Fascinating Vintage Photos of London in the Late 1970s and Early 1980s Are Discovered at a Retired Photographer’s Home - Old Britannia

A collection of fascinating photographs of London in the late 1970s and early 1980s has been found inside forgotten boxes. The vintage images show Piccadilly Circus illuminated by well-known advertisements, Regent Street lit up by Christmas lights and Londoners enjoying the sunshine on deck chairs in Hyde Park.

The nostalgia-inducing photographs were taken by former Head of Photography at the National Railway Museum (NRM) York Chris Hogg, from York, as he visited family in London.
“Very soon after taking up my post at the NRM surrounded by historic artefacts including some 1.6 million photographs, I realised that a photographic record of what can seem the most mundane everyday life is as important to future generations as the pictures of great occasions and earth shattering events,” he said.

“So, in the late 1970s to early 1980s, when I wasn’t on the terraces at Tottenham I had a go at recording some of the odds and sods of London.

“Around the same time, I heard that Denis Thorpe the great Guardian photographer when asked how he was able to capture such incredible pictures of everyday Britain replied “keeping my eyes open and just mooching around”. One great piece of advice.”