[DanaC]

The part of Salford J and I lived in for a while in the early 90s was a bit that way.

Think: Chatsworth Estate, a la Shameless. But less lovable.

We lived in (rented) reclaimed and redeveloped council flats. They'd been bought up, painted up, gated and given security guards etc, and sold to people under the pretence that they somehow classed as the new Salford Quays development. They weren't. They were the outer edge of Salford's notorious Ordsall estate - cheek by jowl with the people that the fence and guard were intended to stop :p

One of the memories of living there that always sticks in my mind, was walking at night down to the little precinct to use the cashpoint machine. And yes...it was to buy drugs :P

Along the way I walked past a patch of wasteground on which small children were whooping and squealing and having a jolly old play time on and around the still smoking wreck of a burned out car. The only adults in sight who appeared to be taking on some kind of supervisory role with them were the four or five assorted unleashed dogs of Scary Fuck breeds.

A few nights later, the Ordsall riots kicked off and they burned down the big Carpet Warehouse and a few other places. We watched the smoke rising in the sky from our window.