IN PICTURES: A look back at life on the estate in 1990

It may not have been the Ritz but for the people of the Lion Farm estate in Oldbury, it was the place they called home.

It was in 1990 as a wide-eyed photography student that Robert Clayton first set eyes on the estate.

There was something about it that caught his attention. It was far from perfect – tower blocks dominated the skyline in a rather grim-looking landscape – but nevertheless it had a certain charm. Robert wanted to document life on a typical housing estate, long before programmes like Benefits Street came along.

But far from doing a disservice to the people that live there, as those shows have been accused of doing, Robert's intention was to do the exact opposite.

They may not have been dealt the best deal in life, but they get on with it and made the best of what they had. In Robert's words, it was neither Utopia or a sink estate.

He was invited into the homes of residents and he photographed them going about their everyday lives, be it watching television or smoking a cigarette.It may only be 25 years ago, but many of the images have dated, with bulky TVs and VCRs adorning living rooms.

More than a quarter of a century on, his photographs now have been made into a book – Estate – and have recently gone on display at the Library of Birmingham.

The estate was built during the first half of the 1960s and includes a range of different homes from three 13-storey tower blocks to maisonettes and two-storey semi-detached houses.

Dotted around were shops, a drop-in centre, pub and church.

Robert, from Worcester, was studying at Wolverhampton University and stumbled on the estate while driving round the Black Country looking for an area to photograph. The 48-year-old said: "I just found it. I was driving around looking to photograph a housing estate.

"I came from a council estate myself and I didn't think that sort of environment had been shown to the wider public. Unless you come from an estate like that you wouldn't really know what it was like.

"When I drove in it was just as they were preparing for the demolition of part of it and it appeared a bit bleaker than it ought to be.

"I was trying to be as honest as possible, I was trying not to impose any view but just showing reality. I think it's a mixed bag but the most important thing a council can do is provide housing.

"I was born in 1966 and there was a lot of optimism around then, it seemed like things were possible. But things seemed to change."

Unbeknown to Robert at the time, the Lion Farm estate was once home to a famous resident in Pete Williams, from the band Dexys Midnight Runners, who shot to fame with hits including Come on Eileen and Geno.

He was so pleased with Robert's work that he got in touch.

Robert said: "His exact words were 'thanks for not taking the p*** and representing the estate I saw in my youth'.

"He was pleased someone like me had photographed that moment in time."

The father-of-two recently returned to the estate 25 years on and said it was a place he was still made to feel welcome.

"Rather than taking photographs we are in the process of making a short film about the estate," he added.

"I felt very comfortable there, it was like seeing an old friend. People were friendly and interested in what I was doing. The comments were all favourable."

In Estate the photographer saves a special mention for the people who feature in his photographs.

In the acknowledgements section, he writes: "Thanks to the people of the Lion Farm estate, who, 25 years ago, allowed me access to their homes and tolerated my photographic investigations with kindness and acceptance."

Writer and journalist Jonathan Meades, who introduces the book, also has his say Lion Farm, which he labels as puzzling.

"The Black Country is among the most populous areas of Britain yet the estate seems to be both far from anywhere and, more astonishingly, deserted to the point of desolation," he wrote.

"The estate harbours a worrying amount of dogs, mostly of breeds that are really quadruped weapons. The overwhelming impression is of want and emptiness, a void in the heart, a zone bereft of people. Raggedy grass stretching to the horizon, vast concrete car parks with no cars, a removal van in the distance, pylons, blank walls, minimal graffiti, deserted lift wells."

But despite this list of flaws, Meades was of the belief that all hope was not lost.

He wrote: "(Clayton's) Lion Farm was obviously not the green and pleasant that the post-war consensus strove for and did, sometimes, achieve. But nor was it a dystopian slum. Only the faintest germ of its potential to become one is apparent (a vandalised car, boarded up windows). It could go either way."

And after so much involvement with them, he will always be a defender of the humble council estate.

He said: "Estates like these have their problems, people have their gripes and moans about how they could do better, but there is also a sense of community. It is a slice of everyday working life. Whether it has improved over the past 25 years I don't know."

Estate, featuring 67 colour images of everyday life on the Lion Farm Estate in 1990, is now on sale now from www.lionfarmestate.co.uk

Do you recognised yourself on any of the pictures? Contact the newsdesk at newsdesk@expressandstar.co.uk