My recollections of this process were given to me by my late uncle who drove me to the Blues in Feb/March 1973. We entered Bordesley/Small Heath via Golden Hillock RD and then turned left into Bolton Rd.As a 9 year old I was shocked by what I saw. But as we approached to Blues ground it got worse as we drove into what I now know to have been Bordesley Green Avenue and its junction with Arthur St,Here three story houses with a long curved terrace backed right onto the street, which was covered in debris from houses which were being wrecked to prevent reoccupation.My guess is that these houses had a family on every floor or even every room and were no better than the two story back to backs which were in the back courts behind the three story frontage.
That whole drive through the clearance area with is early 1800s origins went from jerry built workers cottages and back to backs all the way through to the mock grandeur of the tree story frontages.It was a third world site with impoverish children roaming wild and poor families just trying to get by.It left an impression so strong that it is one of the reasons I have spent a lifetime working in social housing and private sector urban renewal
Strange this has come up as I was only looking at reference material for the St Andrews Clearance area at e back end of last week- just to see what I could find to validate my childhood memories
