Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
The house where time stood still for 72yrs
Doug saves family memories
AFTER going virtually untouched since he moved in 72 years ago, the cracks are showing, the wallpaper is peeling and there is no central heating.
But Doug Bethel would never want his home any other way.
The 89-year-old grew up in the five-bed semi with his six siblings and now lives there with sister Brenda, 86.
And he says updating the property would erode the precious memories.
Doug said: “The best times of our lives were the 50s when I was growing up here.
“I like things as they are. It’s all falling down but it’s still standing for now and we love living here. It’s better than a time warp, I get to relive the best times of my life here.
“We have so many happy family memories. It’s my home and always has been.”
Doug’s parents bought the 1897 house in Liverpool for £800 in 1948 – and while they updated the wallpaper, little else has changed since.
Doug was in the Navy before becoming a brickie, then a gas fitter and servicer. He never started a family and stayed on with his parents, who died in 1976 and 1988.
He said: “The bedrooms are the same as when we were kids. We’ve got the original doors, ceilings and floors.
“It was only 10 years ago we had the electrics changed from the plugs we’d had since 1950 to the modern three-prong sockets. A lot of furniture is very old and mostly my parents’ wedding presents. The kitchen is my favourite part, it has the original cooker.
“Anyone that comes is stunned and falls in love with the place. They say what a beautiful and fascinating house it is, or tell me they have never seen a house like this.”
Until last year, the house was heated by coal – but Doug now has an electric fire. He said: “It gets freezing in the winter but you shove a blanket on and get on with it”
But he says there is one big benefit of never modernising: “We must have saved thousands over the years never redecorating or spending money on furniture.”