Does anyone remember Townies (British subculture)? Don't hear much talk about them now!

[rememberingtownies]

I'll put some pictures below so people know what I'm on about lol!

Most of my mates were lads who were (and still are!) Townies. For those who don't know, it's a subculture which first emerged in the 1990s or early 2000's. Like how Punks or Mods had their own style, so did the Townies.

Townies in the 2000's often wore tartan base ball caps, baggy, light coloured trackies, white trainers (which were kept pristine!) and gold jewellery. Diamond ear studs were as much of a staple of the subculture as golden chains or rings were.

Townies were/are rowdy, but I can say from experience they're very friendly down to Earth people who will do anything to protect you. Very loyal and kind hearted lads usually.

They also had an assortment of music genres which were either made or listened to, garage, bassline, r&b, jungle, and drum n bass.

They even had their own language, with words like safe, peng, hench, and other words for things.

It seems intergenerational now. It still seems like the subculture is popular, especially in the North East, with Bad Boy Chiller Crew being a bassline band composed purely of North Eastern Townies.

Anyone else remember them? The ones I know are well into their thirties now and still dress similar to how they used to and one still loves blasting bassline in his car!

I do, but I don't know what they were called

Also, your maths doesn't add up, if it was the 90s or the early 00s then they won't be well into their 30s now. They will be older?

The look is definitely familiar, but I probably just thought they were people! I remember the word peng from the clubs I used to go to. and the gold jewellery and the diamond earrings.

I didn't like jungle so it was usually a case of hearing that at the kind of all night rave where there was just an hour of that and the rest of it was dance music. I wouldn't have gone to an event that was specifically jungle.... even if it's wicked... jungle is massive 😉

edit - do I mean "junglist massive"?

The subculture emerged in the 1990's. My secondary school years were 2000's :)

Many bassline, garage etc songs are the result of this subculture!

Looking at your update, yeah, they were just people! I don't think I even knew that there was a name for that.

I'm thinking of anyone who was an adult say in the year 2000 - I'm going to assume everyone I met in the clubs was over 18 😂

Just realised I remember the word safe being used as well.

I do remember a whole debate about whether or not a Burberry cap belong to a particular group of people though.

there's probably a whole dissertation in the evolution of Burberry as a brand over the years.

When my children were at school in the 90s /noughties Townies were what they called the ones who wore designer sports gear and often got into trouble at school.
My children and their friends were, more arty or geeky, and wore skater type clothes )never white trainers). I don't know if that type had a name.

In the 80s and 90s, townies were any young people who weren't indie/alternate/goth/punk. So there were the townie clubs, which were called things like "Lexington Avenue", and the non-townie clubs, that were called things like "Le Phonographique" and never the twain would meet. Occasionally the townies would beat up/stab the goths but that was about the limit of interaction.

Townies overlapped a lot with chavs I think.

Aren’t they just called chavs now?

I was just about to say this - most townies became "chavs".

Yeah I remember townies v pikeys v goths as a thing in the 90s

Yeah i was always called one 🤣🤣

I suppose back in early 90s I was alternative (included Indie, Grunge and anything but metal really).

Townies at the time were just townies because it was the fashion and the clubs and bars which were shit 😂 townies places were in town, our places were elsewhere..

I turned into a crusty but some of my best friends were still townies.

Chavs came along a few years later with there clothes all being label.

It was townies when I was at school, then soon after I left it changed into the term chav. I have no idea where all of this came from - I hung around with the goths.

Townies from the late 80s where I’m from (east Mids). Fond of the sports casual look; in my day it was paisley hoodies, four-colour sinbads, shell suits and Clarks Wallabies. I can’t remember what music went with it but I remember them taking a lot of care over their appearance. Quite a lot of wet-look hair gel.

Are you from Leeds or was there more than one Phono?

Also - Townies were never a subculture, they were the norm.

This.

Townies I do remember! Not a compliment.

townies, chavs and now roadmen. Same shit different times

Roadmen! Now I feel nostalgia for the townies, who at least dressed better.

Townies weren't chavs. Scallies might translate to chav but townie was different. I think townies are called normies nowadays, not chavs.

My recollection is that the term townie was used in the eighties to describe young gents who sported a mullet and a ‘tache. They’d usually wear designer sports gear, but when going clubbing at the weekend at places where sports gear was usually forbidden, they’d wear a shiny jacket, white socks and loafers.

We used to call them trevs, although I think this is specific to my particular area as nobody else has ever heard it.

Are you East Midlands? Because I reckon the terms townie and Trev were used interchangeably. Trev was an abbreviation of Trevor, which was apparently a popular name in the mullet-wearing community.

Townies morphed in to chavs. Girls in really tight dresses from Pilot trying to get in to pubs at 14, lads in very white trainers. I was one 😂

Outed myself! 😂