1980's London | Bermondsey | Harry Bowling | Reporting London | 1989

Author Harry Bowling takes a look around his old stomping ground of Bermondsey in London. Harry's books are influenced by his wartime experiences and the characters he met as a child growing up. Harry became known as 'the King of Cockney sagas'
First shown: 06/02/1989
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Quote: VT45491

[@person.X.]

What an absolute gem of a film. Amazing to see Borough market then and those derelict warehouses. Worth millions now.

[@darrenwilson8042]

"My name's Michael Caine".............sadly Harry died in 1999

[@clipstone]

Nice to hear the old cockney accent - fast disappearing.

[@TheHangingWood]

Not disapeering, just relocating from London to towns and villages in the home counties where the people have moved to. I used to live in Berkshire, almost the entire villages had cokney accents.

[@ghvtg]

Cortina, Metros, Maestros, mk2 Cavs......!! All going past.That's why I'm tuned in😆

[@fasthracing]

Last bit of proper London

[@MJ-rz3ny]

Bermondsey people were economically cleansed out of the place.

[@tomhami]

Great look into living history, sad to see so little of old working London today. More please!

[@aquablushgirl]

Worked in Bermondsey from 2000 to 2002. Still some of the old rail arches and buildings that had yet to be gentrified. Glad I got to work in parts of London like Hoxton, Bermondsey and Highbury before they changed so drastically.

[@MrBarrytommy]

Harry a proper 'Diamond Geeza' 😉

[@DoubleDeckerAnton]

Great memories from a bygone era...!!! 😊👌

[@danielintheantipodes6741]

Wonderful living history! Keep them coming!

[@MrDavey2010]

Really fascinating. Thank you..

[@guidelineuk]

Thanks for this upload 😁

[@zebedep]

Interesting bit of film.

[@dfddwm]

Used to go over Borough Market in 1970s - it was hard manual work and very early in morning. I can't stand it now - all dolled up and artificial.

[@trevorrandom]

Fantastic stuff... More please ☺

[@sal.salvador202]

Good clear film 👍

[@stuco81]

Ahh London before the bus lanes! Look how well that traffic flows. At least the clean-up of the river since then has been more successful, it looks positively rank in some of those clips.

[@stuco81]

@Nuka Cola Pardon me? Not only am I British. But I live in London (well, suburbs)

[@stuco81]

@Retro Collected Is okay mate. You havent burst my melancholy bubble at all. From the DoT: % of households with no car. 1951 85% 2016 22% Maybe all of those 15% in 1951 with a car happened to live in London? Besides, my original point wasnt about vehicle ownership. It was about traffic flow in London. Which IMO (and I wasnt there, so i can only base it on what I see in old stock footage such as this), seemed to flow better without the bus lanes and abundance of 'traffic calming' and other road 'furniture' that absolutely litters modern London streets.

[@flipper2392]

@Retro Collected I don't like to get involved in disputes but as many cars on the road in 40s & 50s as today, where did you get that from? Watch some films from those times and see how much traffic is on the roads.Traffic in this clip is actually moving, TfL claim average speed in central London 8mph, and I find that hard to beleive. More like 4-5mph, if you're lucky.

[@seventhchild8476]

Love these videos. However I am pissed of with the fact that a lot of footage taken during 1960s - 1976 is missing. Growing up in SE London in those days, was adventures to me. Southwark Council did a disservice to the area. Preserving buildings like Jones and Higgins ect, is what was needed.

[@viewmodeimages350]

Great video!!! 👍🏻 I used to work on Shad Thames. I love that area so much! I would walk home along the river to Surrey Docks area. One of my favourite parts of London before there were big new builds placed everywhere. Too over populated now with middle class boring gits.

[@vindicator2011]

...delightful video

[@tonyclifton265]

"the king of cockney sagas", RIP

[@daviddalby9699]

Enjoyed the trip thanks

[@stephenomara1109]

Think Harry wrote tuppence to Tooley st

[@Wagoo]

I wonder if this guy is still getting his end away. Fascinating stuff

[@clipstone]

Died in 1999.

[@davidhunt6463]

He didn't quite make 70. Nice delivery on a fascinating subject.

[@mini1298aj64]

What happened to the sound can't hear him

[@funkyjunky980]

The spirit of “ole arry Bowling” is still striping scousers at the “new den”