Fascinating Article And Photos On Tiger Bay

BBC News - #towerlives: Rise of towers and fall of Tiger Bay
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-35997410

I love these old photographs, thanks for the link.

Loudoun Square would be a gem in our City nowadays. Grand, solid, expensively built houses, huge square - probably a couple of £million each nowadays. What we destroyed in this Country with the aid of architects and planners is beyond criminal. Every single City is blighted with the replacement high rise rabbit hutches that have bred unhappiness, discontent, loneliness, and squalor. Not to mention crime..

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Originally Posted by SLUDGE FACTORY

BBC News - #towerlives: Rise of towers and fall of Tiger Bay
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-35997410

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Great piece.

We were only discussing recently the demolition of some historic buildings, the pubs, all round the City.
Buildings should not be deliberately left to rot, torn down and in their place some soul-less cheap block of flats billed as "modern living".

"As a child you think the whole world is like your immediate environment. It was only as I got older that I realised the rest of the world didn't live as we did, they didn't have respect and tolerance for one another"

So true. Innocence preceding reality.
The greed and the prejudices kick in.

It's giving a sanitised and political spin really, but it does give me the excuse to point out that the main Chinese family down there were the Ng's.
I know they pronounce the name of our new player as "EnGee" ( apparently there's a Singapore connection), but the Ng family and everyone down there used to say "Ung" with a very clipped U sound.

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Originally Posted by A Quiet Monkfish

Loudoun Square would be a gem in our City nowadays. Grand, solid, expensively built houses, huge square - probably a couple of £million each nowadays. What we destroyed in this Country with the aid of architects and planners is beyond criminal. Every single City is blighted with the replacement high rise rabbit hutches that have bred unhappiness, discontent, loneliness, and squalor. Not to mention crime..

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1964 those tower blocks were built

They have been continually refurbished but I am surprised they are still there

Channel View tower block in Grangetown is marked for demolition

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Originally Posted by MacAdder

Great piece.

We were only discussing recently the demolition of some historic buildings, the pubs, all round the City.
Buildings should not be deliberately left to rot, torn down and in their place some soul-less cheap block of flats billed as "modern living".

"As a child you think the whole world is like your immediate environment. It was only as I got older that I realised the rest of the world didn't live as we did, they didn't have respect and tolerance for one another"

So true. Innocence preceding reality.
The greed and the prejudices kick in.

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aye

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Originally Posted by A Quiet Monkfish

Loudoun Square would be a gem in our City nowadays. Grand, solid, expensively built houses, huge square - probably a couple of £million each nowadays. What we destroyed in this Country with the aid of architects and planners is beyond criminal. Every single City is blighted with the replacement high rise rabbit hutches that have bred unhappiness, discontent, loneliness, and squalor. Not to mention crime..

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You only have to look at the houses on Windsor Esplanade to see what potential was destroyed around other areas of the bay

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Originally Posted by The Bloop

You only have to look at the houses on Windsor Esplanade to see what potential was destroyed around other areas of the bay

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Those 4 storey houses along the esplanade went for a song mid-eighties before the bay development.

Their value rocketed once the planners gave the all-clear for the housing, retail, entertainment and commercial development that we know today.

How long before the next stage of redevelopment, 20 years? Sooner?

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Originally Posted by The Bloop

You only have to look at the houses on Windsor Esplanade to see what potential was destroyed around other areas of the bay

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The old black and white photos don't do the old buildings justice. Those houses on the Esplanade are stunning.

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Originally Posted by MacAdder

Great piece.

We were only discussing recently the demolition of some historic buildings, the pubs, all round the City.
Buildings should not be deliberately left to rot, torn down and in their place some soul-less cheap block of flats billed as "modern living".

"As a child you think the whole world is like your immediate environment. It was only as I got older that I realised the rest of the world didn't live as we did, they didn't have respect and tolerance for one another"

So true. Innocence preceding reality.
The greed and the prejudices kick in.

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My mother lived in the old Loudon Square as a young child. It was, according to her, where the wealthy shipowners lived. When they started moving out, the houses were subdivided into flats and "people of West Indian/African origin" (polite version) started moving in, according to my mum. So they moved upmarket to Splott and then Adamsdown. Her prejudices stuck with her for the rest of her life though. "Didnt matter where you came from" she'd say, "you could play with anyone except the Maltese". Not quite true. All those buildings are long gone now along with the multicultural way of life. Comparing the old Loudon Square, to some of the squares in London, they would certainly be desirable places to live. Damp proof course, central heating, double glazing, decent bathrooms....sorted.

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Originally Posted by IanD

My mother lived in the old Loudon Square as a young child. It was, according to her, where the wealthy shipowners lived. When they started moving out, the houses were subdivided into flats and "people of West Indian/African origin" (polite version) started moving in, according to my mum. So they moved upmarket to Splott and then Adamsdown. Her prejudices stuck with her for the rest of her life though. "Didnt matter where you came from" she'd say, "you could play with anyone except the Maltese". Not quite true. All those buildings are long gone now along with the multicultural way of life. Comparing the old Loudon Square, to some of the squares in London, they would certainly be desirable places to live. Damp proof course, central heating, double glazing, decent bathrooms....sorted.

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I lived in Loudoun Square for a few years myself. Next to the flats I was living in was the grassy expanse (where the canal once was, I think) and where the local kids used to kick a football around between the two goals (including crossbars) that were constructed from from scaffolding - a considerable step up from jumpers!
As I was a bit older than the other kids I used to organise them into two opposing teams on that pitch: all ages, all colours and great fun. Every week I named my lot 'The Bute Street Bombers' and I have a terrific black and white photo of them somewhere in my attic....

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Originally Posted by A Quiet Monkfish

The old black and white photos don't do the old buildings justice. Those houses on the Esplanade are stunning.

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I worked in the bay in the late 90s before the development really kicked off. If I was ITK I could have picked one up cheap and now be semi retired. Sensible me bought in the suburbs instead.

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Originally Posted by The Bloop

I worked in the bay in the late 90s before the development really kicked off. If I was ITK I could have picked one up cheap and now be semi retired. Sensible me bought in the suburbs instead.

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We all could have said the same though and as well as being ITK, you'd have had to have a lot of spare cash to take one of those on.
Property developer or at least equity in your existing property.

They are big houses but the gardens are small. Depends what you are looking for I suppose.
As an investment, you'd have made a fortune but it would have still come with an element of risk.
Hindsight and all that.

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Originally Posted by IanD

My mother lived in the old Loudon Square as a young child. It was, according to her, where the wealthy shipowners lived. When they started moving out, the houses were subdivided into flats and "people of West Indian/African origin" (polite version) started moving in, according to my mum. So they moved upmarket to Splott and then Adamsdown. Her prejudices stuck with her for the rest of her life though. "Didnt matter where you came from" she'd say, "you could play with anyone except the Maltese". Not quite true. All those buildings are long gone now along with the multicultural way of life. Comparing the old Loudon Square, to some of the squares in London, they would certainly be desirable places to live. Damp proof course, central heating, double glazing, decent bathrooms....sorted.

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Was in school with a girl whose grandfather was a Maltese immigrant from Butetown, Rita Sultana

Hunter Street, Pomeroy Street , some nice old houses down there

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Originally Posted by The Bloop

You only have to look at the houses on Windsor Esplanade to see what potential was destroyed around other areas of the bay

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The really sad fact was how amazing those house were on loundon sq, they were so solid and well built the demolishen balls had trouble actually knocking them down.....tragic....