'Funny money', hidden charges and repossession : working class experiences of consumption and credit in the inter-war years

This output deals with working class consumers’ experience of consumption and credit during the inter-war period, with particular reference to Tyneside and the Durham coalfield. Regular visits to the pawnshop, asking for credit at the corner shop, and weekly visits from a tallyman or ‘ticket’ man were all part of the fabric of working class life in most working class areas at that time. The article argues that working-class experiences of credit and consumption were not unified but fragmented by the material and cultural differences within the working class itself. The article, which is based on extensive archival research, working class autobiographies, and oral history interviews, is the first detailed study of this phenomenon on Tyneside which also relates it to wider national trends. It is a revised version of a paper given at the Committee for the History of Retailing and Distribution Conference held at the University of Wolverhampton in 2002. The conference visit was funded by Northumbria. This chapter was published after the monograph 'Working Class Credit', but has a tighter regional focus than the monograph, while also discussing consumption in a broader sense.