Limehouse and East India – 1994

Limehouse and East India: I spent most of Saturday 11th June 1994 wandering in the area between Limehouse, Blackwall and the former East India Docks, concentrating on making panoramas, some of which were the post Limehouse, Poplar, Blackwall and East India Panoramas – 1994 but I also took a number of black and white and colour images. You can find more of both in two Flickr albums – links at the bottom of this post – but here is some of the colour work. These pictures will have been made using an Olympus OM$ camera on Fuji film. I carried a range of lenses from 21mm to 200mm, though probably most all were taken with 28mm or 50mm lenses.

Limehouse Link Tunnel, Aspen Way, Poplar, Tower Hamlets, 1994, 94-61-55
Limehouse Link Tunnel, Aspen Way, Poplar, Tower Hamlets, 1994, 94-61-55

The eastern entrance to the Limehouse Link Tunnel which was officially opened in 1993. Both portals have decorative sculptures, this one an untitled abstract by Nigel Hall which I find it hard to find any point in. The 1.1 mile tunnel took 4 years to build and cost £293,000,000 making it the most expensive road scheme in Britain per mile.

Limehouse Link Tunnel, Three Colts St, Limehouse, Tower Hamlets, 1994, 94-61-44
Limehouse Link Tunnel, Three Colts St, Limehouse, Tower Hamlets, 1994, 94-61-44

This is the Limehouse Link Eastern Service Building. With a huge volume of traffic passing through the tunnel presumably the main service needed is ventilation and those chimneys presumably are on top of huge fans for the purpose, sharing the pollution with the community.

St Dunstan's Wharf, Dunbar Wharf, Narrow St, Limehouse, Tower Hamlets, 1994, 94-61-33
St Dunstan’s Wharf, Dunbar Wharf, Narrow St, Limehouse, Tower Hamlets, 1994, 94-61-33

The story of Dunbar Wharf is told on the Isle of Dogs Life web site in the article Dunbar Wharf and the Remarkable Story of Duncan Dunbar, and I’ve written more about it in previous posts. Duncan Dunbar made a fortune as a brewer and wine merchant and on his death in 1825 his son, also Duncan Dunbar used this to set up a large shipping fleet, becoming one of the richest men in Britain.

As well as goods to and from the world Dunbar’s shipping line made 37 trips carrying convicts to Australia and were troopships for the Crimean War. He never married and had no children and on his death in 1862 the ships were all sold and the business closed.

The buildings here date from the mid 19th century and are Grade II listed.

London Art Fashions, Limehouse, Tower Hamlets, 1994, 94-61-34
London Art Fashions, Limehouse, Tower Hamlets, 1994, 94-61-34

I think this was the window of a tailor’s shop in Limehouse, but cannot recall its exact location. The caption I gave it came from the black and white poster at the back which I suspect is from the 1920s or 30s, though I’m certainly no fashion expert, while the blue framed image at lower left looks to me a little older and has an interesting lady golfer.

Chinese Restaurant, Limehouse, Tower Hamlets, 1994, 94-61-23
Chinese Restaurant, Limehouse, Tower Hamlets, 1994, 94-61-23

Limehouse and Poplar used to be London’s Chinatown before that moved to Soho, and some traces remain, rather more back in 1994 than now. On the wall is a calendar for the ‘Year of the Dog’ and a notice informing us that:

‘*WE NOW SELL
‘CHICKEN’ BALLS’ IN BATTER
PLEASE ASK STAFF
£2 A PORTION THANK YOU’

The two green hexagons floating in the centre close to the top of the picture (with some more very faint and above them to their right) are photographic artifacts, lens flare, images of the lens iris reflected from some interior lens surface from a light source just outside the frame. But I rather like the effect here.

Hairdresser, Limehouse, Tower Hamlets, 1994, 94-61-24
Hairdresser, Limehouse, Tower Hamlets, 1994, 94-61-24

Looking through a window into a hairdressers with a red-edged counter and mirrors, red chairs and red towels hanging on hooks seen in the mirror. It wasn’t possible for me to get enough depth of field to make everything in the picture pin sharp, but this perhaps makes the mirrored image stand out a little more.

East India Dock Tunnel, Aspen Way, Poplar, Tower Hamlets, 1994, 94-61-51
East India Dock Tunnel, Aspen Way, Poplar, Tower Hamlets, 1994, 94-61-51

The lane closer to the centre of the image dives here into the East India Dock Tunnel with the red brickwork of the tunnel mouth at the right of the picture. The tunnel was opened in 1993. At the left is Canary Wharf Tower, then in isolation, in front of it the bridge and red tower of East India DLR station. The rather depressing 1990 ten-storey granite clad post-modern office blocks on the site of the main East India Dock have now been comprehensively redeveloped mainly for residential use and rebranded as ‘Republic’.

Canary Wharf, DLR, Power Station, South Bromley, Tower Hamlets, 1994, 94-61-53
Canary Wharf, DLR, Power Station, South Bromley, Tower Hamlets, 1994, 94-61-53

Further east also looking back to Canary Wharf from underneath the DLR viaduct with the former switchgear house of Brunswick Wharf Power Station at right. Planned in 1939 but not built until after the war this was a coal fired power station on the site of the East India Export Dock. In 1948 the dock was filled in but post-war financial constraints meant the power station was only became operational in 1952, and finally completed in 1956.

In 1970 it was converted to burn oil, probably to reduce air pollution in London. Increases in oil prices later made this one of the more expensive generating stations and it was closed in 1984 and sold for redevelopment in 1987.

Most of the power station was demolished in 1989 but this building remained, I think until around 2005 when it was demolished for a large residential development, Virginia Quays, which has on the riverbank the 1951 Grade II listed Virginia Quay Settlers Monument.

My 1984 albums on Flickr:

1994 London Colour
1994 London Photos (Black and White)


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Salvation, Statuettes, a Sexy Model, Spendel & More – 1989

Salvation, Statuettes, a Sexy Model, Spendel & More: Continuing my walk on Sunday 5th November 1989 from Green Lanes where the previous post, Stroud Green to Grand Parade had ended I walked some way down West Green Road before taking my next picture.

Salvation Army, 2, Terront Rd, West Green, Haringey, 1989 89-11d-16
Salvation Army, 2, Terront Rd, West Green, Haringey, 1989 89-11d-16

The Salvation Army building is still there on Terront Road though I think no longer in use by them. I was clearly attracted both by this building and by the car on a trailer to its left, rather dramatically marked with large Xs.

I wondered if this car might be connected with the clearance of the Harringay stadium site, about a kilometre away. Stock car racing and Banger racing were among the events held at Harringay Stadium from the 1950s on. The stadium had opened as Britain’s third greyhound racing stadium in 1927, adding speedway the following year. The stadium finally closed in 1987 and was acquired by Haringey council and some years later demolished for housing and a Sainsbury’s superstore.

It was only the 5th November so the Salvation Army were perhaps getting in rather early with advertising a Christmas Bazaar to be held on 18th Novemeber.

Shop window, West Green Rd, West Green, Haringey, 1989 89-11c-62
Shop window, West Green Rd, West Green, Haringey, 1989 89-11c-62

And perhaps this pair of Greek statuettes were the ideal Christmas Gift for someone, though I think it would have to be someone you didn’t like. But as you can tell from the price label they were quite small, and at £2.49 definitely a gift.

I decided not to make a great effort to correct the overall flare which renders their upper regions rather diffuse when making this digital copy from the original negative.

Shop window, Green Lanes, Haringey, 1989 89-11c-64
Shop window, Green Lanes, Haringey, 1989 89-11c-64

My walk was coming to an end and I walked back towards Turnpike Lane station finding another shop window which caught my interest on Green Lanes. There was something unusually real about this heavily made-up mannequin, wig, pose, and clothing, a sexual energy whose spell was only really broken by the clearly visible joint on her lower left arm and a rather porcelain quality to the highlights. I think this was probably in the window of a shop selling wedding dresses.

Spendel, Hairdresser, Langham Rd, Turnpike Lane, Haringey 1989 89-11c-66
Spendel, Hairdresser, Langham Rd, Turnpike Lane, Haringey 1989 89-11c-66

I took a number of pictures of this shopfront, which was I think part of the extensive station and bus station development. Most were in colour apart from this and a slightly tighter cropped black and white image. At least one of the colour images – also on Flickr – shows the the entire shopfront dominated at the top by the large word ‘HAIRDRESSER‘. In very small type at the top of the window it states ‘GENTS SALOON’ and scattered on the surface at the base of the windows in front of the shutters are boxes containing tubes of related products including Ingram shaving cream.

The window at left of the entrance contains two rather unhealthy looking pot plans and behind them is a poster for the pantomime Aladdin starring Michael Barrymore and Frank Bruno.

My walk on 5th November ended at Turnpike Lane, where I caught the Piccadilly Line to make my way towards home. But a week later I was back in the same area, returning first to Walthamstow – an easy journey on the Victoria Line before returning to Turnpike Road. I think I had gone back to Walthamstow to retake some colour images, hoping to find better light.

Cemetery, Queen's Rd, Walthamstow, Waltham Forest, 1989 89-11c-52
Cemetery, Queen’s Rd, Walthamstow, Waltham Forest, 1989 89-11c-52

I’d photographed a large angel on my previous walk in the cemetery and this time I took a picture of a rather smaller one, but my main interest was in the shadows cast on a couple of the stones, one of my head and shoulders as I made the picture along with the fence and to the right a clear cross on a rather less clear fence shadow. I think I was probably standing outside the cemetery fence looking in.

Queen's Rd, Lansdowne Rd, Walthamstow, Waltham Forest, 1989 89-11c-53
Shandar, Queen’s Rd, Lansdowne Rd, Walthamstow, Waltham Forest, 1989 89-11c-53

The Shandar Take Away Restaurant at 65 on the corner of Queen’s Road and Lansdowne Road had a colourful mural along its Lansdowne Road side, and most of the pictures I took of it were in colour, but I stood a little further away on Queen’s Road to make this picture including a van with an open rear door parked on the pavement in front of a shop on the opposite corner.

Shandar is a name used by a number of Indian restaurants, a Hindi word implying excellence or high quality, which could be translated as ‘Splendid’ or ‘Grand’.

More from my walk on 12th November in a later post.


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More From Beverley Rd – Hull 1989

More From Beverley Rd – continuing my short series of pictures made in Hull in August 1989.

Binnington, Hairdresser, Tobacconist, Beverley Rd, Hull, 1989 89-8m-12
Binnington, Hairdresser, Tobacconist, Beverley Rd, Hull, 1989 89-8m-12

Binnington seems to be a relatively common family name in parts of Yorkshire, though not one I’d come across before elsewhere. It’s hard to read the street number but I think it is 323, one of a short run of shops between the railway bridge and De Grey St on the west side of Beverley Rd.

I hadn’t come across many shops that were both hairdressers and tobacconists, though I think there may have been a couple of others in Hull. I wasn’t sure whether the CLOSED notice in the window was merely out of opening hours or more permanent.

Newland United Reform Church, Beverley Rd, Hull, 1989 89-8m-13
Newland United Reformed Church, Beverley Rd, Hull, 1989 89-8m-13

Newland United Reformed Church was on the corner of Beverley Road and Brooklyn Street but was sold in 2012 and demolished. Nothing had been built on the site by May 2022.

There had been a church here, Hope Street Congregational Church since 1797. In 1903 it had been replaced by Newland Congregational Church, a simplified Gothic brick church designed by Moulds and Porritt in red and yellow brick with terracotta dressings which was demolished in 1969. Presumably it was then replaced with this simpler structure – Newland United Reformed Church from 1972.

Mayfair, Unisex Salon, Hairdressers, May St, Beverley Rd, Hull, 1989 89-8m-14
Mayfair, Unisex Salon, Hairdressers, May St, 398, Beverley Rd, Hull, 1989 89-8m-14

May Street runs east from Beverley Rd, and Mayfair Unisex Salon was on its northern corner with Beverley Rd. As well as the obvious attraction for me of the male and female silhouettes for the ‘SUPPLIERS OF N.H.S WIGS GREAT SELECTION’. But also a face peers down from the upper window.

Hills, Beverley Rd, Hull, 1989 89-8m-15
Hills, Beverley Rd, Hull, 1989 89-8m-15

Not only Mayfair, Hull also had (and still has) its Park Lane, though the lane now looks very different with no trace of Hills or any of its buildings.

The corner is now occupied by a building with a brickwork panel showing a junk and some Chinese characters and was built by the Hon Lok Senior Association along with ten houses and ten bungalows in Park Lane.

Hills, Office, Park Lane, Bull Inn, pub, Beverley Rd, Hull, 1989 89-8m-16
Hills, Office, Park Lane, Bull Inn, pub, Beverley Rd, Hull, 1989 89-8m-16

Thomas Hill Engineering Co. (Hull) Ltd had offices on the corner of their site on Park Lane opposite the Bull Inn. I’m not sure what kind of thinks they engineered but apparently in 1977 they were granted US Patent 4031764 on ‘Devices for “rotating articles in which the disadvantages of existing devices are minimized, and in which the containers are kept in line.”

Stepney Chapel, Zion Chapel, Cave St, 219, Beverley Rd, Hull, 1989 89-8n-62
Stepney Chapel, Zion Chapel, Cave St, 219, Beverley Rd, Hull, 1989 89-8n-62

Stepney Chapel is still on the corner of Cave Street and Beverley Road, but now looks in a very sorry state, around ten years or more since there were last services at Glad Tidings Hall (Pentecostal). The Chapel was built in 1849 when Stepney was still a small village as a Methodist New Connexion Chapel, but was replaced in 1869 by a much larger and grander Gothic church with seating for 600. This closed in 1966 and was demolished with a supermarket now on its site.

The Methodist New Connexion began in Sheffield in 1797 by secession from the Wesleyan Methodists led by Alexander Kilham and William Thom and grew rapidly. Accused of having sympathies with Tom Paine and the French Revolution it gave greater power to the lay member of the churches than the minister dominated Wesleyan Methodists. It grew rapidly paricularly across the north of England, though in the 20th century the various Methodist groupings re-united. William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, was ordained as a Methodist New Connexion Minister in 1858.

As my picture shows clearly, the chapel is aligned to Cave St rather than Beverley Rd.

More pictures from Hull in a later post.


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Hairdressers, Mansions, Baptists, Tiles & Greeks

The first part of this walk I made on Sunday 9th April 1989 is at Peckham and East Dulwich 1989.

Hairdresser, North Cross Rd, East Dulwich, Southwark, 1989 89-4i-61
Hairdresser, North Cross Rd, East Dulwich, Southwark, 1989 89-4i-61

I’d taken a picture of this poster in a hairdresser’s window when I’d walked along North Cross Road a couple of months earlier but hadn’t been entirely satisfied with it. In winter I had been working with Kodak’s TMAX400 and I think I felt that the fine graphic detail on the poster would be better on the more fine-grained TMAX100 I had switched to for the summer. The difference isn’t huge but it does show. The framing is also a little different, though in making this digital image I have made this version just a little more skewed than my usual slight lean. I blame it on living in a house where nothing is quite a right angle.

North Cross Rd, East Dulwich, Southwark, 1989 89-4i-62
North Cross Rd, East Dulwich, Southwark, 1989 89-4i-62

I’m not sure what the shop at 65 North Cross Road was then selling but I rather liked the graphic on the window. It could have been, as it now is, another hairdresser. The doorway was for the flat above.

Fruit & Veg, Coldharbour Place, Camberwell, Lambeth, 1989 89-4i-63
Coldharbour Place, Camberwell, Lambeth, 1989 89-4i-63

I think I may have jumped on a bus on Lordship Lane to take me to Camberwell Green. Coming up to London for many of these walks I used a Travelcard which had first been introduced by the Greater Londo Council in 1981 and had greatly simplified travel around London. At the beginning of 1989 it had been extended to cover British Rail services, replacing an earlier One Day Capitalcard. The GLC had lost a legal battle to cut London fares in 1982, and was abolished by Thatcher in 1986, with fairly disastrous consequences, but their rationalisation of travel continued. Without it I don’t think I would have been able to do much of my extensive work across London. Now it seems that Tory cuts are going to force TfL to get rid of it for those of us travelling into London.

This is the next frame on my film, and was made around a mile and a half away, probably around a 15 minute bus ride from the previous image. The picture was made from Coldharbour Lane looking down Coldharbour Place, which continues with a narrow alley to Denmark Hill. The large building at left was a garage and has now been replaced by a larger block of flats, but the buildings at the right which front onto Denmark Hill remain and the wall at right is now covered by the ‘Great Wave’ mural based on Hokusai’s iconic image.

Denmark Place, Baptist Church, Coldharbour Lane, Camberwell, Lambeth, 1989 89-4i-64
Denmark Place, Baptist Church, Coldharbour Lane, Camberwell, Lambeth, 1989 89-4i-64

This Grade II listed church was built in 1823 and though some alterations were made in 1869 still looks remarkably like it did in Victorian times. I wounder why it has four doors along its frontage, and is without a central door. Possibly the doors at the left and right of the set may lead to galleries around the main hall, and some more strict churches had separate doors for men and women, but although the listed text has a fairly full description of the exterior it gives no clues for the reasons behind the design.

Shops, Coldharbour Lane, Camberwell, Lambeth, 1989 89-4i-65
Shops, Coldharbour Lane, Camberwell, Lambeth, 1989 89-4i-65

A rather fine row of shops with flats above, Denmark Mansions at 78-96 Coldharbour Lane. These mansions replaced earlier semi-detached villas with front gardens on the street at some time around 1900 though I can find no exact date.

Kenbury St, Camberwell, Lambeth, 1989 89-4i-51
Kenbury St, Camberwell, Lambeth, 1989 89-4i-51

A derelict frontage in Kenbury St, just off Coldharbour Lane. This is part of Kenbury Mansions and has long been restored. These buildings are rather decorative fronts on a rather large solid block behind, each front door leading to half a dozen flats.

Arcanum Works, Warner Rd, Camberwell, Lambeth, 1989 89-4i-54
Arcanum Works, Warner Rd, Camberwell, Lambeth, 1989 89-4i-54

Arcanum means the mysteries or secrets of a subject but other than the name I’m unsure what was mysterious about the Arcanum Terrazzo & Stone Company Limited who shared this works with the Decorative Tile Company Limited and the yard at rear with Wandle Paving Ltd.

This building is still there, but is now the Glory Divine Christian Centre & Community Hall. The factory behind is labelled as a Brewery on the 1877 OS large-scale map, but by the time of the 1916 OS map had turned sour as a Vinegar Works.

St Marys Greek Orthodox Cathedral, Camberwell New Rd, Camberwell, Lambeth, 1989 89-4i-55
St Marys Greek Orthodox Cathedral, Camberwell New Rd, Camberwell, Lambeth, 1989 89-4i-55

The Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Nativity of the Mother of God, Camberwell is a church in the Archdiocese of Thyateira & Great Britain. Greek Orthodox Christians had begun to celebrate in nearby St Giles in 1962.

In 1963 they moved into and later bought the former Catholic Apostolic Church, Camberwell New Road built for this splinter group of Anglo-Catholics in 1877, architect J & J Belcher. They had worshipped there until 1961. The church was damaged by bombing in 1941 and lost the impressive frontage rising behind the cloisters which can be seen in an illustration on Archiseek.com – with almost half the former nave now being a courtyard.

St Marys Greek Orthodox Cathedral, Camberwell New Rd, Camberwell, Lambeth, 1989 89-4i-42
St Marys Greek Orthodox Cathedral, Camberwell New Rd, Camberwell, Lambeth, 1989 89-4i-42

I peered into the rather strange buildings to take this picture of the cloisters which the Anglo-Catholics had required of the architect. The more recent addition at left is probably very practical but rather spoils the impression.

My walk will continue in a later post. The previous post was the first on this walk, Peckham and East Dulwich 1989.


Lordship Lane & North Cross Road – 1989

My previous post about this walk on 5th February 1989 was Peckham Rye to Goose Green – 1989

The Dulwich Club, 110a Lordship Lane, East Dulwich, Southwark, 1989 89-2c-55
The Dulwich Club, 110a Lordship Lane, East Dulwich, Southwark, 1989 89-2c-55

Lordship Lane is a longish road that goes vaguely south from Goose Green around a mile and a half to the Horniman Museum at Forest Hill, but I only walked a fairly short section at its north end on this walk. Much of the first section was covered by shops in which I found little of interest.

The Dulwich Club, a members only drinking establishment at 110 Lordship Lane was affiliated to the Working Men’s Club and Institute Union, CIU, which was set up in 1862 to promote education and temperance among the working classes, who soon took over what had been a philanthropic middle-class gesture and began also to provide cheap beer as well as other cheap products and services.

Most early clubs were set up as either Liberal or Labour clubs (Conservative Clubs didn’t join, having higher class aspirations) and but the movement as a whole was non-political. This one – as the notice-board shows was assisting its members in council housing to take advantage of the ‘right to buy’ introduced by Thatcher.

If you were a member of any CIU club you could go into any of the other CIU clubs around the country and take advantage of the facilities – particularly the bar.

This building was demolished around 2000 and the site is now housing. The house at left it still there.

Church Hall, Bassano St, Lordship Lane, East Dulwich, Southwark, 1989 89-2c-56

Bassano St, Lordship Lane, East Dulwich, Southwark, 1989 89-2c-56

Just a few yards down Bassano Street from Lordship Lane is this religious building, with a cross in the brickwork above the doorway. It was the Epiphany Mission, built in 1908 by architects Nixon, Horsfield & Sons and used as an Anglican church from then until 1927 and then later from 1941-51 as a replacement for St John’s which had been bombed and then as a parish hall until sold in 1994 to finance the Goose Green Centre at St John’s.

My picture is not quite sharp enough to read the name on the notice clearly but I think it says ‘The Epiphany Hall’. At right there is obviously a later extension, perhaps from the 1950s.

The building is now still in religious use as the Church of God (7th Day) Sabbath Keeping Temple.

Lordship Lane Tyres, Lordship Lane, Bawdale Rd, East Dulwich, Southwark, 1989 89-2c-43
Lordship Lane Tyres, Lordship Lane, Bawdale Rd, East Dulwich, Southwark, 1989 89-2c-43

One of the more interesting late-Victorian buildings peppered around the area this decorated frontage is at the end of a rather dull terrace with ground floor shops.

I’m unclear as to the intertwined initials at the top of the building , hardly visible in my photograph, but even looking at them more clearly, I’m unsure if they are just D and G or are intended also to include an E.

The shop no longer has the profusion of signs which appealed to me, including two Michelin men, and the billboard higher up has also gone. No longer tyres, the shop is now Franklin’s Farm Shop, a good indication of the extent of gentrification in the area.

Hairdresser, Window, North Cross Rd, East Dulwich, Southwark, 1989 89-2c-46
Hairdresser, Window, North Cross Rd, East Dulwich, Southwark, 1989 89-2c-46

North Cross Road, running east from Lordship Lane, had (and still has) a long row of small shops I found of more interest, including this hairdresser’s window with a poster showing various hair styles from a company in Lagos.

Hairdresser, Interior, North Cross Rd, East Dulwich, Southwark, 1989 89-2c-32
Hairdresser, Interior, North Cross Rd, East Dulwich, Southwark, 1989 89-2c-32

The poster could have been on the window of this hairdresser, though there were several to chose between on the street. This is Ena’s and has a poster advertising a Jamaican Easter Shipping Sale.

Hairdresser, North Cross Rd, East Dulwich, Southwark, 1989 89-2c-33
Hairdresser, North Cross Rd, East Dulwich, Southwark, 1989 89-2c-33

Molly, another hairdresser on the street appears to cater for a more traditional white clientèle. The stained glass window at left with the word SHAMPOOING has a distinctly 1930 feel – and presumably there was once a similar panel on the other side of the doorway. The FOR phone number was for the FORest Hill exchange and went out of date in 1996 when we moved to all figure numbering.

Fresh Fish, Shellfish, North Cross Rd, East Dulwich, Southwark, 1989 89-2c-34
Fresh Fish, Shellfish, North Cross Rd, East Dulwich, Southwark, 1989 89-2c-34

I think this yard with its Fresh Fish and Shellfish stall stored there was at the rear of shops on Lordship Lane, one of which was, from the trays, presumably a bakery. Perhaps the stall was wheeled out for use beside the pub on the corner, a historic pub, The Lord Palmerston built in 1862 (though it has since last ‘The Lord’.)

This was the end of my walk and I got on a bus, but got off my bus to take another picture on Camberwell Road in Walworth.

Shops, Camberwell Rd, Walworth, Southwark, 1989 89-2c-36
Shops, Camberwell Rd, Walworth, Southwark, 1989 89-2c-36

Rather to my surprise, there was a newsagents in the same shop here until around 2014. The larger house in this picture is now a hotel with a two storey street entrance.


My account of this walk from 5th February 1989 began with http://re-photo.co.uk/?p=14180 A Pub, Ghost Sign, Shops And The Sally Ann. I’ll post shortly about my next walk, a week later.


South of the River

Cafe, Norwood Rd, Herne Hill, 1991 TQ3274-001
Café, Norwood Rd, Herne Hill, 1991

I think I only took my first pictures on colour negative film in 1985. When I began in photography at the start of the 1970s it was quite clear that colour neg was just for amateur snaps and social photography, but real photographers – if they stooped to colour – did it on transparency film.

Cafe, Loughborough Junction, 1989, TQ3275-001
Café, Loughborough Junction, 1989

Most publications – books, magazines, newspapers etc – . still used only – or mainly – black and white, and when colour was used it was almost invariably from colour transparency. Images taken on colour neg were only used at a last resort, and usually then duped onto transparency for repro, or occasionally printed onto black and white paper to be used. You could get special panchromatic black and white paper which gave some chance of normal tonality, but it was a pain to use as normal darkroom safelights fogged it, and often normal black and white paper was used despite the often very poor tonality it gave.

Shops, Flaxman Rd, Loughborough Junction, 1987 TQ3276-002
Shops, Flaxman Rd, Loughborough Junction, 1987

Though colour transparency was great for repro, making prints from it had its limitations – as did using transparency film. I found myself too often having images with empty black shadow areas or unusably blown highlights as it the film had a limited exposure range. You could get great punchy saturated colour prints, fine for advertising (which was never my scene) but it was difficult to achieve subtlety. Fed up with telling printers what I wanted and being told it wasn’t possible I began making my own prints, working at times with complicated unsharp masking for Cibachromes. My German project I deliberately printed on outdated Agfa direct reversal paper.

Shops, Denmark Hill, Camberwell, 1989 TQ3276-004
Shops, Denmark Hill, Camberwell, 1989

In the 1980s, Fuji shook up colour negative (and, to a lesser extent transparency film), producing new film and print materials that gave greater fidelity, longer print life and greater flexibility in the darkroom. Seeing the prints that other photographers were making (and the fact I wasn’t actually selling my slides professionally) was a conversion experience. Since then I don’t think I’ve ever taken pictures on slide film.

Hairdresser, Coldharbour Lane, Camberwell, 1989, TQ3276-007
Gee P. Johnson, The People’s Salon, Coldharbour Lane, Camberwell, 1989,

At the same time I was beginning a major black and white project to photograph the fabric of London, and saw my colour work as separate to that, but dependent on it. I don’t think I ever went out to visit a place or area to take colour pictures, but simply did so when opportunities arose as I visited various areas.

I didn’t have a particular interest in cafes or hairdressers, but saw these and other shops and offices as example of small businesses with relatively low start-up costs which reflected both the aesthetic of their owners and of the people of the area which they served. Gee P Johnson’s unisex ‘The People’s Salon’ for me expressed that sense well.

TQ3276-013
Daneville Rd, Camberwell, 1989, Southwark,

Filing selected trade prints in albums according to their grid references was a way to explore the differences between different areas across London – and I chose to do so in these 1km wide south-north strips. It was also a kind of cataloguing system for my work, though not always as well documented on the prints it should have been.

Garage, Camberwell Station Rd, Camberwell, 1989 TQ3276-017
Garage, Camberwell Station Rd, Camberwell,

These examples come from the first thirty or so images in my Flickr album TQ32 London Cross-section, which contains a little over 300 pictures. I’ll perhaps look again at some more shortly.


All photographs on this and my other sites, unless otherwise stated, are taken by and copyright of Peter Marshall, and are available for reproduction or can be bought as prints.