Hair on the Sauce Bottle

From today’s Guardian:

Forty years ago, a small group of students and university dropouts living rough had a novel idea. What if they pooled meagre savings and jobless benefits for a modest terrace house, rather than rent a run-down flat?

They raised a deposit for a £3,200 mortgage on a neglected two-bedroom property in the Victorian terraces of west Hull, running down to the quayside of a once-thriving fishing port, from where boats used to trawl the north Atlantic.

£3,200 in today’s money is £9,969. That is not enough for a deposit on a Victorian terrace today, even in stinking Hull. According to my quick research and calculations, you’d need a minimum of £19,500. Which is fairly disgusting.

But maybe it’s still doable. Young people of an Escapological mindset could scrape £20k together, right?

The article doesn’t say how many students were involved in the original pool. There are four people in the top photograph. The house had two bedrooms, so let’s assume there were indeed four people. This could leave two couples in each bedroom, with the option of using a downstairs room as a bedroom in the event of not everyone in the quartet being part of a couple.

So four people kicking in £5,000 would give you a decent-ish deposit of £20,000.

So it’s probably still an option. Think about it, kids. Pool your resources. Draw up an agreement to keep everyone safe. Cohabit.

Their enthusiasm for punk bands – the Clash, the Specials and New Model Army – belied a determination to work the system rather than fight the class war.

That’s Escapology, that is. Flight, not fight. You can fight later if you want to.

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New Escapologist Issue 18 can be ordered today for prompt shipping in early November.