My Dad grew up in a mining village in Wales.  It was pretty typical of many such places ... valleys, mountains, fantastic views, sheep, the railway track and the trains that moved the coal ... there was the Co-op, the Post Office, the Chinese take away, the fish and chip shop, the clubs and the pubs.  EVERYTHING was dependent on the mines.  

Thatcher killed it ... and lots of other similar places ... the mines were still productive and would have been so for many years. Communities were destroyed across Wales and parts of England ... why?  To crush the unions.