Game of street football 50 years ago on a now-vanished Newcastle housing estate
Between the late 1950s to the late 1970s, Noble Street apartments in the city’s West End were occupied for just over 20 years.
In the West End of Newcastle in 1974, two boys were having a kickabout in front of their houses. It was a familiar sight throughout our region and beyond, with local children using any inner-city street or patch of undeveloped land as an unofficial football pitch.
Both boys will be in their mid- to late-50s today when our picture from the Chronicle archive was taken fifty years ago. The Noble Street flats, located in Elswick off Scotswood Road, was one of many housing estates that were constructed around the UK’s towns and cities but were eventually demolished within a few post-war decades due to various issues.
What was going on in the globe in 1974 for those living on Noble Street and other places? In other news, Kevin Keegan’s Liverpool team soundly defeated Newcastle United 3-0 in the FA Cup final on a day that will never be forgotten at Wembley Stadium.
The new ceremonial county of Tyne and Wear was formed, incorporating the metropolitan boroughs of Newcastle, Gateshead, North Tyneside, South Tyneside and Sunderland. And construction work began on the Tyne and Wear Metro, a light rail system which would revolutionise public transport in the region when it began running in 1980.
In the global context, fifty years ago, the United Kingdom experienced significant economic and political turbulence, exacerbated by a statewide miners’ strike, power outages, and two consecutive General Elections in the same year. After the family nanny was murdered, the aristocracy Lord Lucan in London disappeared from his house and was never heard from again. And as the “Troubles” from Northern Ireland spread to the British mainland, bombs planted by the IRA exploded in London, Guildford, and Birmingham.
Despite the occasionally depressing news headlines, 1974 was a fun time to grow up for kids like the two boys playing football on Noble Street, with fantastic pop music, TV, and movies offering a rich backdrop to everyday life.
