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Ours is a nice house, ours is Ours is a nice house, ours is
(about 1 hour later)
If we're not careful it's easy to fall into the trap of street name snobbery, says Laurie Taylor in his weekly column.If we're not careful it's easy to fall into the trap of street name snobbery, says Laurie Taylor in his weekly column.
I was a fully developed snob by the age of 11. When officials or strangers asked where I lived I would tell them that I lived not in Crosby, but in "Regent Road, Crosby".I was a fully developed snob by the age of 11. When officials or strangers asked where I lived I would tell them that I lived not in Crosby, but in "Regent Road, Crosby".
Where we live is a good sign of where we are in the pecking order
The road was crucial. How terrible if it was thought that I lived in one of the "wrong parts" of Crosby.The road was crucial. How terrible if it was thought that I lived in one of the "wrong parts" of Crosby.
If, for example, it was thought that my house was to be found on Endbutt Lane or even, heaven help me, somewhere near the Marine Football Club ground on the notorious College Rd.If, for example, it was thought that my house was to be found on Endbutt Lane or even, heaven help me, somewhere near the Marine Football Club ground on the notorious College Rd.
Not, of course, that Regent Rd enjoyed the highest residential status in Crosby. Long before my 11th birthday I knew that an entirely different class of person was to be found in the rarefied area around Eshe Rd North which lay a good five minutes walk away from my own front door.Not, of course, that Regent Rd enjoyed the highest residential status in Crosby. Long before my 11th birthday I knew that an entirely different class of person was to be found in the rarefied area around Eshe Rd North which lay a good five minutes walk away from my own front door.
In Eshe Rd North, to use a joke I heard comedian Dave Morris make one night at the Liverpool Empire, they didn't go to bed. They retired.In Eshe Rd North, to use a joke I heard comedian Dave Morris make one night at the Liverpool Empire, they didn't go to bed. They retired.
FIND OUT MORE Hear Laurie Taylor's Thinking Allowed on Radio 4 at 1600 on Wednesdays or 0030 on MondaysOr download the podcast hereFIND OUT MORE Hear Laurie Taylor's Thinking Allowed on Radio 4 at 1600 on Wednesdays or 0030 on MondaysOr download the podcast here
I was so fascinated by this upper set that some evenings I'd drag my friend Jim away from rowdy chip shop in College Rd and make him walk with me past the detached houses in Eshe Rd.I was so fascinated by this upper set that some evenings I'd drag my friend Jim away from rowdy chip shop in College Rd and make him walk with me past the detached houses in Eshe Rd.
We would look up at bedroom windows and imagine what lay behind them - imagine beautiful, clean-smelling, well-spoken girls slipping into their silken nightwear.We would look up at bedroom windows and imagine what lay behind them - imagine beautiful, clean-smelling, well-spoken girls slipping into their silken nightwear.
Of course, most people driving through Crosby, then and now, would find it difficult to make such fine distinctions between almost adjoining roads.Of course, most people driving through Crosby, then and now, would find it difficult to make such fine distinctions between almost adjoining roads.
They'd miss many of the distinctions between College Rd and Endbutt Lane and Eshe Rd which meant so much to those of us who walked the areas most days of their life.They'd miss many of the distinctions between College Rd and Endbutt Lane and Eshe Rd which meant so much to those of us who walked the areas most days of their life.
They wouldn't recognise, for example, that Regent Rd enjoyed higher status than the adjoining Princes Avenue because, if you peered closely at the head of the blackened stone gateposts you could just about make out the carved indentations of a house name.They wouldn't recognise, for example, that Regent Rd enjoyed higher status than the adjoining Princes Avenue because, if you peered closely at the head of the blackened stone gateposts you could just about make out the carved indentations of a house name.
The truly richThe truly rich
So our house wasn't merely a number it was also (and my mother used to finger the letters one at a time as she made the announcement to visitors) "Rosemount" just as the semi next door was really "Fernmount".So our house wasn't merely a number it was also (and my mother used to finger the letters one at a time as she made the announcement to visitors) "Rosemount" just as the semi next door was really "Fernmount".
Sometimes my youthful obsession with residential segregation took me further afield. I'd take the electric train from Blundell Sands to Formby and walk down the road which led from the station to the beach so that I could admire the long row of huge detached houses.Sometimes my youthful obsession with residential segregation took me further afield. I'd take the electric train from Blundell Sands to Formby and walk down the road which led from the station to the beach so that I could admire the long row of huge detached houses.
I knew from walks with Jim that the inhabitants of these colonnaded palaces were the truly rich. It was here that I might find Mr Hartley of Hartley's jam, or Mr Jacobs of Jacobs Cream Crackers or Mr Moores who ran Littlewoods Pools.I knew from walks with Jim that the inhabitants of these colonnaded palaces were the truly rich. It was here that I might find Mr Hartley of Hartley's jam, or Mr Jacobs of Jacobs Cream Crackers or Mr Moores who ran Littlewoods Pools.
Some people need no excuse to go into snob modeSome people need no excuse to go into snob mode
At the opposite end of the residential spectrum lay The Poets, an area off Stanley Road in Bootle which I visited occasionally so that I could collect Jim for Saturday afternoon football at Anfield.At the opposite end of the residential spectrum lay The Poets, an area off Stanley Road in Bootle which I visited occasionally so that I could collect Jim for Saturday afternoon football at Anfield.
It was called The Poets for the very good reason that someone in the town hall had had the bright idea of trying to elevate the status of these mean back-to-back terraced streets by calling them Keats and Wordsworth and Shelley and Byron.It was called The Poets for the very good reason that someone in the town hall had had the bright idea of trying to elevate the status of these mean back-to-back terraced streets by calling them Keats and Wordsworth and Shelley and Byron.
And it was presumably the same man who'd also labelled the cross streets with the names of flowers and shrubs - Iris and Daisy and Juniper.And it was presumably the same man who'd also labelled the cross streets with the names of flowers and shrubs - Iris and Daisy and Juniper.
Not that the residents always appreciated their botanical labels. For years Jim believed that the Woodbine St which lay adjacent to his own house on Shelley St was a reference to the residents' preferred choice of cigarette.Not that the residents always appreciated their botanical labels. For years Jim believed that the Woodbine St which lay adjacent to his own house on Shelley St was a reference to the residents' preferred choice of cigarette.
My youthful snobbery had a nasty corollary. Without thinking too much about it, I came to assume that people lived in certain areas not as a result of economic compulsion but because they were somehow constitutionally suited to those areas.My youthful snobbery had a nasty corollary. Without thinking too much about it, I came to assume that people lived in certain areas not as a result of economic compulsion but because they were somehow constitutionally suited to those areas.
Residential segregationResidential segregation
There was a natural, a proper affinity, between the character of Eshe Rd residents and Eshe Rd property, just as there was a perfect fit between the poverty of the residents of The Poets and their down-at-heel terraced homes.There was a natural, a proper affinity, between the character of Eshe Rd residents and Eshe Rd property, just as there was a perfect fit between the poverty of the residents of The Poets and their down-at-heel terraced homes.
Now that I'm a grown-up sociologist I can no longer take such residential segregation for granted.Now that I'm a grown-up sociologist I can no longer take such residential segregation for granted.
I need to know how much of it is a product of choice or compulsion, how much of the segregation is self-imposed.I need to know how much of it is a product of choice or compulsion, how much of the segregation is self-imposed.
I need to know how such areas can come to be branded as "ghettoes", lacking even quite basic contact with the streets that lie around them.I need to know how such areas can come to be branded as "ghettoes", lacking even quite basic contact with the streets that lie around them.
And even more specifically I need to know, in modern Britain, how much of this residential segregation is based upon ethnic identity.And even more specifically I need to know, in modern Britain, how much of this residential segregation is based upon ethnic identity.
Are we really, as Trevor Phillips said, while head of the Commission for Racial Equality, "sleepwalking to segregation"?Are we really, as Trevor Phillips said, while head of the Commission for Racial Equality, "sleepwalking to segregation"?
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