Sam McAughtry reflects on the redevelopment of north Belfast and changes for the people living there.
The changes to inner city Belfast have seen streets cleared of houses and a redevelopment that presents challenges to community life.
It's a sad fact of life that the bulldozer has done more to level Belfast's inner city than the bomber.
Writer Sam McAughtry has chronicled the life of working class Belfast and shares his memories of the city with reporter Brian Black.
Sam McAughtry grew up in the loyalist Tiger's Bay area of Belfast, which was once like a village within the city with its own services for the community. While some families remain in Tiger's Bay, many had to move as the bulldozers arrived. York Street was once one of the liveliest districts for nightlife in Belfast. This too has gone.
The housing picture is not all bad news in north Belfast. New homes are being built on Mackey Street in Tiger's Bay. With money in short supply and unemployment figures high, people in these houses are the lucky ones. Clubs have sprung up as centres of community providing vital life where pubs have closed their doors in Belfast.
Local people who were rehoused in the area share their experiences of their Belfast lives and the importance of the locally created club to them.
This episode of Ireland's Eye was broadcast on 22 January 1981. The reporter is Brian Black.
'Ireland's Eye' was a Tuesday-to-Friday series with human-interest stories and features from locations throughout Ireland. First broadcast on 7 October 1980, the programme ran until August 1983.
