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1980s London: Portrait of a Decade of Change
The 1980s was a decade of immense change in London as well as across the rest of the country, setting in motion social and economic forces that shape much that we recognise today in the capital, which experienced considerable upheaval in the process.In this book author Alec Forshaw presents a portrait of 1980s London using a selection of previously unpublished photographs by Theo Bergström. This was the era of the Big Bang and deregulation of the financial institutions in the City, the abandonment of Fleet Street by the newspaper industry, the demise of the GLC, the beginning of regeneration in Docklands, and the last days of old Billingsgate Market. While some areas witnessed gentrification, spiralling property prices and a myriad of new places to eat out, other places like Brixton and Tottenham were recovering from riots. Bergström’s evocative images and Forshaw’s perceptive text capture a changing and uncertain world on the streets of London.
128 pages, Paperback
Published January 15, 2022
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August 26, 2021
I may be biased*, but I particularly liked the informal shuttling between personal story-telling and more generic critique. Alec does an effective job of recalling what (his) life was like during this turbulent and significant decade and inserting more broader evaluations of the main political, economic, social, cultural and urban development trends affecting the Capital under the contradictory influences of Maggie Thatcher and Ken Livingston.
The chapters are short and fit perfectly into a ‘read in bed’ regime whilst the style is personable and easy to read. It may not tell the story of ‘everyday’ Londoners but it reminded me clearly of my days working as a planner* in London during the time when Margaret Thatcher unleashed and facilitated the forces of new-liberal capitalism!
* I was a town planner who worked in London during the late 1980s and researched planning practice in Birmingham, the Black Country, Manchester, Bolton, Humberside and London throughout that decade.
The chapters are short and fit perfectly into a ‘read in bed’ regime whilst the style is personable and easy to read. It may not tell the story of ‘everyday’ Londoners but it reminded me clearly of my days working as a planner* in London during the time when Margaret Thatcher unleashed and facilitated the forces of new-liberal capitalism!
* I was a town planner who worked in London during the late 1980s and researched planning practice in Birmingham, the Black Country, Manchester, Bolton, Humberside and London throughout that decade.
Displaying 1 of 1 review