Sogger’s Blog

Somebody at the Guardian Weekly reads this blog…it can be the only explanation. Not content with sending information all the way to France telling me that my old haunt of Skipton High Street was in the running for “Street of the Year”, this week they print an article telling me that my home town of Barrow-in-Furness has been voted as Britain’s most “working-class town”, the article being accompanied by a photo taken in the 80’s of workers leaving the shipyard on bicycles. I know it was taken in the 80’s because I recognise one of people on one of the bikes - we played in the same football team. How strange, and I can only imagine the outrage it caused back home.

Apparently the honour is bestowed based on a variety of factors including number of fish-and-chip shops per capita (13 for 72000 inhabitants for the record), the number of workingmen’s clubs (number undisclosed), and the number of greyhound tracks. Strangely, Barrow doesn’t have a greyhound track, so I guess the fish-and-chip shops carried it through.

I felt a kind of pride seeing my home town mentioned in the newspaper; my wife just raised one eyebrow as if to say, “the most working class, what an honour!”. Actually, I’ve lived in lots of working -class places in my time, and Barrow is definitely up there in t’Premier League, but I tell you that I will take Barrow, hemmed in on three sides by beaches, an extinct volcano and on the other by the Lake District to any of Bolton’s or Bury’s, or Bradford’s or Rawtenstall’s or Keighley’s unrelenting rows of disused factories any day.

I’ll be home in a couple of weeks, so I’ll be trying out some of those fish-and chips after a beer in the workingmens’ club and a walk in the Lake District (right John?), but sadly, not throwing my flat cap in the air as my favourite whippet romps home in the last race.