What was wrong with Cardroom?
In two words - massive depopulation.
Not enough people to make the area work properly. Not enough people to support the shops, not enough people to support a pub. Not enough people – fullstop.
The nearest shop is 15 minutes walk away, where the open spaces belonged to the joyrider.
The 70s response to the 60s high rise disaster was equally damaging. ‘Suburban’ estates - seen as the antidote - were in fact the start of a 20 year decline.
The form of the 70s houses were familiar and popular. Many of the residents on the estate still love their house… and it shows. But the cul-de-sacs, over time, created no-go areas. They became havens for drug dealing, for dumping stolen cars, for breaking and entering. They became breeding grounds for criminal activity.
Then to add insult to injury, the 80s dealt the final blow. Central Retail Park – the future of shopping – severed the Cardroom community from the City and signed the areas death warrant.
Cardroom became a sink estate, people moved in with track records of anti-social behaviour and began to take the area down with them.
The result?
An estate where people lock themselves in after dark, where (since Sanjay’s was demolished) the nearest shop is 15 minutes walk away, where the open spaces belonged to the joyrider.
An estate where the police wouldn’t go, where catalogue shops wouldn’t deliver, where taxis wouldn’t drop off.
An estate where the people that are left have long-standing roots, strong family ties and an even stronger sense of community - which remains one of the areas greatest strengths.
