Overcrowding was with us a lot more recently than the 1901-1911 period. Until the council house building boom after the second world war started there were numerous places in Amble where it prevailed until the late 40's early 50's. I was brought up in an upstairs flat in Church street which was only two rooms, a living room and a bedroom. These flats are now made into complete houses but then there were several families of parents and as many as four children in those two rooms. The outside toilet in the yard was shared by both the up and down flats. The children of today wouldn't recognise these conditions.
The only council housing prior to the post war building program was Westfield Estate which had been built in the 1920's to house the people from Victoria Place which was slum clearance.
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