My aim is to outline the problems Eagle Street was having in 1984 and discover what the standard of living was and how it has changed from then up to the present day.

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Aim

By the early 1980’s Coventry was one of the areas most badly affected by the recession in Britain. One local area that reflected many of these problems and the problems of the inner city was Eagle Street off the Foleshill road in Coventry, roughly one mile north of the city centre.

My aim is to outline the problems Eagle Street was having in 1984 and discover what the standard of living was and how it has changed from then up to the present day. I aim to discover what improvements have been made (if any) to Eagle street and the standard of living for its residents from 1984 to now.

I also aim to compare Eagle street and the standard of living in eagle street to my own street and to highlight the differences and to say which one has the higher standard of living and why.

History

Coventry's industrial revolution was sparked by its transport links; the canals and railways brought coal and raw materials for its factories. The advent of its motor car industry in 1900 meant that new factories began to spring up among its other industries, (the bicycle industry that had been there previously with assorted others) and this brought new wealth to the town and of course required workers.

The housing in Eagle Street was built prior to 1914 due to the growing industry in Coventry. Factories were growing up all around Coventry and there was an influx of labour from the surrounding countryside. People came to the area in the hope and expectation of a good wage from the surrounding factories, but of course they needed somewhere to live. Factory owners recognised that this was crucial in persuading people from the countryside to migrate to the city to work. The factory owners erected rows of terraced housing around their factories so that workers would not have far to travel to work. The houses were cheaply built and high of high density to cram as many people into one space and lower the cost. People still came to the city though because these houses were considered perfectly adequate at the time and people wanted the steady factory wage. This of course swelled the population of the city and expanded its boundaries.

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This is a graph to show the growth of Coventry throughout the years of the industrial revolution up to 1971. It has figures from 1749 to 1971.

Conditions found in Eagle Street by the 1984 Survey

In the 1984 survey it was predicted that the minimum life of the houses in Eagle Street was 10 years. The houses had been built prior to 1914 and many of them that were lived in needed urgent maintenance to them. They had no running hot water, baths or inside toilets. Many of the houses were also derelict.

From 1938 the number of houses ...

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