From corner shops to demolition crews: Exhibition captures the vanishing East End of the 1970s

"London's East End in the 1970s underwent incredible change in a short period, and a photography exhibition looks back at that lost world. It was both an area of considerable old poverty and post-WWII dereliction, but also the place where many people moved to when migrating to the UK. As such, it's a world where new migrants mix with old migrants, in houses that were either destined for demolition or lingered around long enough to be transformed by the docklands redevelopment of the 1980s."

"A photo of a packed corner shop caught my attention for the sign in the background, announcing that the shop was shut on Saturdays but open on Sundays until 2pm. A relic from the weirdness of allowing newsagents to open on Sundays but hardly anyone else. Although I think that store was pushing the definition of a newsagent to its limit."

"I loved the very "Bend It Like Beckham" moment of Asian schoolgirls playing football in the East End streets. And of course, lots of photos of Last of the Summer Wine-style housewives in their floral print dresses worn out by a lifetime of domestic labour. It's not voyeuristic though, as the photographers engaged closely with their subjects, being invited into their homes, and unusually for the time, offering copies of their portraits to the people to keep."

London's East End in the 1970s experienced rapid social and physical transformation, combining longstanding poverty and post-war dereliction with new migrant arrivals. Housing was often marked for demolition or later transformed by the docklands redevelopment of the 1980s. Young photographers documented ordinary working-class lives, capturing corner shops, changing retail from Jewish to Halal stores, street scenes of Asian schoolgirls playing football, and domestic scenes of housewives in floral dresses. Photographers developed close relationships with subjects, gained entry to homes, and frequently gave portrait copies to sitters. Small domestic details, such as a high wall-mounted telephone, reveal everyday living conditions.

Read at ianVisits