Albert Hall, Description of Council Estate

Albert Hall, Description of Council Estate

Interwar Council Housing

Albert Hall describes the conditions of an early council estate as well as setting up a residents' association

Carter Buckingham

EMOHA

EMOHA

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Full interview available on Special Collections website https://specialcollections.le.ac.uk/digital/collection/p15407coll1/id/282/rec/1

MP3

English

When I finally managed to get permission to have a Council house, which was rather fortunate for us after our problems living in rooms, but it was mainly because of my wife's health and reaction from living in, in rooms with bullying owners, we finally got permission to go live at the Braunstone Estate. I think one of the primary considerations by the Housing Committee was the fact that I was a skilled woodworker and they anticipated that I would be able to afford to pay the rents which were fairly high in those days, or comparatively high. But the conditions on the Braunstone Estate was such that we formed the tenants’ associations. And when you realise that there was no made-up road, no transport. No shops. No schools, and it was just like living in houses in the wilderness. And we formed the Housing Association, and started to raise organisations to deal with the situation, and the people we first attacked was the Housing Committee for the high rents, and then the rest of the City Council at that time in relation to the absence of made-up roads. No buses. No schools, no schools, no shops. And what, we were completely isolated. The nearest we could go by local transport, to the Braunstone Estate, was at the bottom of the Western Park. And if we had been shopping, as we had to do in the town, or on the way, it meant carrying our stuff up the Shoulder of Mutton Hill, right onto the estate, or if you came the other way, they had to come from Narborough Road onto the estate. And this of course created a good many problems. But ultimately, as a result of our organization, we did manage to get the Council to accept their responsibilities over a number of years, and we maintained our organisation to deal with all sorts of problems, and particularly including rent increases, right until the commencement of the Second World War.

Ned Newitt

Albert Hall