Sheffield retro: 9 nostalgic photos proving the 70s get a raw deal, including Fiesta and Hofbrauhaus

It’s an era that has long been dismissed as a car crash of bad fashion and industrial unrest.

But do the 1970s get a raw deal?

This was the era we have to thank in Sheffield for venues like the Fiesta, Josephines, Limit and many more.

Many would say the 1970s were arguably more culturally ground-breaking and aspirational than anything that went before.

Many also forget that many of the more jaw-dropping moments of the era weren’t without their dissenters — even back then.

In fact ‘The Black And White Minstrel Show’ — a programme that has the ability to single-handedly consign the decade to a lifetime of understandable racism accusations — actually received its first petition trying to ban it as early as 1967.

‘Love Thy Neighbour’ — another light entertainment headline grabber for the era for all the wrong reasons — hardly found things plain sailing either.

It was criticised for its sledgehammer-style handling of racism from the day it was broadcast in 1972.

So before you write off the ’70s here’s a few things to remember about the much-maligned decade that might surprise you:

It can’t be totally blamed for flared trousers. They were becoming popular from the mid-1960s. In fact the 1970s as good as killed them in 1976 with the rise of punk.

The era produced films that have gone on to influence generations: Star Wars, Jaws and the Exorcist being just three.

Despite the era being maligned as treating women as second-class citizens it actually produced the country’s first female Prime Minister in Margaret Thatcher in 1979. And before you say anything else just remember what was happening in a few years earlier… In 1971 women were banned from entering a Wimpy Bar after midnight (all-night Wimpys were big in the era) as it was assumed only prostitutes were out after that time.

The 1970s introduced the first taste of a digital future via the rise of pocket calculators, digital watches and the first personal computer.

The first Gay Pride parade was held in New York City in 1970.

The Sony Walkman was launched in the 1970s.

America got a lot closer — Concorde was launched which cut the journey down to just three hours.

• Inspired by Neil Anderson’s ‘Dirty Stop Out’s Guide to 1970s Britain – In Pictures’ which is available from https://dirtystopouts.com/products/dirty-stop-outs-guide-to-1970s-britain-in-pictures-pocket-size-edition