‘What’s something that was never that good that British people get incredibly nostalgic about’ – 21 rose-tinted memories we need to forget about

Nostalgia is not a new phenomenon but it has been increasingly weaponised on social media in recent years, as anyone who has seen a picture of a charming ye olde English village with a caption suggesting it was all much better in them days (conveniently forgetting things like tuberculosis, child labour and world wars).

But we even tend to romanticise the smaller stuff that was, if you are honest about it for a single second, utterly rubbish.

They’ve been chatting about this on the AskUK subredit after BriefTunes posted this:

‘What is something that was never actually that good, but British people get incredibly nostalgic about?’

And here’s how they got things going.

‘For me, it has to be those school dinner turkey dinosaurs or the pink concrete tray bakes with the yellow custard. Objectively, they were absolutely terrible quality, but if you offered me a plate of them right now, I’d inhale it for the pure hit of primary school nostalgia.

‘What’s something else that was actually a bit rubbish, but we all remember fondly?’

And lots of people chipped in with the things that they secretly know weren’t all that good, like these…

1.

‘I often get the impression that Gen Z think the 1980s were all neon, synths and Ferrari Testarossas when in reality, we were all wading through white dog shit to go and play on some rubble.’
–Falloffingolfin

2.

‘The lack of crime. The world wasn’t a safer place with no bad things happening anywhere. You just didn’t have constant worldwide media being pumped into your hand every 30 seconds.’
–McCandless11

3.

‘WW2. All four of my grandparents were involved and it turned them into shells of humans. It pains me to think what they saw and went through. But you know “Two world wars and one world cup, come on boys.”‘
–Savvymundo

4.

‘The 80s – bread shortages due to strikes. Maternity leave was 11 weeks before and 7 weeks after birth, after that you went back or resigned. No paternity leave. Smoking in most public spaces. You’d come home stinking of smoke having been unable to breathe in the pub.

Power cuts happened regularly. Lots of “isms” seen as normal (women can’t drive well, not allowed to do certain jobs, casual “comedy” use of racist slurs, little adaptations for people with disabilities, etc). Music wasn’t bad, though…’
–JackyRaven

5.

‘While I did love the 2000’s and it was a more socially relaxed and culturally vibrant period than today, I thought everyone was obsessed with sex to the point it was borderline creepy.’
–Random_Nobody1991

6.

‘Teletext.’
–sm3g-h3ad

7.

‘Britpop, mostly total shit with some very occasional good bits.’
–Tall-Budget8130

8.

‘Cadburys chocolate. It was good, but it wasn’t a top level chocolate, it was just the best of the affordable chocolates.’
–kernowgringo

9.

‘The 1990s as a kid. People get rose tinted about playing kerby, going on your bike to mate’s houses to see if they’re in. Ringing your house phone when at a mate’s house to ask if you can sleepover etc, but bullying was rife and accepted. Not just from kids but also teachers getting away with humiliating kids in front of the class etc and reporting bullying not being taken seriously. Things like autism or ADHD “wasn’t really a thing” in schools either. Don’t even think about coming out as gay.

I do have nostalgia about the 90s and weekends were great. School was horrendous.’
–FunkyYoghurt

10.

‘Not everyone remembering fondly, but too many British people still like the milk-snatcher despite her causing so many modern problems.’
–SnooBooks1701

11.

‘Just school dinners in general. I often have a craving for the neon pink blancmange. What even is blancmange? I had to google the spelling and the picture looked rank. I’d still take two servings though.’
–OhLaFemme

12.

‘Cremola Foam and Choc Dips. They were both re-released not so long ago and I bought them straight away; and honestly if it wasn’t for nostalgia they’d have been crap.’
–No_Technology3293