Steve, this brings back some very happy memories! In the mid eighties, I used to live not 600 yards from this very beach (pronounced "baych" in the local vernacular).
The recreation area under Gravelly Hill Motorway Interchange, to give Spaghetti Junction it's proper title, was always a playground for the not-so-rich. There were some top quality "ladies and gentlemen of the road" knocking about, including one who I think was known locally as Ramsay the Kung-fu Tramp. He could be seen performing at many venues throughout the West Midlands and was even on telly once.
This stink of rancid piddle in the underpass (AKA prehistoric caves) was eye watering. And I witnessed some great tramp fights over who had nicked the other ones bottle of Thunderbird. It normally ended with the combatants hugging each other and declaring that they were best mates.
And as for the pubs, they never bothered to put glass in the windows of the Brookvale, it was permanetly boarded up. And the landlord of the Stocklands had the end of his nose shot off in a gun fight. The pub was then closed for some months. Every night was Pint and a Fight Night. The Armada, which can be seen from the M6, was a comparitive oasis of sanity.
In stating the above, I accept that there is nothing amusing about homelessness and mental illness.
