Re: Council Houses

It is interesting that our Council House has still to be purchased under the "Right to Buy", maybe it never will.

Re: Council Houses

I lived in a council house from the age of 5 until 7 on the Tolgate Estate, Borough Green in Kent.

It was my old man's first headship at Wrotham Primary School and there were just no houses available so the Education Authority provided the council house (as I understand it).

The area was being used for London overspill at the time of the great slum clearing program of the early 1950s (when they created bigger an better slums)

I quite like the place - lots of kids to play with, very rural in those days and even whispers of scandal, "Mrs So and So's husband is on the National Assistance!"

My accent changed very quickly from Gloucestershire to London

Re: Council Houses

I think at the time there were some draconian tax laws and a lot of owners would not sell because it would mean massive capital gains. Thatcher did away with this which is why there was then a massive housing boom (and bust)...

Re: Council Houses

I too, lived in a council house when I was a kid.
I don't think we were there very long, maybe about 8 or 9 years as I remember.

Everybody walked to school in those days, no parents whisked their kids off in 4 x 4's then!
Me and my friend Maggie used to walk on our own too, no parents accompanied us because they both had to go to work.

We used to be sent to 'the corner shop' to get some spam for tea sometimes. I remember me and my brother always used to take a short-cut through an old churchyard. You'd probably never dare let little 'uns do that nowadays.

The place was full of 'latch-key' dogs roaming about, people used to kick 'em out when they went to work in those days. I remember my Nan's old girl - Trixie - getting pregnant and having her puppies.

When I got a bit older, I used to help out at the local riding stables in order to get free rides.

Mum used to work in a greengrocers during the day, then she was an usherette in the cinema at night too.

Then one day Dad had enough where he'd been working for years, and decided to branch out on his own. He'd worked in plastics, mostly perspex.

He was quite a clever old stick, and used to design and make prototypes of different things. I remember him being very proud at making the first Thunderbirds 'Supercar' for the ice show at Wembley. We were given free tickets to go and watch the show.

He must have been doing alright because a while later we moved away from that estate and they bought their first house.

I googled the old place on Streetview a couple of weeks back, it's still there and it didn't look bad at all.
Gosh that took me back.

Memories ey . .

Re: Council Houses

I think ex council houses make excellent buys. They usually have lovely long gardens - not like private houses and they're cheaper too.

Re: Council Houses

I really enjoyed reading that, thank you for sharing x

Re: Council Houses

Thanks very much Queenie. x

Re: Council Houses

I enjoyed reading this too Mups .
I learned to ride by helping at the local stables as well.
Used to ride the ponies out bareback in a headcollar through the streets to their fields . No riding hats either !
So much for H &S .

Re: Council Houses

Thanks Muddy. Those were the days, ey.

When we used to go the seaside every year, I used to spend the whole fortnight helping the donkey man all day too, so we could ride them back to the field at night.
I still love donkeys to this day.

Re: Council Houses

Hi

Which is exactly why I have just bought one.

I could not live in a new build with the tiny gardens and allocated car parking spaces.