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We're working class

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We're working class Empty We're working class

Post by Lou Mon Oct 06, 2008 4:02 am

From the Guardian

Barrow, the Cumbrian town forged through the toil of iron, steel and shipyard workers, has been named the most working-class place in the UK.

The port community on the tip of the Furness peninsula is a class apart, it seems, when it comes to displaying true blue-collar credentials, according to a new survey. But the title is not earned through its historic past at the heart of the Industrial Revolution. Rather, it has been awarded for its preponderance of chippies, bookies and workingmen's clubs. The survey, by the local directory website locallife.co.uk, identified that the industrial town has a fish-and-chip shop, workingmen's club, bookmaker, greyhound track or trade union office for every 2,917 people.

Mayor Dave Roberts said Barrow was 'extremely proud' of its new status, but a little bemused to find itself 'defined by chip shops and bookmakers' rather than its manufacturing heritage. 'It does seem to depict us in flat caps with whippets coming out of the betting shops,' he said. 'I've been looking out, and I've yet to see one flat cap - or a whippet.'

Meanwhile, Val Holden, Barrow's regeneration officer, who confessed she was practising her 'Ee bah gumming', spied a business opportunity. 'We could flog Barrow as a museum of working-class life. I can imagine us sitting in our juice bars watching visiting toffs try out our "meat and tattie pie experience". Those looking for flat caps might be disappointed, though. Years ago, when the Vickers shipyard buzzer went, 14,000 flat caps used to pack the bridge from Barrow island into town, and it was a sight to see. Now the flat caps have gone, along with most of the shipyard workers.

'But we've got two golf clubs, three yacht clubs nearby, a flying club, gliding club, two riding clubs, we're the gateway to the Lakes and we have a beautiful beach, which I am just about to walk along in my lunch hour. So, working-class life? I recommend it.'

'It is difficult to define working class,' said philosopher Dr Julian Baggini, author of Welcome to Everytown, a study of cultural England. 'Chip shops are usually regional. Gambling is widespread, though the working class are more likely to visit a traditional bookies than gamble online. Workingmen's clubs? That's quite a crude measure. Some industries, like iron, steel and shipbuilding, are much more unionised so have more clubs, but that doesn't make them more working-class.

'I think it's really defined by a sense of being of a community, of a background, being a respectable, hard-working, no-nonsense person with no time for pretensions. Essentially, people are now still working class, but with more money.'

Indeed, John Prescott, the former Deputy Prime Minister, may have famously declared 'We're all middle-class now', but he appears to be in the minority. In 1964, 66 per cent of people identified themselves as working class; by 2005 it was 58 per cent, a small decline over 40 years.

Ironically, Barrow used to boast more wealthy aristocracy than most places. Its riches-to-rags story began when, in the 1870s, the Furness Railway allowed iron ore to be transported for smelting and the export of steel. Its deep harbour allowed the locally produced steel to be put to another use - shipbuilding - and it became a significant producer of naval vessels. But the end of the Cold War and defence cutbacks led to high unemployment. Today the health authority is the largest employer and regeneration grants have transformed the town. A £200m waterfront development will incorporate marina, business park and housing scheme, marking Barrow out as one of the most progressive towns in the north-west, according to Mayor Roberts. 'There's a lot more to Barrow than fish and chips,' he said. 'And we don't have a greyhound track.'

Tony Martin, chairman of locallife.co.uk, admits: 'It's not an entirely serious study. We felt these were the categories that would give a steer in terms of the interaction of working-class life.'

But Dr Gillian Evans, a lecturer in social anthropology at Manchester University, said: 'The indicators of social class here are obviously tongue-in-cheek but nevertheless telling about a way of life associated with working-class communities - a way of life about which people often feel fiercely proud. A more conventional classification would be based on the socio-economic status of its residents.'

Meanwhile, Eddie Maloney, who owns Andy's fish and chip bar, believes his product is classless. 'I've been here 20 years and it's not true that fish and chips is a working-class diet. We get all classes in here and from all over Cumbria,' he said.

He did, however, have a theory on how Barrow's 72,000 population could sustain 13 chip shops: a captive market. 'We're out on a limb. They call it the longest cul-de-sac in the world. You come off the motorway and it's 33 miles into Barrow, and 33 miles back out again, and there really isn't anywhere else to go.'


As usual the Gaurdian gets it wrong, there is no greyhound track, nor has there ever been one to my recollection Rolling Eyes
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Post by HiJo Mon Oct 06, 2008 12:16 pm

It's said that what used to be considered middle-class is now called working class. Working class nowadays is usually people who aren't actually working. It's a bit confusing. scratch

Some of the southern media consider everything north of Watford Gap as "oop north", and the flat caps and whippet stereotype rule. I liked the comments from the Regeneration Officer. Laughing
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Post by Lou Tue Oct 07, 2008 1:23 pm

I think the non working (Jezza Kyle types) are just known as the underclass now. Unfortunately pensioners are also classed as underclass because of the low value of pensions, yet these people have worked all their lives through much harder times than now, they dont deserved to be classed the same as the permanently unemployed (not to be confused with people seriously trying to get work or who've temporarily fallen on hard times).
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