and We also have natural trails everywhere, bpw in one direction, Afan another direction and cwmcarn the other way.

The biggest issue road-wise is that it would be great to interconnect each valley halfway down but that means going over the mountains,

Stunning scenery – mountains..

Mountains? Hills yes, but no mountains around here.

They are called Mynydd in Welsh which translates to ‘mountain’ in English, but it’s not exactly the same word. So every valley has a ‘mountain’ on either side regardless of how tall it is.

They are called Mynydd in Welsh which translates to ‘mountain’ in English, but it’s not exactly the same word. So every valley has a ‘mountain’ on either side regardless of how tall it is.

😆

Only just noticed your reply molgrips. Yes you’re right. Doesn’t make them mountains though. 😛

Not deep in the valleys but lived in Cwmbran for a bit and while it had some roughness the locals were fairly charming. My first experience of a working mens club (women were allowed in by the 90s!) which was a really social and happy place, and a classic “local pub for local people”, no tables, sawdust on the floor and a dartboard, and yet the locals were really friendly. It did help having some locals to go with though. There was a bit of the Slaughtered Lamb feel on walking in the door.

Cwmbran also at the time had a fair few tech companies, hence why I was there, as it’s close enough to the M4. And free parking in town! (though crap town centre).