CONSETT Steelworks closed on September 12, 1980, with the loss of 3,700 jobs. Margaret Thatcher had taken power just a year before.

But the loss of the town’s major employer devastated the community and many in Consett have never forgiven the former Tory PM for the move.

The “Murder of a Town”, it was once called.

Steel had dominated Consett’s economy for 140 years. At the industry’s peak, in the 1960s, the works employed 6,000 people and the plant was nationalised as part of the British Steel Corporation.

It remained profitable but closure, according to Thatcher Government publicity at the time, was part of its strategy to revitalise UK industry.

The Northern Echo: thatcher

RIPPED APART: Consett Steelworks is ripped down in 1980

 

Billy Robson was 17 when he started work at “the company” as an apprentice in 1972. When the works closed, he had a wife, two children and a big mortgage.

He sold his dream home for fear he would fall behind on the repayments.

“They were hard times, particularly in the strike leading up to closure,” he said.

“I think Margaret Thatcher will be remembered as the person who closed the works.

“But I say: ‘Live and let die’. It’s history and it’s sad when anybody dies. I don’t hold any grudges. I don’t wish anyone any harm whatsoever.”

The Northern Echo: thatcher

The industrial landscape as grassland

Now chief executive of Consett and District YMCA, Mr Robson says Consett has been transformed since those tough days immediately following the closure.

“It was a bad thing for the economy, of course,” he said, “But Consett’s a healthier, better place now.”