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I was born and raised in Rotherham, a town in South Yorkshire (although it's a town, it's about the size of a small-to-average city). It used to be a thriving industrial centre for British industry, especially in coal mining (although there was a lot of steel production as well).
In the 1980's, during the Thatcher administration, most of the mines closed down causing mass unemployment and the area still hasn't fully recovered (it's not wise to mention Thatcher to a stranger in Rotherham and certainly not wise to praise her...not that I would.) it's one of the poorest areas of the country and there's still high unemployment and a fairly high crime rate.
Politically, the town is very much supportive of the Labour Party, a centre-left party, that traditionally was tied to democratic-socialism although under Tony Blair the party stepped more towards the right, it seems now it's going back to it's pre-Blair ideologies. There's also a strong voter base for the BNP (a highly controversial far-right political party that's been gaining influence, although they seem to be slowly receding in support).
There are prejudices within Rotherham. Growing up it wasn't rare to hear homophobic or racist comments, especially towards the large Asian community and it's still a big problem.
I didn't grow up in the worst areas. My upbringing was lower middle-class (that is, in the British rather than American sense where middle-class tends to be well-paid professionals such as small businessmen, lawyers, private doctors etc.) so although I wouldn't say I was wealthy growing up, I never went hungry.
Up till about six months ago, I lived in Sheffield (the neighbouring big city) as a student and I do prefer it there in some ways. It was also affected badly by the closing of heavy-industry, but it's managed to reinvent itself as a city of arts and culture. It also feel much safer there as it's one of the safest cities in the country and the city's more liberalised and cosmopolitan.
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