0:00:05 > 0:00:12For more than 50 years, the BBC have captured the changing face of everyday life in Northern Ireland.
0:00:14 > 0:00:16It all seems so innocent today,
0:00:16 > 0:00:23but without these moments, something of who we are now would be lost for ever.
0:00:23 > 0:00:26These are the archives and those were the days.
0:00:30 > 0:00:33It's completely invaluable to look back at film
0:00:33 > 0:00:37because they take us back to another time.
0:00:39 > 0:00:42I quite enjoy looking back at those old films.
0:00:42 > 0:00:48It reminds you of old times. We've all come a long way since then.
0:00:49 > 0:00:55Looking back is always fascinating. I do think there's sometimes the opportunity to learn from it,
0:00:55 > 0:01:01to see where we've gone, to see how we've moved forward and whether that's necessarily an improvement.
0:01:13 > 0:01:19# The boys watch the girls while the girls watch the boys who watch the girls go by... #
0:01:19 > 0:01:25For anyone serious about their shopping in 1950s and '60s Northern Ireland,
0:01:25 > 0:01:29there was only one place to be - Belfast.
0:01:29 > 0:01:35Purchase power permeated the city's grand apartment stores and ornate arcades.
0:01:35 > 0:01:40But while the well-heeled frequented the bustling boutiques of Royal Avenue,
0:01:40 > 0:01:44intrepid bargain hunters headed for nearby Smithfield Market.
0:01:44 > 0:01:49It was a treat if you went into town to get as far as Smithfield.
0:01:49 > 0:01:53If you put up with everything else about going around the shops,
0:01:53 > 0:01:55you might get to Smithfield.
0:01:55 > 0:02:02My father would have described it "a wee huckster of a place". It was not built for purpose.
0:02:02 > 0:02:05My abiding memory is it was like a big cottage
0:02:05 > 0:02:09with whitewashed walls and slates missing from the roof.
0:02:12 > 0:02:18For more than 200 years, this enduring emporium exhibited an eclectic array of antiquities
0:02:18 > 0:02:25and savvy shoppers of all ages, wages and aspirations descended to delight in its riches.
0:02:29 > 0:02:33It was known in my childhood as "the Belfast umbrella".
0:02:33 > 0:02:35And on a dirty, wet day,
0:02:35 > 0:02:41everybody flocked into it, the poorest of the poor, the richest of the rich.
0:02:41 > 0:02:45You would have seen the academics looking through the old books.
0:02:45 > 0:02:50It had a different pace, I think, than a shopping street does.
0:02:50 > 0:02:53A shopping street is always urging you on
0:02:53 > 0:02:58and Smithfield was the kind of place that invited you to stop, to browse.
0:03:00 > 0:03:05It also attracted the homeless people, the wee down-and-outs, the wee winos.
0:03:05 > 0:03:08There were a lot of characters kicking about then
0:03:08 > 0:03:12who had been shell-shocked in the recent world war.
0:03:12 > 0:03:16They had peculiarities and that attracted us as kids.
0:03:17 > 0:03:24Kids are cruel. You'd have slagged them and got a slap on the head by someone passing by.
0:03:24 > 0:03:30And providing the soundtrack for the Smithfield faithful was one of Belfast's oldest record shops.
0:03:30 > 0:03:34The legendary Premier Records was THE place
0:03:34 > 0:03:39if you wanted to hear and buy discs with a distinctly local vibe.
0:03:39 > 0:03:43The other vivid memory I have are the sounds of Smithfield
0:03:43 > 0:03:47and that's one of them - walking down that central street
0:03:47 > 0:03:53and blasting out would be The Clancy Brothers or some obscure folk group.
0:03:53 > 0:03:56You'd have got somebody going in and asking for a rebel song
0:03:56 > 0:04:01and sticking his chest out and looking around, defying anybody to say anything.
0:04:01 > 0:04:07Then you'd get a wee man go up and say, "Give us the Sash," and that would be played.
0:04:07 > 0:04:11Often it was just touch and go that a riot would break out.
0:04:11 > 0:04:16# Oh, the shark, babe, has such teeth... #
0:04:16 > 0:04:19The joke shop was the one that drew me
0:04:19 > 0:04:24because when you're 13 to 14, you always want to try out something on your friends
0:04:24 > 0:04:27and items like itching powder were always very popular.
0:04:27 > 0:04:34The shops and stalls of this colourful market bazaar concealed all types of buyable booty
0:04:34 > 0:04:39from the curious and the strange to the sacred and the stolen.
0:04:40 > 0:04:47Smithfield was notorious in the old days for being the place for stolen goods.
0:04:47 > 0:04:51That only really fizzled out, I'd say, in the late '50s.
0:04:51 > 0:04:57If anybody was to sell something, they had to give proof of identity and sign a receipt
0:04:57 > 0:05:01which really put an end to the selling of stolen goods.
0:05:01 > 0:05:06But, um... Yeah, you'd have bought your granny in Smithfield
0:05:06 > 0:05:09if you wanted her back!
0:05:09 > 0:05:14# Someone's sneakin' round the corner... #
0:05:14 > 0:05:17There was all sorts of people there.
0:05:17 > 0:05:21There were strong men, there were bare-fist fighters.
0:05:21 > 0:05:23There was gamblers.
0:05:23 > 0:05:29It was... It was a market in the proper sense in the ancient days.
0:05:31 > 0:05:36# Now that Macky's back in town... #
0:05:36 > 0:05:39And Maggie was back in town.
0:05:39 > 0:05:45The renowned travelling singer from Cork, Margaret Barry, regularly drew the Smithfield crowds.
0:05:45 > 0:05:48Captured here by BBC cameras in the 1970s,
0:05:48 > 0:05:53Margaret is accompanied by a one-woman dancing and fiddling phenomenon.
0:05:53 > 0:05:56# And in green Tyrone
0:05:56 > 0:06:00# Sure the devil a town in Ireland
0:06:00 > 0:06:05# But you'll find the Blarney Stone... #
0:06:05 > 0:06:07APPLAUSE
0:06:07 > 0:06:11It's not music that I remember hearing.
0:06:11 > 0:06:17I have a funny feeling it's not music you could have heard anywhere else, except around Smithfield.
0:06:17 > 0:06:20You must have kissed the Blarney Stone a few times.
0:06:20 > 0:06:23Oh, an awful lot of times is right.
0:06:23 > 0:06:28The only thing about it, the Blarney Stone in Cork is a very tricky place
0:06:28 > 0:06:32because when you lean back and kiss this Blarney Stone,
0:06:32 > 0:06:36if you had anything in your pocket, it'd all fall down.
0:06:36 > 0:06:39THEY PLAY TRADITIONAL TUNE
0:06:43 > 0:06:46Dancing fiddler, wow, that's...
0:06:46 > 0:06:50You don't see many dancing fiddlers any more.
0:06:50 > 0:06:55I can't think actually that you used to see that many of them then.
0:07:01 > 0:07:03That was not new to Smithfield.
0:07:03 > 0:07:06It was new to that generation of people,
0:07:06 > 0:07:09but that went on
0:07:09 > 0:07:14from the very early days of, um... of Smithfield.
0:07:19 > 0:07:23Meanwhile, at the other end of Royal Avenue
0:07:23 > 0:07:25and the social spectrum,
0:07:25 > 0:07:30the Grand Central Hotel welcomed an altogether more cash-rich consumer.
0:07:32 > 0:07:37Decades later, these opulent surroundings would literally give way
0:07:37 > 0:07:41to the bright, new Castle Court Shopping Centre.
0:07:41 > 0:07:44But until then, this was THE place
0:07:44 > 0:07:48to seek five-star respite from an afternoon spending spree.
0:07:50 > 0:07:57The Grand Central Hotel was in the '50s and '60s Belfast's premier hotel.
0:07:57 > 0:08:00It was a great family sort of traditional hotel,
0:08:00 > 0:08:03family-owned and a family atmosphere in the staff.
0:08:03 > 0:08:06It was smack in the centre of Belfast.
0:08:06 > 0:08:10It was grand beyond dreams, beyond imagination.
0:08:12 > 0:08:18It rated along with the Shelbourne in Dublin, the Caledonian in Edinburgh and the Savoy in London.
0:08:18 > 0:08:22We always remember the beautiful revolving doors
0:08:22 > 0:08:28and the guys who would come out to carry in the rich people's... only rich people's stuff,
0:08:28 > 0:08:33carrying their bags, all well-dressed with their peaked hats and that.
0:08:33 > 0:08:39Every event that was important in Belfast in those days was held in the Grand Central.
0:08:39 > 0:08:43The GC, as it became affectionately known,
0:08:43 > 0:08:45was a sophisticated social hub
0:08:45 > 0:08:49whose VIP guests included Winston Churchill and The Beatles.
0:08:49 > 0:08:53And even the wine cellar was a cut above the norm.
0:08:53 > 0:08:59I think there was something in the region of 568 wines on the list, you know?
0:08:59 > 0:09:04In those days, when you're talking about wines, there were no New World wines.
0:09:04 > 0:09:06These were all French and German.
0:09:06 > 0:09:10They were selling in those days at £50 and £60,
0:09:10 > 0:09:15which was four, five months' wages nearly for some people, you know?
0:09:18 > 0:09:22City hotels, of all hotels, have a particular buzz about them
0:09:22 > 0:09:26that are not common to other hotels in the country.
0:09:26 > 0:09:32You had people in and out all the time and you had a buzz about it that was just extra-special.
0:09:32 > 0:09:37But the future for this retreat for the affluent shopper
0:09:37 > 0:09:41and its unique market next door was to be short-lived.
0:09:41 > 0:09:47Dramatic events in 1974 were to cruelly rip the heart out of old Belfast
0:09:47 > 0:09:51and leave Smithfield a smouldering ruin.
0:09:51 > 0:09:56# ..got it made, it seemed the taste was not so sweet... #
0:09:56 > 0:09:59I remember the fire that destroyed Smithfield.
0:09:59 > 0:10:06And, you know, I remember feeling that something had gone from the city
0:10:06 > 0:10:09when Smithfield went.
0:10:09 > 0:10:12'The market was one of the best-known areas in Belfast.
0:10:12 > 0:10:14'Most of the shops were old.
0:10:14 > 0:10:18'It took 50 firemen over two hours to get the blaze under control.'
0:10:18 > 0:10:22# Ch-ch-changes Turn and face the strain... #
0:10:22 > 0:10:26'By morning, the stallholders assess the damage.
0:10:26 > 0:10:29'Practically the whole market had been destroyed.'
0:10:29 > 0:10:35An awful lot happened to change the face of Belfast in a very, very few years,
0:10:35 > 0:10:38probably between 1972 and 1975.
0:10:38 > 0:10:43Those were the years in which the city changed most.
0:10:43 > 0:10:47# So the days float through my eyes
0:10:47 > 0:10:50# But still the days seem the same... #
0:10:50 > 0:10:58Back in 1971, a ring of steel swathed the city centre as this unrelenting decade took grip.
0:10:58 > 0:11:00The Grand Central suffered financially
0:11:00 > 0:11:05and loyal patrons were forced to witness this once proud hotel's final days.
0:11:05 > 0:11:09You obviously don't come to the Grand Central every day for lunch?
0:11:09 > 0:11:14No, it's my friend's birthday and we thought it's such a sad occasion, the last day,
0:11:14 > 0:11:18that we'd come and celebrate it by having our lunch here.
0:11:18 > 0:11:21How do you feel about the Grand Central closing?
0:11:21 > 0:11:26It's an indication of all the things in Belfast closing down. It's sad.
0:11:26 > 0:11:31I've come to the Grand Central for several weeks a year ever since the war finished.
0:11:31 > 0:11:33How do you feel about it closing?
0:11:33 > 0:11:38I feel very sad indeed. This must be a great loss to Belfast.
0:11:38 > 0:11:42It's more like an institution closing than a hotel.
0:11:42 > 0:11:44It was an end of an era.
0:11:44 > 0:11:49In Dublin and other cities today, those fine hotels are still thriving.
0:11:49 > 0:11:53There's nothing left in Belfast that will relate to anything before 1970.
0:11:53 > 0:11:57It's a bit sad that there's nothing there of tradition.
0:11:57 > 0:12:01As the 1980s dawned, ambitious plans were being drawn up
0:12:01 > 0:12:06to revive the derelict site of the old Smithfield and Grand Central Hotel.
0:12:06 > 0:12:11The modern vision of a shopping centre was about to become a reality
0:12:11 > 0:12:14for Belfast's retail-starved shoppers.
0:12:20 > 0:12:23Meanwhile, away from the big city,
0:12:23 > 0:12:30the retail scene across Northern Ireland's towns and villages remained largely unchanged.
0:12:30 > 0:12:36In Coleraine, the weekly market and a certain grocery store stayed central to the daily shop.
0:12:36 > 0:12:42Moody's were a family firm which existed on the same site for about 75 years.
0:12:42 > 0:12:45Raymond and Mervyn and Mrs Moody
0:12:45 > 0:12:49ran the shop. It was an absolute treasure trove.
0:12:49 > 0:12:54You would go into Moody's shop and it was just so quaint.
0:12:54 > 0:12:58It was nearly like a general store you get in the Midwest of America.
0:12:58 > 0:13:03There were all these lovely wee shelves with tea on them and they had flour...
0:13:03 > 0:13:08You could buy bags of flour, but they also sold things loose.
0:13:08 > 0:13:11# The bargain store is open, come inside... #
0:13:12 > 0:13:17It was almost like a delicatessen before the word was even invented.
0:13:17 > 0:13:21You could get anything and everything in Moody's.
0:13:21 > 0:13:27If it wasn't on the shelves, one of the brothers disappeared into the back and out it came.
0:13:27 > 0:13:30They used to slice cured bacon on the bacon slicer.
0:13:30 > 0:13:35If you wanted cheese, it was sliced as well and there was no washing it in between.
0:13:35 > 0:13:41Now if I use the bacon slicer for raw meat or even cooked meat, you have to take the whole thing apart
0:13:41 > 0:13:47and fill this form to say you've taken it apart, you've sprayed it, sanitised it, and sign it off.
0:13:47 > 0:13:52And, you know, still then, it was cheese, it was bacon, everything.
0:13:52 > 0:13:56It didn't matter. It built up a resistance, I think!
0:13:56 > 0:13:58# I do have some more... #
0:13:58 > 0:14:00There was a personal service in this shop.
0:14:00 > 0:14:04You just came in with your little list, got your order fulfilled
0:14:04 > 0:14:09and it was delivered to your house by the man who owned the shop.
0:14:09 > 0:14:16This was the same in probably over a dozen little grocer's shops in the town at that time.
0:14:16 > 0:14:18The other one was McElderry's.
0:14:18 > 0:14:25There's one bit in that footage where a guy comes up with a chain and throws it down on to the counter
0:14:25 > 0:14:29and then somebody else is standing caressing a chainsaw.
0:14:30 > 0:14:34And I'm thinking, "Hello! Where else would you get that?"
0:14:34 > 0:14:36It was scary, but also fascinating.
0:14:36 > 0:14:40# The bargain store is open, come inside... #
0:14:41 > 0:14:43But in 1981,
0:14:43 > 0:14:48a new shopping experience was about to hit Coleraine's commercial hub.
0:14:48 > 0:14:51In scenes reminiscent of today's retail revolution,
0:14:51 > 0:14:57consumers were abandoning the high street and embracing the out-of-town supermarket.
0:15:01 > 0:15:07For me, the day that Crazy Prices arrived in Coleraine was a very, very sad day.
0:15:07 > 0:15:10The first big supermarket in the town,
0:15:10 > 0:15:14just on the edge of the main shopping street
0:15:14 > 0:15:16with a dedicated car park.
0:15:18 > 0:15:22People had got a wee bit lazy. The town had developed somewhat.
0:15:22 > 0:15:28Now housing estates were being built on the edge of the town, so people came into town in their motor cars.
0:15:28 > 0:15:32Rather than go to the grocer's shop, they went to the big shop.
0:15:32 > 0:15:35# Can you feel it?
0:15:35 > 0:15:38# Can you feel it? Can you feel it...? #
0:15:38 > 0:15:43I mean, I'm sorry, but I hate supermarkets.
0:15:43 > 0:15:47I go to them, but I just hate them, I hate the whole concept of them.
0:15:47 > 0:15:52You go into Moody's and you get beautiful smells. A supermarket smells of disinfectant.
0:15:52 > 0:15:56And I remember that Crazy Prices had a walk-in cold room
0:15:56 > 0:16:00where you had to push back those slats and go in and get your milk.
0:16:00 > 0:16:04Everybody's talking about this as the greatest thing on Earth.
0:16:04 > 0:16:07I'm thinking, "The walk-in fridge - whoopty-doo!"
0:16:07 > 0:16:14'This large supermarket lies just outside the traditional shopping and business centre of the town.
0:16:14 > 0:16:19'It's a world away from the homely atmosphere of the family grocery.
0:16:19 > 0:16:22'There can be no peace and quiet in here.
0:16:22 > 0:16:26'You're bombarded on all sides by bright lights and advertisements,
0:16:26 > 0:16:29'asking you to buy this, that and the other.
0:16:29 > 0:16:32'It's no wonder the customers sometimes look perplexed.'
0:16:32 > 0:16:39Half the time, you're being served in a supermarket by some surly 18-year-old with their head down.
0:16:39 > 0:16:44Beep-beep... If you ask them anything, they're like, "I don't know," and that's it.
0:16:44 > 0:16:49I think what's happened to Coleraine has happened to other towns. It's just generic now.
0:16:49 > 0:16:55It's got the big shops, the big clothes shops where people are just wage slaves and they don't care.
0:16:55 > 0:17:00They're working for big conglomerates that will make plenty of money anyway.
0:17:00 > 0:17:04While there was no reversing these retail trends,
0:17:04 > 0:17:08the traditional department store remained a high street mainstay.
0:17:08 > 0:17:14And the January sales found frenetic customers worshipping at these cathedrals to consumerism.
0:17:14 > 0:17:19For Belfast superstores, this was the annual gold rush.
0:17:19 > 0:17:23# I would take the stars out of the sky for you
0:17:23 > 0:17:27# Stop the rain from falling if you asked me to... #
0:17:27 > 0:17:31The department stores were great. I loved them - Robinson & Cleaver's,
0:17:31 > 0:17:35Anderson & McAuley's, the Bank Buildings, I really liked it.
0:17:35 > 0:17:38They all had a different atmosphere.
0:17:38 > 0:17:43There were all the beauty counters with all these heavily made-up women behind them
0:17:43 > 0:17:46who were a perfumed world of their own, really.
0:17:46 > 0:17:50And when you were kind of coming up early teens,
0:17:50 > 0:17:53you just went and stood and watched and listened to them
0:17:53 > 0:17:56and hoped some of that glamour might rub off on you.
0:17:56 > 0:18:01# You to me are everything The sweetest song that I could sing... #
0:18:01 > 0:18:07You had places like the big marble staircase in Robinson & Cleaver's that everybody always remembers.
0:18:07 > 0:18:10You'd go halfway up there and just stand and think,
0:18:10 > 0:18:16"Some day maybe I'll be behind the beauty counter here in Robinson & Cleaver's."
0:18:16 > 0:18:19# ..just a taste of love to build my hopes upon... #
0:18:19 > 0:18:24My main memory of Robinson & Cleaver's is going in the very ancient lift in there.
0:18:24 > 0:18:28What happened was I was going in with my mum and dad.
0:18:28 > 0:18:32My dad was always prone to doing these kind of jokey things.
0:18:32 > 0:18:36When we were travelling up in the lift, there were two doors
0:18:36 > 0:18:41and he opened the back doors for some reason and the lift stopped between floors.
0:18:41 > 0:18:45I was absolutely terrified. I still can't go in lifts by myself.
0:18:45 > 0:18:50# Oh, you to me are everything The sweetest song that I can sing... #
0:18:50 > 0:18:54Most of us came from pretty... not very well-off backgrounds.
0:18:54 > 0:18:58When your parents went to department stores like the Co, for example...
0:19:00 > 0:19:02..it was to buy things on HP.
0:19:02 > 0:19:07It wasn't to buy things straight off or produce credit cards
0:19:07 > 0:19:09because nobody had credit cards.
0:19:09 > 0:19:16It was to go in and look and see that thing that was 35 pounds, 19 and ninepence,
0:19:16 > 0:19:20if they paid half a crown a week, you know, for the duration, really,
0:19:20 > 0:19:24that television set could be in your living room.
0:19:25 > 0:19:28It was about aspiring to glamour, I suppose,
0:19:28 > 0:19:32and aspiring to own those kind of things
0:19:32 > 0:19:36because for most of us it was outside the realm of what we could do.
0:19:36 > 0:19:41- Do you think you get value for money here? - You'd better ask my wife that!
0:19:41 > 0:19:47- What about you, ladies? Do you think it's a good store?- I think it's beautiful. Plenty of bargains.
0:19:47 > 0:19:52- Have you found any yet?- Yes, I've seen some nice curtain material.
0:19:52 > 0:19:55- Did you buy it or just window-shop? - Just looked at it.
0:19:55 > 0:20:01There is something very nice about a department store and about those old department stores.
0:20:01 > 0:20:06They weren't made up of a whole load of concessions of shops that are outside as well.
0:20:06 > 0:20:09You went into Anderson & McAuley's
0:20:09 > 0:20:12and it was just Anderson & McAuley's.
0:20:12 > 0:20:17It's hard to believe now, but back in the 1970s and '80s,
0:20:17 > 0:20:24seemingly innocuous day trips brought daily spot checks, body frisks and security controls.
0:20:27 > 0:20:32But that didn't stop hardy shoppers from venturing beyond the metal gates
0:20:32 > 0:20:35and immersing themselves in the retail melee.
0:20:35 > 0:20:41There was the ring of steel around the centre of the town, so you had to open your handbag
0:20:41 > 0:20:46and get searched, get frisked on the way through the gates,
0:20:46 > 0:20:50just to get into Donegall Place or into Royal Avenue.
0:20:50 > 0:20:54When you went into the shops, your handbag was looked in again.
0:20:54 > 0:21:00I remember going to see friends in England and I did that there too and they thought I was nuts.
0:21:00 > 0:21:06You'd walk into a shop on Oxford Street and you'd wait for somebody to come and look in your handbag.
0:21:06 > 0:21:11They were all mortified by this, but it was just such a normal part of everyday life.
0:21:11 > 0:21:17There was no late-night shopping. Once you got to five o'clock, everybody was out of there.
0:21:17 > 0:21:21The centre of Belfast was completely deserted.
0:21:22 > 0:21:25It was a very, very strange place.
0:21:25 > 0:21:28At the time, it was...
0:21:28 > 0:21:34"Normal" would be putting it too strongly. At the time, it was what we had got used to.
0:21:34 > 0:21:39But when you look back on it, it was completely bizarre.
0:21:40 > 0:21:43Against this embattled retail backdrop,
0:21:43 > 0:21:47shiny, new, American-style shopping malls were springing up.
0:21:47 > 0:21:50# He walked into my life
0:21:52 > 0:21:56# And now he's taking over
0:21:58 > 0:22:01# And it's beautiful
0:22:01 > 0:22:04# Yes, it's beautiful... #
0:22:04 > 0:22:09Now in places such as Newtownards and Newtownabbey,
0:22:09 > 0:22:15car-loving suburbanites could find all their favourite high street names under one handy roof.
0:22:15 > 0:22:17# And now we're beautiful... #
0:22:17 > 0:22:21I remember Ards Shopping Centre in particular.
0:22:21 > 0:22:25I think it must have been about the first of its kind.
0:22:25 > 0:22:29It was what we imagined an American shopping mall would be like.
0:22:29 > 0:22:33You drove up and there was a big car park. It was obviously the future.
0:22:33 > 0:22:37We were all told very, very forcefully, "This is the future."
0:22:37 > 0:22:41And so, "Oh..." We looked around.
0:22:42 > 0:22:45# We are so beautiful... #
0:22:45 > 0:22:49It was really quite new and exciting and different
0:22:49 > 0:22:54and that whole concept of having a street that you could walk down
0:22:54 > 0:22:58without getting soaked or blown away or whatever...
0:22:58 > 0:23:03It had the shops on either side. It was a completely different shopping experience.
0:23:06 > 0:23:12I can't remember whether there was so much controversy about the out-of-town shopping centres then
0:23:12 > 0:23:15as there continues to be now.
0:23:15 > 0:23:21At the time, we didn't maybe think about that and we didn't give so much thought as shoppers
0:23:21 > 0:23:25to the effect that it would have on our town centres
0:23:25 > 0:23:29and the fact that it would, in some cases, suck the life out of them.
0:23:32 > 0:23:38As the MTV generation turned our '80s wardrobe an unsubtle shade of neon,
0:23:38 > 0:23:42so too did a new wave of chain stores adopt the DayGlo look.
0:23:43 > 0:23:48Northern Ireland's fledgling fashionistas weren't afraid to strut their stuff.
0:23:50 > 0:23:55There's nothing about the '80s that I really want to have anything to do with.
0:23:55 > 0:23:58Those haircuts, those collars,
0:23:58 > 0:24:01the, uh... No.
0:24:01 > 0:24:07I was quite young in the '80s, but I remember my puffball skirt, my ra-ra skirt. I was proud of those.
0:24:07 > 0:24:11Northern Ireland does not really have a fashion scene
0:24:11 > 0:24:16as larger cities in Britain have, like London. Awareness is minimal.
0:24:16 > 0:24:20People over here don't give that much importance to it.
0:24:20 > 0:24:24Northern Ireland has always been an incredibly conservative place
0:24:24 > 0:24:29and fashion tends towards the radical and extreme, so those two things never go together.
0:24:29 > 0:24:33I used to have a pair of red patent loafers,
0:24:33 > 0:24:37which I wore kind of towards the end of the '80s
0:24:37 > 0:24:41and people would actually shout at you out of cars
0:24:41 > 0:24:45because you were wearing these red patent loafers.
0:24:45 > 0:24:47"What about ye, girl?"
0:24:49 > 0:24:52It's the craic and the banter as well.
0:24:52 > 0:24:58If you see somebody wearing something weird, you have to make something of it. You can't just leave it.
0:25:03 > 0:25:10And getting to grips with the latest designs was all in a day's work for Newtownabbey's Sandara Kelso.
0:25:14 > 0:25:16Back in the '80s,
0:25:16 > 0:25:21this stylish graduate and Entrepreneur of the Year created millinery masterpieces
0:25:21 > 0:25:24for some of the biggest names of the day.
0:25:24 > 0:25:28There was a lot of interest in hats, obviously.
0:25:28 > 0:25:31Diana was starting to make her impact.
0:25:31 > 0:25:36But they were still very much for the races or for weddings.
0:25:37 > 0:25:43You wouldn't have seen very many people wandering about Belfast in a hat in a normal day.
0:25:43 > 0:25:47# La-la-la-la-la She's got the look... #
0:25:47 > 0:25:50Well, I made a hat for Margaret Thatcher.
0:25:50 > 0:25:55She took a fancy to a black leather beret which I always thought was quite funny,
0:25:55 > 0:25:58but nobody really picked up on it at that time,
0:25:58 > 0:26:00so as she was leaving,
0:26:00 > 0:26:04one of the organisers said, "Why don't you give it to her?
0:26:04 > 0:26:08"It would be great for PR. There's lots of cameras here."
0:26:08 > 0:26:14So I presented her with the hat and she said, "Well, you must invoice me."
0:26:14 > 0:26:17I said, "No, I couldn't possibly invoice you."
0:26:17 > 0:26:22"If you don't invoice me, you'll never make any money and I shan't take it."
0:26:22 > 0:26:26So I sat down at my typewriter to type an invoice to Downing Street
0:26:26 > 0:26:29and she sent me a personal cheque back.
0:26:29 > 0:26:33This valuable lesson in business
0:26:33 > 0:26:37and lots of hard graft kept this designer ahead of the game.
0:26:37 > 0:26:41And in the tough business of artistic endeavour,
0:26:41 > 0:26:45celebrity endorsements helped encourage her enterprising spirit.
0:26:45 > 0:26:48I like to think my hats are innovative.
0:26:48 > 0:26:51I try styles and shapes that others don't try.
0:26:51 > 0:26:54If that leads the way, I'm happy to do that.
0:26:54 > 0:26:57Northern Ireland is still a pretty macho, conservative place.
0:26:57 > 0:27:02Starting a hat business here today would still be very difficult.
0:27:02 > 0:27:04She could have gone on Dragons' Den.
0:27:04 > 0:27:08Her ideas were good, her business sense was good.
0:27:08 > 0:27:13These days, we look to creative industries as a way into the future.
0:27:13 > 0:27:19Then people just thought it was a highway to nothing, I suppose, really.
0:27:19 > 0:27:26Back in the '80s, Sandara's local shop window was still a world away from today's global marketplace.
0:27:26 > 0:27:30Online advances would reinvent the retail trade.
0:27:30 > 0:27:36But for small businesses like this, they would come that little bit too late.
0:27:36 > 0:27:40Well, you know, you just think, "Internet, email,"
0:27:40 > 0:27:44you know, all that ability to sell worldwide
0:27:44 > 0:27:49would be a huge bonus and benefit to anyone starting up in business now.
0:27:49 > 0:27:53# Once upon a time there was a tavern... #
0:27:53 > 0:27:59This is the story of how our shopping habits have evolved from market stalls to computer screens
0:27:59 > 0:28:02and shaped our retail future.
0:28:02 > 0:28:06And thanks to a rich archive and the magic of film,
0:28:06 > 0:28:09we can bring those bygone days back to life.
0:28:10 > 0:28:14# Those were the days, my friend
0:28:14 > 0:28:17# We thought they'd never end
0:28:17 > 0:28:22# We'd sing and dance for ever and a day
0:28:22 > 0:28:26# We'd live the life we choose
0:28:26 > 0:28:29# We'd fight and never lose
0:28:29 > 0:28:31# Those were the days
0:28:31 > 0:28:35# Oh, yes, those were the days... #