Seventies Wolverhampton: 12 incredible photos of life in Wolverhampton during the 1970s

The 1970s was a defining area for the world, with huge economical changes and political controversies, such as the Watergate scandal, aplenty.

In the UK, it was the decade of the Ford Cortina, the record player and cassette recorder. It was also a decade of strikes, with postal workers, miners and dustmen all taking part in industrial action in the seventies.

After years of Labour in government, the end of the decade also marked the start of Margaret Thatcher’s reign as Prime Minister.

Wolverhampton was renowned for its prolific bicycle industry at the beginning of the decade - with more than 200 bike manufacturing companies such as Viking, Marston, Sunbeam, Star, Wulfruna and Rudge, but this industry started to wane in the 70s and there are none of these today.

By 1975 Wolverhampton had extended to take in most of the Borough of Bilston, the Urban Districts of Wednesfield and Tettenhall and parts of Willenhall, Sedgley and Coseley. Almost a third of the population lived in council housing.