Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. By the 20th century it had become the metropolitan hub of the United Kingdom's manufacturing and automotive industries, having earned itself a reputation first as a city of canals, then of cars, and most recently as a major European convention and shopping destination. The recession of the early 1980s, however, saw Birmingham's economy collapse. The city itself lost 200,000 jobs between 1971 and 1981, with the losses concentrated in the manufacturing sector; relative earnings in the West Midlands went from being the highest in Britain in 1970 to the lowest in 1983. By 1982 the city's unemployment rate approached 20%.
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| Navigation Street, December 1983 |
As one of the United Kingdom's major cities, Birmingham is considered to be the social, cultural, financial, and commercial centre of the Midlands. In the years following the Second World War, the face of Birmingham was heavily changed by a major influx of immigrants from the Commonwealth of Nations, with large communities from Southern Asia and the Caribbean settling in the city. Birmingham also saw a new wave of immigration beginning in the early eighties, this time from communities which do not have Commonwealth roots, such as Kosovo and Somalia.
Take a look through these 40 beautiful vintage pictures of Birmingham in the eighties taken by David Rostance. For more fascinating photographs, check out Rostance’s Flickr site.
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| Bordesley, September 1981 |
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| Grand Union canal, Bordesley, September 1981 |
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| Proof House Junction, Bordesley, July 1982 |
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| Selly Oak and the Joseph Chamberlain Memorial Clock Tower, Birmingham University, August 1982 |
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| Heeley Road, Selly Oak, August 1982 |
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| Golden Hillock Road, August 1982 |
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| Corporation Street, December 1982 |
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| Landor Street, December 1982 |
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| Lower Temple Street, December 1982 |
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| Lower Temple Street/Stephenson Street, December 1982 |
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| Handsworth Park, January 1983 |
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| Winson Green, January 1983 |
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| Old Turn Junction, July 1983 |
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| Farmer's Bridge Junction, July 1983 |
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| Digbeth Branch Canal, November 1983 |
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| Washwood Heath Road, November 1983 |
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| Chamberlain Square, November 1983 |
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| Paradise Circus, November 1983 |
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| Edmund Street looking towards Chamberlain Square, December 1983 |
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| Birmingham Post Office Tower, December 1983 |
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| Benson Road, Hockley, January 1984 |
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| Winson Green, January 1984 |
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| Nechells Power Station, July 1984 |
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| Birmingham, December 1984 |
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| Junction of Stephenson Street and Navigation Street, December 1984 |
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| View from Birmingham Shopping Centre car park, December 1984 |
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| Entrance to Birmingham Shopping Centre car park in Navigation Street, December 1984 |
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| Woodbridge Road, Moseley, August 1985 |
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| Alcester Road, Moseley, August 1985 |
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| 47624, Winson Green, February 1986 |
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| Small Heath Station, February 1986 |
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| Suburban Birmingham, March 1986 |
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| Stretton Road, off Rocky Lane, Aston, March 1986 |
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| Exchange Sidings, April 1986 |
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| View towards Birmingham centre from High Street, Deritend, November 1986 |
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| Birmingham Town Hall, December 1986 |
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| Paradise Place, January 1987 |
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| Birmingham Moor Street Station, March 1987 |
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| St. Martin's Circus, July 1987 |