The 1980s was an era of rapid change for London, the social and political atmosphere changed so drastically. It began with Margaret Thatcher having just been voted into office in 1979, the streets were lined in anticipation for Prince Charles and Lady Diana‘s wedding in 1981. It is a decade when the streets of London were scattered with punks and mods, with record shops and rock stars — and today’s Canary Wharf skyscrapers were barely a gleam in a developer’s eye. Unions and family-owned shops gave way to privatization and impersonal, foreign-owned stores.
Take a look at these amazing photos from the 1980s that show the street life of Londoners.
#1 Piccadilly Circus, London, 1989
#2 Piccadilly Circus, London, 1989
#3 Punk rocker in London, 1985
#4 Busker in London, 1985
#5 On the town… Hackney pensioners 1985
#6 A Tonibell ice cream van in Montague Place, London, 1980
#7 Criterion Theatre, Piccadilly Circus, London, 1980
#8 London, 1980
#9 Fleet Street, London, 1982 (looking west)
#10 Trafalgar Square, London, 1982
#11 Roller skating in London, 1983
#12 Punk rocker in London, 1985
#13 Trafalgar Square, London, 1989
#14 Hackney school children protest to highlight the sale of radioactive lamb in UK supermarkets following the Chernobyl disaster in 1986
#15 Hackney Show June 20 1987
#16 Dalston style 1984 snapped for the One Day Off In Hackney project
#17 Dalston Child Daycare Centre, 1986
#18 Cromwell Place, London, 1982
#19 Parliament Square, looking down Whitehall, London, 1985
#20 Oxford Street, London, 1980 (outside Selfridges looking east)
#21 A puppeteer outside the Earl of Lonsdale Pub, Portobello Road, London, 1980
#22 Buckingham Gate, London, 1980
#23 Carnaby Street, London, 1980
#24 Oxford Street, London, 1980 (corner of Duke Street)
#25 Portabello Rd Market, London, 1980
#26 Portobello Rd, London, 1980
#27 Admiratly Arch, London, 1982
#28 Albert Memorial, London, 1982
#29 Brompton Oratory, London, 1982
#30 Buckingham Palace, London, 1982
#31 Portobello Rd Market, London, 1982
#32 Charing Cross railway station, London, 1983
#33 Fulham Palace Road (northbound by junction of Lillie Road), London, 1983
#34 Picadilly Circus looking down Coventry Street, London, 1983
#35 Daily Express building, Fleet Street, London, 1984
#36 Junction of South Molton Street and Brook Street, London, 1984
#37 London, 1984
#38 Oxford Street, London, 1984 (looking west towards Marble Arch)
#39 South Molton Street, London, 1984
#40 A bus in London, 1985
#41 Coaches in London, 1985
#42 Covent Garden, London, 1985
#43 Covent Garden, London, 1985
#44 London Underground, 1985
#45 London Underground, 1985
#46 Trafalgar Square (looking down Whitehall), London, 1985
#47 Wimpy restaurant, 425 Oxford Street, London, 1985
#48 Edgware Rd, London, 1987
#49 London, 1987
#50 Tube trains at Neasden Depot, London, 1987
#51 Art market at Green Park, Piccadilly, 1989
#52 Piccadilly Circus, London, 1989
#53 Policemen at Buckingham Palace, London, 1989
#54 Rock Circus, London Pavilion, Picccadilly Circus, 1989
#55 Traveller life, Hackney 1985
#56 R.Mison Newsagent & General Store, 1985
#57 Columbia Rd flower market 1984
#58 The Tape/Slide Project Team, 1985
#59 Church Street, Stoke Newington, 1984.
#60 Tobacconist – 1984
#61 Acclaimed Trinidad born writer Rosa Guy visits Centerprise in the mid 80s
#62 Kingsland High Street, 1985
#63 Hackney 1984
#64 Hackney Empire Mecca Bingo, 1980s
#65 1980s messaging pre-social media pre-mobile
#66 Ridley Road Market – 1984
#67
#68 View from Canary Wharf DLR station, 1988
#69 Spitalfields Market, Brushfield Street, 1988
#70 On the DLR travelling from Westferry to Poplar, 1988
#71 North Quay Junction, 1988
#72 High Road Leytonstone, London 1987
#73 High Road Leytonstone, 1988
#74 High Road Leytonstone, 1987
#75 Bow Creek and Leamouth Peninsula, 1990
#76 Bishopsgate, 1988
#77 Oxford Street, London, 1984
#78 Queen Victoria Pub, Gillender Street, 1990
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Barely changed!
Today I learned that I am Vintage