“Basically You Were Either a Mainstream Sort of Person or You Went to the Leadmill and the Limit”: Understanding Post-War British Youth Culture Through Oral History

A Cultural History of Youth in the Modern Age

“…Globally, young people have used cafes, bars, and pubs-sometimes illegally-as places to socialize, listen to music, and become intoxicated. In postwar Britain, working-class youth denoted their affiliations with "mainstream" or "alternative" youth cultures through listening to music and/or dancing at particular clubs and pubs (Kenny 2019). With a strong oral tradition of storytelling, coffeehouses were important institutions for youth in the Arab world since at least the eighteenth century (Sajdi 2013).…”