To think all tower blocks should be demolished.

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Rather than fitting sprinklers in old blocks should they all just be condemned and the residents quickly relocated.

In many other countries it's far more common to live in flats in high-rise buildings than in the UK - they're often seen as desirable places to live.
Demoloshing all tower blocks wouldn't be practical - where would all the people who live in them go, especially if they wanted to remain in the local area - but it is vitally important to make sure they are all as fire-safe as possible to prevent a similar tragedy happening again.

Both entirely council owned (at the time) and both on deprived areas of London.

The density of people per square mile was about the same in 1970's blocks as in the terraced streets they replaced. You might recall they used to have open space and grassland round them.

Not in some inner city areas of Leeds and Bradford with the back to back housing. We're not talking about spacious through terraces with a front and back yard, but where entry is from the street and there's no back yard because the back is attached to the back of the parallel street. And there are still rows and rows in existence in Leeds. No private outdoor space, nowhere for kids to play, everyone on top of each other.

So no different to a tower block (other than maybe the safety element) really only horizontal rather than vertical

I used to work in inner city east Leeds, a lot of it was slum cleared and rebuilt between the 50s and 70s. One area is called Lincoln Green, there are 12 blocks of about 60 flats and one of about 100. Neighbouring Burmantofts has six of 60 flats and six of 100. And next to that is Saxton Gardens which has five blocks of varying sizes (plus two that have been taken over and remodelled by a private company)

So rehousing just the Leeds 9 postcode area would be a logistical nightmare. Bear in mind too the majority of these flats are one or two beds and because of the over occupancy charge the waiting lists for these addresses are at an all time high.

It would be amazing if everyone could have a house with a garden or a low rise flat round a nice courtyard but how would it be possible?

My local council is in the process of demolishing theirs. My friend lived in one. And has been rehoused in a lovely large flat.

@PickAChew I was talking about the description of them as the shittiest of shitholes - the problems you describe are hardly only found in the North East whether in a flat or a terrace or whatever, you only have to read the threads on here and you see that antisocial behaviour takes many forms. Bashing a whole area by calling it a shithole serves no purpose other than to make people living there either feel bad or feel pissed off that their area is being written off. Like I said, it's not a perfect part of the world but I wouldn't live anywhere else and I'm pretty sure most people I know irl feel the same!

I totally agree! Hate them. Though not sure where they could go :( xx

I was referring to specific localities not entire towns

My street in my ex mining village is lovely but there are bits of the village that I wouldn't want to live in. One particular area can only be described as a shithole. Even the pub there has plastic over its windows after they were all smashed. Most of the buildings are derelict and the ones that are inhabited, even relative newbuilds, are in poor condition.

It's rather disingenuous to suggest that all towns are homogeneous, here's. I agree with you there, which is why I didn't do that. And yes, of course there are dire areas in towns all over the UK, I am fully aware of that because I have lived all over the place before settling up here, so sorry to disappoint you with my lack of ignorance.

I worked opposite a row of 8 grotty 14-storey tower blocks for years. People frequently threw themselves off the top until they enclosed the internal corridors with glass.
They were often on fire. Lower floors had metal grilles on the windows. There was lots of graffiti in the bare concrete corridors and stairwell and the lifts were usually broken. The entire block smelt of urine and cannabis. Loud music blared through the flimsy doors and walls.
There was a no-pets policy but you could hear dogs barking and see them on the balconies.
I knew two teenagers who lived in them having been thrown out by their parents. Their flats became gathering places for lots of teens to get drunk and/or smoke weed.

They were recently sold to an investor, renovated, cladded (yes really) and a gym added on the ground floor. They were advertising at £125k for a 2-bed 'luxury apartment', dropped to £80-90k but many still remain empty.

I think demolishing them would have been better. Horrible, but strangely fascinating buildings. That vertical repeated pattern of uniformity, everyone piled up on top of each other but no real sense of community.