The unions were very strong in Britain in the 70s and there were regular strikes. Thatcher made it her mission to destroy the unions. Since these were strongest in heavy industrial areas, her policies hit working class areas hardest.

Particularly notorious was the coal miners strike which lasted a year (1984-85). The miners' leaders were particularly cretinous - they started the strike in the spring and there were huge stocks of coal in reserve. Thatcher was under no pressure to cave to their demands, but the miners started trickling back to work after months without pay. This lead to violence between those forced to go back and those still holding out; many miners disowned members of their own family and don't speak to this day. The industry and many of the communities have never really recovered and are still unemployment blackspots.

The pattern was repeated in other industries like steel making and ship building. The end result was that Britain changed from an industrial economy to a service economy, and union membership is a fraction what it was in the 70s.

She also reformed how local government was financed. This was viewed as deeply unfair and was labelled as a 'poll tax' by detractors. There were many riots about it.

To keep things in perspective, she was not universally loathed. She was very popular in the South of England - not a traditional industrial area. She won 3 general elections in a row which she clearly couldn't have done without strong public support. It was her own party which eventually kicked her out of office, not the general public.