Life in Britain in the early 1980s

[Arran]

There were plenty more independent retailers knocking about and a few bargains to be had on some of the market stalls.....no ebay!

Too right. It was a time when you could find independent Hi-Fi, car accessory, and DIY and hardware shops in every town along with more independent (and white British owned!) food shops.

There were fewer eateries as well. A choice of the local chippy or the Chinese takeaway. Eating out took place at pubs and hotels or 'British' style restaurants.

[George 1978]

People also used to wear suits and ties to go shopping - I have seen photographs of men at least dressed like that taken by photographers around back then. Of course, they might have been on the way to or from work, or simply the fact that they had dressed for the occasion which still seemed to be the case, regarding making an extra effort, and I believe that some shops wouldn't even let them in past the front door unless they were dressed accordingly - very different from the "getting a bottle of milk at the local Tesco Express store while wearing pyjamas" thing from around ten years ago. One doesn't see that now. The days when Rumbelows and Rediffusion used to grace British High Streets.

[Semi42]

was a pleasure to drive with more curtious drivers.

Apart from drivers with trilby hats, and old ladies that seemed to be looking at the headlining when driving.
never see them now thank god.

still binge drank on weekends but never to the point of needing A and E.
Drink driving was not as frowned upon , I never did but a few guys I knew did . A workmate had a brother in the local plod and was pulled over a few times, mentioned his brother and was let off, no questions.
Another workmate was so hammered once (he told me) he had to pull over and throw up at the roadside.
I served my apprenticeship in the early 80s near a busy rail yard and once I went into the local railway club at lunchtime. It was heaving with rail workers sitting at tables stacked with full pint glasses.

[George 1978]

Mmm, just me than?

Yes, just you.

[tex]

We didn't have binge drinking,I mean lads & lasses had a good time but not wrecked and clogging up A&E on the weekend

Mmm, just me than?

[George 1978]

I have always thought of Political Correctness as being a late 1980s thing at the earliest rather than early 1980s - being more prominent during John Major's premiership. Was PC coined as early as the early 1980s? - I am certain that it wasn't used in Britain until around 1988.

[George 1978]

My memories of the early 1980s aren't that good as my memories seem to start around 1983 when I started Infant School, but there has been enough evidence from that era to make several observations on. In around 1981, there was the "1970s without the flares" concept - the 1970s had ended, but the mainstream 1980s as most people would associate it with had not yet started - I would say that 1983-1984 was when it actually started. Just like 1971 seemed to be the "1960s in colour", and 1991 was the "1980s without Margaret Thatcher as Prime Minister". Obvious events from the early 1980s include Charles and Diana's Royal Wedding; Pope John Paul II visiting Britain; the assassination attempts on the Queen, Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II; John Lennon's death; rioting in English cities, and Norman Tebbit telling young people to get on their bike in order to look for work.

BBC 1 on Thursday evenings had two regular programmes which pinpoint life more than anything else back then: Top of the Pops and Tomorrow's World. The TOTP incumbents seem to be of the genre of Adam Ant, Shakin' Stevens; ABBA; Kim Wilde and others, while Tomorrow's World was an Opportunity Knocks for the Compact Disc, the Walkman and other gadgets. And of course, television changed so much what with the franchise round with ATV becoming Central and TVS replacing Southern, as well as the start of Channel 4 and Breakfast Television such as TV-am. Things changed a lot more from 1980 to 1985 rather than 1985 to 1990.

I would choose the early 1980s compared to now - I wish that I had been born just after the end of the Second World War and so that I was in around my mid 30s in 1981 and enjoy life rather an be a pre-school child with very little memory of it. Life seemed to be more conservative (if not with a Capital C due to Thatcher), and the flares and all that went a couple of years previously - things being modernised and reformed at such a fast pace, and music, fashion and technology were three of those things that changed a lot - wear trousers or a shirt that you got from the John England catalogue two years previously and you would have stood out in the street if you walked down it. In addition to that, it did prove that you could have the best of both worlds - live modernised yet still keep traditional elements of life.

At the same time, things were being modernised and that humanity was allowed to break out of its shell and move on towards the future - I believe that science fiction series such as Doctor Who, Star Wars and Buck Rogers were probably responsible for that, not to mention superheroes and characters lie that - the age of fantasy was very much alive and kicking which developed as the 1980s went along. Optimism was the keyword, leaving behind the embarrassment of the previous decade. Even the Milky Bar Kid abandoned his cowboy image to become a spaceman around this time as well!

How many people (usually kids) used to pour the Kellogg's Corn Flakes into a bowl at 8.00 am on a weekday morning while listening to Mike Read on the radio in those "just before Breakfast Television" days, and Dad saying "get a move on or you'll be late for school"? A stereotypical British "first thing in the morning" scene in many early 1980s homes, mostly in the London area no doubt. The Pogo Patterson-era Grange Hill episodes provides a great philosophy of that era, no doubt.

The 1980s were fascinating, even if one was a bit too young to enjoy them properly!

[W1 Rover]

Pretty grim Kajagoogoo type hair styles.

The various makes of personal cassette players becoming smaller and actually compact.

There were plenty more independent retailers knocking about and a few bargains to be had on some of the market stalls.....no ebay!

[Arran]

There was a lot less PC back then. Black History Month and LGBT Pride Month were yet to even be thought up!

Also, take into account that lots of people around 1980ish admired Enoch Powell and even thought he was the best PM we never had. The Monday Club was quite a prominent force in the Conservative Party back then.

There was definitely more public support for the Royals.

Not sure about the traffic. Drink driving was definitely more commonplace.

[Arran]

What was life in Britain like in the early 1980s compared with today? I wasn't around at the time but other folk here were, complete with real life memories of it.