Coronation Terrace, May 1969
Coronation Terrace was a run down street owned by the National Coal Board. The homes were surplus to the operational needs of the coal industry with mining in decline across the country. The NCB saw no point in investing public money in repairs for homes that they saw no chance of recovering capital. It was the hope of the NCB to sell the houses on to sitting tenants, local councils or private companies, but that plan faced huge obstacles in the poor economic climate where money and investments were few. The story in the South Wales Echo tells of conditions so bad that "women have to take umbrellas to the toilet to keep off the rain. In other coal board houses occupants take their bath by standing in a tub in front of the fire."
Photograph by Lewis, courtesy of Media Wales Archives