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Malcolm Tremain’s Spitalfields In The Seventies

May 3, 2019
by the gentle author

In Liverpool St Station

Goulston St

Brushfield St

Brushfield St

Crispin St

Railing of the night shelter in Crispin St

Brune St

Holland Estate

Artillery Lane

Looking towards the city from the Spitalfields Market car park

Looking south towards Brushfield St

Looking north towards Spital Sq

Goulston St

Goulston St

Middlesex St

Middlesex St

Alley at Liverpool St Station

Sun Passage

Tunnel at Liverpool St Station

Old Broad St Station

Old Broad St Station

Old Broad St Station under demoliton

Old Broad St Station

Old Broad St Station

Old Broad St Station

Abandoned cafeteria at Old Broad St Station

Pedley St Bridge looking towards Cheshire St

Pedley St Bridge

Pedley St

Pedley St

Photographs copyright © Malcolm Tremain

You may also like to take a look at

Malcolm Tremain’s Spitalfields

Malcom Tremain’s Spitalfields Then & Now

Malcolm Tremain’s City & East End

9 Responses leave one →
  1. Eric Forward permalink
    May 3, 2019

    Incredible. You can criticise gentrification etc., but you cannot look at these photos and say that largely, the changes around this area have not been generally for the better. I don’t like what is happening to Norton Folgate and do think some of the developments are too far beyond human scale, but those are also side effects of the improvements to the area that then attract foot traffic and commerce. I certainly wouldn’t go back to these times.

  2. Greg Tingey permalink
    May 3, 2019

    The Seventies – when London was probably at its most depressed & decayed.
    the only photo that shows any sign of “proper” life is that on the unrebult concourse of Liverpool St station (!)

  3. Robert permalink
    May 3, 2019

    Brilliantly curated photography but it’s a very melancholy portrait of a city in decline. It’s a reminder of how far we have come since then.

  4. Jill Wilson permalink
    May 3, 2019

    Great photos some of which could be abstract paintings.

    And I have enjoyed going on a detour of the then and now photos as suggested at the end of the blog. Always fascinating to see what has been improved and saved, and some sadly lost, but nearly always disheartening that none of the new build is of any discernible architectural merit – I can’t imagine any future Dan Cruikshanks battling to save the bland modern blocks!

  5. May 3, 2019

    Superb photographs, brimming with atmosphere of neglect and decay. Even without the swastika graffito, the sinister signal cabin on stilts beyond a high-sided footbridge resembles something on the Berlin Wall. The alley at night near Liverpool Street station, with lone figure and office tower reflected in puddle, would make an excellent cover shot for an urban noir novel.

  6. Mark Byfield permalink
    May 3, 2019

    Love the photos… and love that old boot scraper!

    How about a blog on London’s boot scrapers!

    I have an old vice like the one in the photo.

    Thank you

    Mark

  7. Eric Forward permalink
    May 3, 2019

    Quite a few shots of Broad Street station, which was also in the title of a Paul McCartney album & film.

  8. Pam permalink
    May 3, 2019

    These photos are the real proper East End in the late ’60’s and early ’70’s that all the police officers, ambulance drivers and fire department officers worked in day and night; I know I was one. Luckily, they do not include the terrible smells of the decaying city that had been forgotten after WW2 damaged homes and left vermin and disease to invade the area. The residence were too depressed, poor and floundering in the detritis to dig themselves out. London needs demolishing and cleaning up every 2 to 3 hundred years.

  9. Ray permalink
    May 5, 2019

    Thank you and please more of these pictures! In our time we tend sometimes to euphemize the past, but its necessary to remember all! London is a continuous development, and its so important to document every decade and its “look&feel”!

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