first residents moving into their new homes in 1964. Many of the new residents were of Irish descent , previously living in inner-city slums such as Aston and Nechells. As well as high-rise tower blocks, Castle Vale also had 27 four-storey blocks of maisonettes, three-storey blocks of flats, over 100 bungalows and hundreds of terraced and semi-detached houses. All the houses had modern features that the houses of the slums lacked such as electricity, indoor toilets and central heating. Many of the houses also had gardens to the front and rear, while most of the flats in the tower blocks had private balconies. A competition for the name of the estate was held early in the estate's development and the chosen name was Castle Vale, submitted by a local schoolgirl. Decline When residents moved into their new homes, most were pleased with the improvement. However, the demolition of the slums and breaking up of entire communities had made people feel unsettled. The modern features meant that residents had to adapt, for example, residents were now paying for underfloor heating when they were used to cheaper coal fires. Many residents began to resent being moved and became unhappy. Socially, the estate failed to develop into a community and the residents were in poor economic situations. The start of the decline of the estate began in the 1970s when crime rates started to increase. Rent payments were initially collected by the 'rent man' who went from door-to-door, but muggings meant the service was withdrawn in the mid to late-1970s and rent had to be paid at the local post office in the shopping centre. Drug dealing also started becoming prominent in the late-1970s, with violent incidents also increasing in number. The problems continued into the 1980s with the top of Concorde Tower becoming a popular vantage point for teenagers to watch joyriders speed along the straight main roads (often in stolen cars), and to watch the police chase them. Castle Vale had six pubs, (Trade Winds, Albatross, Trees, Skylark, Artful Dodger and Lancaster), but all had closed by 1996, having been associated with drug dealing for a long time. The economic downturns of the 1970s and 1980s saw the local manufacturing industry hit hard and unemployment on Castle Vale soared. By the late 1980s, unemployment on the estate stood at around 28% – around four times the national average at the time.