Comments on: A Riverside Walk In the Eighties

By: David McNab

David McNab — Mon, 24 Feb 2020 14:39:23 +0000

In the Land of the Cortina, the Triumph Stag was King.

Congratulations Mr Rees. I’d love to see more.

By: Colin Cohen

Colin Cohen — Sat, 25 Jan 2020 15:36:20 +0000

Such wonderful photos. When I was a young teen my parents sent me to walk the City streets of a Sunday when not a cat stirred as I was a would-be photographer. I don’t think I ever brought home a single image that would compare to these, and somewhere I have the negs to prove it!

By: Colin Nicolson

Colin Nicolson — Sat, 25 Jan 2020 12:39:11 +0000

Point taken Jim. It could all have been done a lot better, but a whole lively new area of the city has been opened up. I remember going to an ehibition at the Bankside gallery in the ’80’s and straying a bit down towards the deliclt power-station. Nothing there but a group of rather menacing winos sitting on a bench amongst the swirling litter.

By: Belinda

Belinda — Sat, 25 Jan 2020 10:16:24 +0000

May have been shabbier but more atmospheric and also alive than in soulless London now. I am a born and bred Londoner yet don’t feel it’s the home town I knew then. They think it was frightening then, it’s nowhere near what it is now. Some things don’t change for the better

By: Georgina Briody

Georgina Briody — Sat, 25 Jan 2020 07:36:34 +0000

We bought our first little house in Bermondsey in the 80s and sometimes I would walk to work near Tower Hill and I can remember one of the spice warehouses still in operation and the lingering smell of cinnamon…..wonderful!

Having now moved away, I often return to walk along the river and, whilst it is good to see a new generation returning to the area, I remember those days with affection.

By: Jim McDermott

Jim McDermott — Sat, 25 Jan 2020 05:49:51 +0000

Colin, to be fair, I didn’t use the word ‘better’. I said more interesting. Yes, it was run down and definitely past its time; I just feel that much, much more could have been made of it than actually was. To go down the river today is to see an interminable display of failed architecture, so of-its-rather-unpleasant-time that it was outdated almost before the first yuppies moved in.

By: Marcia Howard

Marcia Howard — Fri, 24 Jan 2020 23:59:43 +0000

What absolutely fascinating images, so thank goodness life back then was so beautifully recorded on film. Oh how life changes – sometimes for the better – sometimes not.

By: Lynne Perrella

Lynne Perrella — Fri, 24 Jan 2020 13:21:25 +0000

I so enjoy the photos here, of course. But today I am reminded of the personal reverie that occurs when we “spend time with ourselves” and chronicle our surroundings. As I looked through this array, I recalled moments in my own life when I carved away personal time to just “be”. Whether I turned to a sketchbook, camera, or my own silent curiosity — the time was revelatory, AND liberating. (I think the Quakers have a Thanksgiving prayer that lauds “the quiet mind”.)

I enjoyed this post for innumerable reasons. Thanks for the rich food for thought, as ever, GA.

By: Libby Hall

Libby Hall — Fri, 24 Jan 2020 11:21:16 +0000

Beautiful photographs!

By: Colin Nicolson

Colin Nicolson — Fri, 24 Jan 2020 10:03:59 +0000

Wonderful evocative photos – but dirty, shabby, run-down, and no reason to go there except to see the relics of a a more prosperous and useful past. The Markets delelict and empty, the Riverside deserted and dangerous. I can’t believe that you can say that it was better then today Jim. If it was so wonderful in the ’80’s, how come it was so empty and deserted?