To mark BBC One's Turn Back Time, Hands on History is asking for "then and now" photos of High Streets (see Flickr group below). "Then it was Bingham Halt [in 1930], now it's Addiscombe Tram Stop in Croydon," says Gordon Barnard.
Pinner High Street, in outer London, pictured in 1950 and today. "What I like about my High Street is that all the buildings remain the same - it's just the shops that have changed," says photographer Adam Leach.
Swadlincote in Derbyshire, in 1904 and today at the junction of the High Street and The Delph. Thanks to HJ Wain of picturethepast.org.uk for the original, and BBC Derby for merging it with the present-day image.
Railway Road in Strabane, circa 1910 in a photo from the Public Records Office of Northern Ireland. Once a commercial artery with goods coming in and out by rail, today a major retail park draws shoppers in and out of the area.
Still in Strabane, the High Street in a 1940s photo from the Public Records Office. Grays Printers remains, but the town hall and its bell tower burned down during civil unrest in 1972, says Adrian Beattie, of Strabane District Council Museums Service.
Market traders then and now in Surrey Street, Croydon. Jo Orr sourced the archive photo from Croydon Local Studies Library, and some of her images are in London Transport Museum's Overground Uncovered exhibition.
Guildford High Street as it was in 1948. The pharmacy, centre, came down in the 1960s, says Philip Hutchinson. "There is now an angular shopping terrace in its place - even the building immediately to the right of the old photo has since been demolished."
And Philip Hutchinson delved into his extensive postcard collection to take this photo of Seaview High Street on the Isle of Wight - the archive image dates from the early 1900s.
- Published2 November 2010
