LONDON - B/W - 1940'S - NO SOUND

(31 Dec 1946)
North Circular Road and bridge in Neasden area. Brent Shopping area, sunblinds on shops along street of main precinct, bus pulls up (x 4). Dalston bus and train queues opposite Plaza and Coliseum cinemas, see 35 bus to Camberwell. Chelsea - Kings Road GV's with Chelsea Pensioners (1948)
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[@paullewis2413]

What gets me when I see these old clips is why the hell did shops do away with the awnings which were so practical, keeping sun off the windows and rain off the pedestrians. Another half baked idea of the 60's no doubt.

[@danwhite6183]

So true, no shops seem to have them today,

[@MrDaiseymay]

Quite agree, in most old photographs of High Street shops, it looked as though the sun always shined then.

[@Indiekiwi]

This is one of the first things I noticed coming from New Zealand. You don’t want to run into a shop every time it rains.

[@MrDaiseymay]

@@Indiekiwi I think you may have hit on the reason WHY, they disappeared, YOU may not want to ' Run' into a shop, but THEY might want you to.

[@punzel]

I think the reason for shops doing away with their awnings would have been down to the increasing cost of maintenance which had to be found from their turnover which in turn was decreasing owing to the effects of competition.

[@crossleydd42]

The earlier clips have buses with GeneraL on the side, dating them to before mid-1933. The later clips are later 1930s and the last couple ore post-war, judging by the buses with dark roofs, part-filled destination blinds and one post-war bus.

[@air99i]

Everyone dressed with class and style Dignified ladies & gents 👏

[@qualcommchalloner9551]

No trainer's... people in general smart and normal size, I couldn't see 1 person over weight, No wheely bins, streets look so clean and tidy for such busy places Malc's in Perth WA ♥️

[@tattyshoesshigure5731]

Love it... such an unhurried pace of life back then, and by the looks of it, you could park anywhere!

[@BritishMovietone]

+Tattyshoes Shigure - ahh, it is indeed a more civilized time! I live very close tot he North Circular and it certainly never looks like this now! Best wishes - Jenny @ Movietone

[@Thomas828]

That's because hardly anybody but the well-off had a car.

[@MrDaiseymay]

You could, Obviouly , the usual laws about obstruction applied BUT it was 1958, when Parking meter's were introduced, and Priso---er, Traffic Wardens.

[@Mike8981]

Unhurried? They’re charging round at 90mph lmao 🤣

[@annette2653]

English people in England's capital. 🙏

[@theram4320]

Perhaps I should remove my rose tinted specs, but I really don't want to, looks much better then.

[@Mike8981]

Nah is was dirty and smelly. Much nicer now.

[@harvoin]

2.07: the Hendon Central showroom of the Hendon Electric Supply Co is seen to the left. The undertaking was absorbed in 1939 by the Northmet Power Company, which supplied electricity to a large area of North London and Hertfordshire until nationalisation in 1948.

[@vjab1108]

A much BETTER LONDON than today`s MESS.

[@danwhite6183]

So true everyone in such a rush today.

[@insertnamehere5146]

@Houston's mccaine don't be fooled, no one cared about each other then either. its just that the poor post war had nothing to be too proud of.

[@insertnamehere5146]

@@danwhite6183 Dan have you not seen youtube video's of 40s/50s London and London traffic? it was even worse than today. everyone one was in a rush same as today. the only difference being that all that rushing got them nowhere as they are all dead as will be within 70 years.

[@theprior46]

Remarkable film shot with real clarity. I have to say the speed is running 25% too fast as no elderly lady with a walking stick could move that quickly crossing the road. Cyclists are belting around at 30mph - so using the excellent KZbin facility I slowed the movie down to 75% of the shown speed. That was better far more realistic.

[@jonallen-friend2405]

Hendon Central. is featured. Also the N.Circular Rd bridges.

[@jacksugden8190]

Amazing footage before I was born.

[@MrDaiseymay]

I often look at old films, when I was alive, and think (as now) I could travel to my home city, and go take a look at myself---depending on the date of this film, I could be no more than 8.

[@LadyGds]

I love how the woman were dressed. 😍👍

[@MrDaiseymay]

Simple but stylish AND femenine. Wartime rationing contributed to simplicty, as materils were still on ration till 1950.

[@peterlindop4491]

What has happened to our England from those days, career politicians have destroyed it for their own convenience and wealth.

[@gmvn19]

"Those days" gone with the wind !! London was smart & beautiful & an English city. Now it's cosmopolitan.

[@jayrox40]

@@gmvn19 No, it's an islamic shithole.

[@clearlake3492]

@@jayrox40 Just out of curiosity, do you trawl KZbin so you can leave your moronic racist comments on as many videos as possible?

[@jazzman1626]

@@clearlake3492 Islam isn’t a race.

[@romangladiator1106]

@@clearlake3492 Facts aren't racist. Everyone and their dog knows that London is a shithole because its new inhabitants have made it so. Only first-world people can build and maintain first-world societies. Take them out of the picture and you invariably end up with a third-world shithole.

[@ianstrange5674]

Fantastic!!

[@janicebarthram6759]

The lack of litter in the streets is what I noticed, although we didn’t have fast food outlets dominating the high streets. No one walked along the street eating or drinking, maybe that’s why we didn’t have the fat gene. Nowadays those same streets will be full of litter and mobility scooters.

[@damonwilliams5033]

The only food which was eaten whilst walking in the street was fish and chips wrapped in newspaper.

[@f.dmcintyre4666]

0.58-2.46, Vivian Ave and Central Circus, Hendon Central...… Thanks for this...….

[@andynixon2820]

They used to have a weird three lane system on main roads , centre lane could be used by anyone for overtaking. Italy had the same system and it looks a bit dodgy .

[@craigthomson3621]

From 3 mins to 4.20 mins (approx) is Dalston. The building with Trumans on the side is still there but is no longer a pub. The 38 bus still serves the area, but the 35 bus, and of course the trams, no longer run.

[@meijiturtle3814]

Not filmed in the 1940s. Note the buses marked "General". Also the trams have no windscreen.

[@tab6496]

could it be late 1930s

[@MrDaiseymay]

Very nice pace of life, Good clarity for the period.

[@hughrainbird43]

The "Brent" shopping area sequences could be inter-War. Buses branded "GeneraL" predate London Transport (1933.)

[@MrDaiseymay]

I wondered about that. Those old D/Decker's with those peeks over the driver's cab and upper deck. I thought they got rid of them pre-war?

[@None-zc5vg]

@@MrDaiseymay Some of those antique double deckers lasted until 1950.

[@michaelkenny8540]

the section at 2:50 has the 1931 Gary Coper film 'City Streets' and the 1935 'Count Of Monte Cristo'. The 1937 Joe E Brown 'Fit For A King' & Frederic March's 1938 'Buccaneer' all on the same billboard. .

[@MrGlendale111]

I didn't see one bldg with bomb damage from the Air Raids

[@MrDaiseymay]

deliberate?

[@andynixon2820]

May have been because most of the bomb damage was in East London and in the city square mile .

[@LordTantrums007]

This film shows what civilisation in Britain was like before being trashed.

[@MrDorbel]

Whatever!

[@John900C]

Did you spot Jacob Rees-Mogg trying to push into the bus queue at 3:00?

[@johnobrien8398]

Wonderful video

[@asjalane2289]

Lovely footage,appear to be stock shots?

[@nicholasbennett5907]

Second half post war c1946

[@wendyellini]

what have we done to our beautiful way of life ??????

[@mullimulli6259]

Opened the door for 20 years to thousands and thousands of immigrants. We are full up now. Londonistan is horrible

[@jacksugden8190]

Wendy Darling RUINED IT

[@mrp9023]

@@jacksugden8190 ahh yes the good ol days. When women were seen as less than men, being gay was a crime and the poorest of the people lived in squalor

[@jazzman1626]

wayne pocklington Oh yes, it’s much better now that the teaching of the deviant, abnormal, grossly indecent lifestyles is going to be mandatory in schools next year as a good thing instead of as the indecency that it is. The loonies have taken over the asylum. Anti-Christ politicians in Britain is what has happened.

[@danwhite6183]

@@mrp9023 oh yes and you could still have an old sing song in the pub, lol

[@terryholttum3290]

Someone here states a much better way of life well it was if you avoided rickets had a job could afford coal in the winter could afford the doctor when you were sick no birth control so kids wore hand me downs oh and of course you had a bath once a week no supermarkets so you had little choice in food a better way of life get real the working class were stuffed from the day they were born until the day they died.

[@clearlake3492]

Terry Holttum Yes, people who talk about the 'good old days' of the 1930s/40s would get one hell of a shock if they were transported back in time and had to experience the life of the average person. I bet within a week they'd be desperate to return to our modern times.

[@insertnamehere5146]

@Tinita Bondi London belonged to the wealthy white aristocratic elite where everyone "knew their place" Terry is correct, for all the issues with living in 21st century London The working class are better off now then they were then. Not least because they can see a doctor without worrying about getting a bill for the appointment. England was very very overtly class structured back then. its was entirely possible to get a top job and be as thick as a bucket of bricks but have gone to the right school or know the right people

[@insertnamehere5146]

@Tinita Bondi Well my father and grandfather lived and worked in London and i don't think they thought London "belonged to them" They were both working class and like today despised by the elites. the aristocracy have been replaced by the hipsters and celebs who gentrify and keep to their enclaves which keeps working class people out.

[@insertnamehere5146]

@Tinita Bondi makes no difference to me. i get up and go to work pay my bills. no one bothers me. multicultralism was enforced on the white working class by the middle class liberal elites in Politics and media who enforce it in the parts of London they themselves choose not to live.They despise the white working class! Tinita would i be correct in thinking you are from Zimbabwe?

[@MrDaiseymay]

The most common answer to that is---we obtained material wealth etc etc , at a cost, in ways that cannot be counted. BUT on balance, having lived through WW2 and beyond --obviously, the scales put me in favour of today. It was all badly managed thats all.

[@anoshya]

Last part must be the Kings Rd SW3

[@BigSky1]

It is.

[@anoshya]

Great views of the Kings Rd Chelsea

[@highpath4776]

Cabover Dennis Ace ? or Westerns Laundries

[@highpath4776]

5.24 utility damiler ? or a leyland re-body

[@MrDaiseymay]

''CRAVEN ''A'' Cigarettes' ''GOOD FOR YOUR THROAT''. WAS THEIR ADVERTISING SLOGAN . BLOODY HILARIOUS.

[@AndreaElizabeth100]

This was before the motorways were built in Britain and the shopping centres/malls? Not that much traffic on the roads! If the Second World War had not happened the 1940's would of been a great decade. The two World Wars ruined Britain and the Blitz. So many had what they now call PTSD.

[@barriegilbert1315]

no way is this the 1940's it's early mid 30's

[@davedoubledecks2284]

Check out the movie titles at the beginning, early 30's

[@paullewis2413]

It's a mixture. Some of the early shots are definitely 30's but the Kings Road part at the end is 40's, you can tell by the fashions. Don't go by the cars, in the post WW2 years many were pre 1939 for obvious reasons.

[@andynixon2820]

There is an ex army truck near the start so that piece of film is post war at least.

[@ktipuss]

Also at 4:10 there are two open-ended E1 Class trams. I thought that all of them had been either converted to enclosed cabs for drivers by 1946.

[@tomkent4656]

BP plates?

[@diggerpete9334]

Real British people back then. It is a cess pit now.

[@stephenlever419]

Does anyone recognise any of the areas ?

[@emmawylde100]

how is it dramas shown on television include many black and asians in early britain and pre war films. ive watched many hours of old footage and barely see any

[@redstar7292]

Yes meant to populations of poc since 16th century..allegedly. But they were just camera shy until the 60s & 70s..

[@michaelsheppard5383]

Unbelievable that TV would use actors to play fictional parts don't you think? Christ you may have to use a little imagination when you watch your dramas, what a hassle!

[@jamalstaines2818]

In the 60s 70s 80s loads of blacks and asian in London it's other UK cities which where mainly white and racist ,London has always been a melting pot for cultures.

[@routeman680]

@@jamalstaines2818 But not before 1948.

[@nicholasbennett5907]

C1934

[@paullewis2413]

No way. The fashions with the younger women are definitely 40's not 30's.

[@davedoubledecks2284]

@@paullewis2413 I think it's made up of clips from different eras.

[@davidockley2987]

I will not make the the obvious comment as it undoubtedly has been said many times before, but you know where I'm coming from.

[@MrDorbel]

Here's your chance to see some really interesting historic film and all people can do is comment about the lack of black and asian faces. Well yes, it preceded the large scale immigration of the 50s and 60s, so what, get a life! What does it matter what colour your neighbour is and who keeps the corner shop?