Was 1960s England really so gloomy and depressing?

In a word no. I grew up in Yorkshire in the 60’s and it was great! Mind you it’s a big county and I lived in the countryside, and I’m sure it could be a bit grim in the south Yorkshire industrialized areas.

What is realistic in this film is the school football section. We had a sports master exactly like the one portrayed by Brian Glover. There was no opting out in those days.

Gloomy and depressing?
where exactly in the movie are you referring to?

For the working classes, yes. It might seem odd now, but many people were still illiterate in those days, transport was difficult and wages were not high enough to have much fun.

In the mining areas depicted in this film, it was very common for people to have to stop work early owing to various illnesses caught from working underground, surrounded by rats and explosions. One part of this film that has stayed with me most is when Billy reacts with horror to the idea of working down the pit. I think of it whenever anyone says that the pits of England should be reopened to provide jobs.

Not in general, no, but for most mining towns, yes. Don't forget that Billy Elliot was set a few years later in another mining town, and it wasn't much better. Billy also had to share a bog with other houses, something which I don't think Kes' Billy had to do.

Yes it was - I am now 60 and was brought up in the South Yorkshire coal mining area. The portrait of life as shown in Kes in a bleak pit town is 100% accurate.
I got out late teens and have only ever gone back for marriages and funerals. The Barnsley area has changed beyond recognition now with a lot of those filthy soot ridden depressing back to back terraces demolished. New housing estates have replaced them.
Since the mines (pits as we called them) have gone so has the dirt and grime and new roads and new businesses have helped to give South Yorkshire a more up to date image.
Ken Loach's finest film in my humble opinion..

It's just because it's cold and rainy.

~ I'm a 21st century man and I don't wanna be here.

It could be - not many people had no central heating and the winters (pre warming) were a lot worse.

But it could be colourful too as the glam rock era was just starting although an oil crisis (when isn't there one) was just around the corner.

RIP Barry Hines

Do you really think one area of England showcases the whole country?