Tipton is in the Black Country, part of the West Midlands. It used to be one of the most industrial and smoky towns in England but most of the factories have now been closed and knocked down. It’s made the air in Tipton less dirty but unemployment has gone up in the last 20 years.
Tipton had its own council until 1966, then it was part of West Bromwich for a while, but since 1974 it has been controlled by Sandwell MBC – one of the most deprived boroughs in England. The Princes End area has the highest unemployment rate in Sandwell.
Rundown parts of Tipton include Lost City (a grotty 1930’s council estate), Princes End (a main road lined with decrepit council flats and shops), Tibbington (another rundown council estate) and Great Bridge (a bottleneck crammed with decaying old pubs and shops). The worst estate in Tipton is the Glebefields Estate which is full of grimy council houses and flats.
The Lagoon pub in Princes End, now sadly closed, was Tipton’s the former BNP HQ. The bar staff used to sell booze to anyone, even people under age, because they were scared of getting their cars trashed.
Drinking is the single entertainment and past time. The Tilted Barrel full of like-minded people with seemingly no idea of life outside of Tipton. Cruelty to horses is rife, indifference to children being dragged up to replace the current generation. Bathing and showering not high on the list of to-do’s. To be the most drunk or the hardest is the highest accolade of the average Tiptonian.
