IN 1984 the traditional Gala celebrations were replaced by a demonstration as part of cost-cutting measures brought in by the Durham Miners’ Association. 

The demonstration took place in what was described in the local press as siege city. Bars kept their doors closed and shops were boarded shut awaiting trouble which never materialised. In fact, the three arrests made were fewer than usual.

Forty years later Durham is buzzing, the pubs crammed to the rafters and the shops doing a brisk trade.