Tower Bridge Road Market, London, 1931. AI Enhanced, Colour & Sound Added, Cleaned, Upscale 4K 60fps

Featuring a brand new colourisation method. You will not find this anywhere else on KZbin. Though not authentic the colouring presents a more realistic environment and offers a broader range of colour than other limited options. It is now possible to enhance the atmosphere of these old films hugely with this colourisation technique.
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Step back in time to 1931 and immerse yourself in the bustling heart of working-class London. Tower Bridge Road Market, a thriving epicentre of life, unfolds before your eyes in this captivating 5-minute film.
The camera captures the vibrant scenes along Tower Bridge Road, Bermondsey Street and Southwark Park Road, where market traders, shopkeepers and curious pedestrians come alive against the backdrop of a bygone era. Witness the lively fruit markets, the quaint butchers' and bakers' shops and the enduring legacy of M. Manze's famous eel and pie shop, which still stands today.
The original "intertitle" texts guide you through the range of (now vanished) pubs and inns, such as the Bricklayer's Arms, the Horse Shoe and the Colleen Bawn, offering glimpses of this past community's social history.
As the film unfolds, the streets teem with a mesmerising variety of street traffic - horse-drawn carts, steam-powered wonders, tiny cars, lorries of all shapes and sizes. Faces of traders and passers-by fixate curiously on the camera, bridging the gap between 1931 and the present.
The historical site of Bricklayer's Arms, where Tower Bridge Road meets Old Kent Road, once hosted a coaching inn and a short-lived London railway terminus, leaving behind stories etched in the cobblestones. Next to the now-vanished 'Trocette' cinema, you'll find the Horse Shoe pub, a testament to a bygone era.
Today, the echoes of the past still reverberate in Bermondsey Square, where an antique market every Friday pays homage to the neighbourhood's rich history. Step into the shoes of those who once roamed these vibrant streets and experience a captivating glimpse of London in 1931.
See if you can spot the young lad in shorts wearing roller skates.
✔ Dust, scratches, film damage and image noise removed.
✔ Stabilised.
✔ AI optimised.
✔ General details recovered.
✔ Face details recovered.
✔ Compression reversed.
✔ Sharpened.
✔ Tone balanced.
✔ Colour profiling.
✔ Colourised.
✔ Colour graded.
✔ Soundtrack sourced and added.
✔ Ambient sounds sourced and added.
✔ Upscaled to 4K.
✔ Upscaled to 60 fps.
✔ Secret Sauce.
✔ Second Secret Sauce.
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#london #londonhistory #aienhanced #airestored #oldfilm #1931 #towerbridge #londonmarket #britishhistory

[@MrButtonpresser]

Some are still with us. Dad was born in 1931, still going strong today.

[@tangatoto362]

Fascinating ! Its almost as if the people are looking through the camera to at us ! …in the future….in disbelief

[@pyewackett3822]

Brilliant! My dad was born in Tower Bridge Rd in 1910, so keeping a careful eye open for a 21 year old Dad.

[@livinghistoryaienhanced]

lol cool! :D

[@Muswell]

And then, 8 years later, he was called off to war?

[@bigredracingdog466]

@@Muswell I was thinking the same thing. All those boys such the group at 1:51 look to be 9-12. How many went off to fight and how many came back?

[@theendofeverything6356]

You can see a chap with one leg entering the scene at about 1 minute in. Obviously a veteran from WWI. The images are so vivid and moving. Great work!

[@livinghistoryaienhanced]

Thanks man! ;)

[@Muswell]

Yes, I noticed that. And 8 yrs after this film, the young lads would be called off to war again. I think I've lived at the best time - born in 1953.

[@ginarose545]

my brother showed this to me as our grandad (dads dad) had 1 leg and the family lived in that area all those years back, we ve never seen a picture of him and maybe just maybe this was him 🤞

[@robertcook2572]

Probably, but not necessarily sustained during the Great War. Industrial accidents were not uncommon.

[@explorelondon3695]

Am watching this down the road from Tower Bridge, 92 years later on an ipad as a Tesla drives past my drive way, stuff of unfathomable dreams back then😮😮, its unbelievable the footage is so mesmerising. Thanks for the upload❤

[@sirrom5155]

Unlike many of the other commenters, these videos make me feel like I'm going forward in time.

[@watch-Dominion-2018]

third world Africa is forward?

[@originalsainthood]

these are just so great! whenever I see an elderly person in these videos - let's say a 70yo - it's just amazing to imagine what their eyes have seen since the 1860's. my gosh...

[@Chris_Nineham]

Mind blown - absolutely amazing! Thanks for bringing to life our history.

[@livinghistoryaienhanced]

Thank you :D

[@mjw021269]

I see the Jones and Higgins Ltd delivery wagon. When I was a small boy in the early/ mid 1970s my mum and nana took me, and perhaps my toddler brother, to see Father Christmas at the Jones and Higgins department store on Rye Lane, in Peckham.

[@livinghistoryaienhanced]

Wow! I wonder if they're still around?

[@mjw021269]

@@livinghistoryaienhanced Sadly, the Jones and Higgins department store closed in 1980. The build was repurposed as shops and a night club.

[@immaterialimmaterial5195]

Literally everyone wore a hat in those days! Great footage. Thanks!!!

[@markwhalebone751]

Love it, My family and myself are from the area and have lived in the area since the 1700's Manze the pie and mash shop is still there although the shop sign is green now and I don't know if it has been changed, there was a lot of bomb damage a decade later.

[@hellfirepictures]

Same here... proper 'city' folk for hundreds of years, all worked in the markets, and some became 'omnibus' and tram drivers, and Carmen. Such a different world to that in which we live now!

[@markwhalebone751]

I am just old enough to remember both markets when the stalls lined the roads. Also the filming of the Blue looks like it was taken from above a shop on the corner of Bombay St and Southwark Park rd. I worked in that location back in 79 and looked down with exactly the same view. Seeing the film in colour sent shivers down my spine knowing I had untold forbears living within a few hundred yards and could even possibly be in the films. Thank you. @@hellfirepictures

[@thereunionparty]

Beautiful. All the shops have awnings or blinds. We don't hardly see that these days. I wonder why? The sun is still shining for sure.

[@markshrimpton3138]

You’re right, shops have stopped doing that. Some used to pull down yellow cellophane blinds inside to filter the light.

[@russefrance4869]

Super job. Horse, steam and motor transport all on the same road.

[@tomlee812]

Delightful footage. Bermondsey was where my paternal ancestors came from in the Victorian era...

[@PeterMason-i1h]

Brilliant presentation. So atmospheric you almost feel that you are there!

[@livinghistoryaienhanced]

Thank you! :D

[@allansr100]

A joy to watch. Many thanks for sharing .

[@livinghistoryaienhanced]

Thank you for the comment and for watching. :)

[@judithbateson6353]

Absolutely fascinating, loved every second. Brilliant you!

[@HJM49125]

Fun fact (sort of)): there's an underground tunnel big enough to fit a car that runs from the Bermondsey Street junction up as far as Druid Street. It was used for the Tram system I believe. Southwark Council look after it and there is an access point in the footway next to the Albert McKenize memorial

[@livinghistoryaienhanced]

Interesting. I'm sure we would be astonished at what is hidden under London and other major cities.

[@bigredracingdog466]

@@livinghistoryaienhanced Because of crowding in the streets, as can be seen in the video, delivering mail to post offices at ground level proved inefficient. The mail service created its own underground rail system with miniature cars to distribute mail rapidly throughout the city. It was in operation from 1927 to 2003. Today one can book rides on a section of the system.

[@livinghistoryaienhanced]

@@bigredracingdog466 Wow! Never heard of that, even though it was in operation until quiet recently. It would be fascinating to see a complete map of all the tunnels, buried rivers, hidden canals etc in the major cities. I believe it would be shocking.

[@bigredracingdog466]

@@livinghistoryaienhanced Search "10 Interesting Facts You Probably Didn’t Know About Mail Rail" for an article with photos and a map.

[@OlafProt]

Wonderful!! My Aunt was 4 when this was filmed. She's still with us... and was born in Kingston a few miles away.

[@ПавликМорозов-у2щ]

Очень удивляет, как много на улицах взрослых и, особенно, детей!! Все прилично и красиво одеты! Многие смотрят в камеру, чтобы попасть в историю! Кадры в цвете сопровождаются музыкой и звуковыми эффектами!! Поразительно!! Браво!! Спасибо!!👍💪👏👏👏👍🤩🤩🤩🤩

[@livinghistoryaienhanced]

Спасибо за ваш комментарий. Я подозреваю, что из-за рынка на улицах больше людей, чем обычно. :) Да, кажется, люди того периода имели больше самоуважения и во все времена одевались как можно лучше. Рад, что вам понравилось видео. :D

[@drezno]

Pie and mash shop MANZEs still going strong! :)

[@markwhalebone751]

Manzes also had a shop down the Blue. (Southwark Pk Rd ) Number 250. it was bombed though during the war.

[@SteveInsidious]

❤ When London was beautiful.

[@citizen1163]

@Steve Yes, in-between 2 World Wars. Little did they know the devastation awaiting them. My relatives escaped the docklands during the Blitz & went to the comparative safety of Islington!

[@alanworland9478]

Excellent find!

[@naomismith4933]

So many hats!

[@SpacenSpooks]

These people have no idea they're staring into the future, and I feel like an alien staring back lol

[@Cibrith]

From the earliest clip I recognise John Best the Butchers, Brandons, wholesale tobacconists, and Maypole, Dairy products. Note that the later scenes appear to show no tramlines in TBR. When were they installed?

[@cph2004]

A window of time. I look at them as they look at me. 82 year difference, wow!

[@spencerTaylor-f5t]

Always amazes me how smart people dressed compared to today. If only they could see what its become

[@medievaltimes1482]

Suit sellers were the Billionaires of the day.

[@lyndoncmp5751]

The Nazis were extremely smart dressers at the time and look where that lead us.

[@SnakePlissken-wt6sc]

@@lyndoncmp5751their uniforms were designed by Hugo boss

[@lyndoncmp5751]

@@SnakePlissken-wt6sc Yes that is true. Very smart but not very nice people 😝.

[@pyewackett5]

What struck me on watching the film was how dowdy looking everyone was. Erik Satie's musical compositions would fit perfectly to any future films . Just a thought. Wonderful glimpses into the past. It is where I belong :D

[@Muswell]

@ 3.34 - awesome study of those guys and @ 4.22 ! Wow.

[@livinghistoryaienhanced]

Thanks man :)

[@gavinblack450]

So many hats!!

[@hellfirepictures]

To think, anyone of hundreds of my family could be in any of those shots lol. If you ever come across Water Cress sellers - definitely my lot :D

[@livinghistoryaienhanced]

"water cress sellers" is that a thing?! :D From 3.51 there is a woman stood in front of the veg stalls in the middle right then the middle bottom, she's selling something, it looks a little big for water cress. Any family resemblance? :D

[@parisiteparis]

me too! but my family were dock workers - so probably in the oub or at work! 😅

[@nickbrian5141]

Great video, real history

[@bmker5469]

That's the best one I've ever seen.

[@adama8570]

Is there a commercial way of having one´s 8mm films processed? What you have done is truly remarkable!!!!

[@livinghistoryaienhanced]

Thank you. :) You can buy a scanner for less than £100 and digitise your own 8/16mm. Likely cheaper in the long run than using a service.

[@fapfpv2832]

Ahh the days before mobile phones 🤩

[@SeeYouNextTuesday-]

Like the one you’re using now

[@petergardner5002]

Used to walk to work in Southwark that way, certainly has changed.

[@StephenRMClark-ff5rm]

I think that is supposed to say Southwark Park Road great footage though 😎👍

[@KAOMProductions]

Brilliant video

[@livinghistoryaienhanced]

Thank you 😁

[@gareththomas6714]

does anyone know when the Wearing of Hats in Public Act was repealed lol

[@alfiegreenleaf]

Unreal.

[@kingquinn3897]

Look! No one's wearing Hi-viz.

[@Jeffybonbon]

we are all but passing through time one day your born and one day you will die nothing really changes

[@VincentComet-l8e]

Fascinating. But it looks earlier than 1931?

[@seansmith445]

Where are all the black people they tell us were always here and built Britain 😂

[@alwaysfair4991]

Why not Take a trip to Liverpool and admire the architecture built by the slave trade. Blacks and Asians are here now, if you don't like it head for the exit door.

[@artrandy]

@@alwaysfair4991 Hey racist, If the indigenous population of the UK were no longer here, the country would soon become the same war torn sh*t hole place, the majority of asylum seekers claim they're escaping from.........

[@artrandy]

You're right, its a myth.......

[@essexboy5520]

Haha...if the BBC had filmed this there would have been.

[@alwaysfair4991]

@@essexboy5520 I think you will find many keeping the rotten NHS going.

[@tommyd5238]

Not a hijab, burka, or hoody boy in sight !

[@petercoekin5419]

What was the guy at the end about to do ?

[@livinghistoryaienhanced]

It seems he'd finished whatever it was and that bit of film is missing or it was never filmed.

[@paulclarkson8951]

Is the year correct it seems much older.

[@livinghistoryaienhanced]

The original is from the BFI. That's the date they state. :)

[@David-h4z2s]

Hovis Bread 🍞 Still Going Strong In 2024

[@williamshufflebottom-k3t]

It looks bizarre as everyone is white. It also looks friendly and safe.

[@alanwann9318]

Where are the doctors and scientists.

[@livinghistoryaienhanced]

Locked away in the indoctrination centres 😁

[@telboy2966]

Not much diversity, how did they manage to survive?

[@markshrimpton3138]

I really don’t know. Not a hijab in sight.

[@JasonUmbrellabird]

I can't believe no one wore anything colourful.

[@adampeters7947]

The wealthy did, I believe

[@bigredracingdog466]

What will people think when they look at video of us in 90 years?

[@livinghistoryaienhanced]

I would hope they would be horrified but it could get even worse!

[@adamsampson6199]

Not one person on their phone.

[@stanwest3529]

everybody wore a hat then hardly see one now ( i dont class ball caps as hats)

[@johnmoulton-zh9rm]

People loved a hat then.

[@paulclarkson8951]

Probably 1921 judging by the hats.

[@livinghistoryaienhanced]

Hmmm, not everyone could afford to keep up with the latest fashions. So it's possible people in 1931 were still dressing in earlier period clothes. BFI states 1931 anyway. :)

[@watch-Dominion-2018]

and less than 100 years later, the same streets looks like third-world Africa

[@darkdogstudios]

What language are they supposedly speaking? It sure isn’t English! Lol😂

[@livinghistoryaienhanced]

Well spotted. It's meant to be background chatter. I spent so much time on the film that I dashed through the sound selection and implementation a little too fast. :) Anyway, didn't you hear, we've always been diverse 🙄 Londonese, that's what they're speaking :D

[@keithrose6931]

​@@livinghistoryaienhanced😂😂

[@6teeth318-w5k]

AI enhanced? Dont like the sound of that . Does that mean fake shit on realm picture’s ? Removing adding stuff not there at the time?

[@livinghistoryaienhanced]

That sounds more like the BBC 😃 "AI Enhanced", recovers details, sharpens the image, removes image noise and scratches to a degree, adds colour to black and white footage, amongst other enhancements. There was no bending of reality in this video, other than the colourisation which is not accurate but more for ambience. If you view the Blackpool video on this Channel I did bend reality a little and made one of the people in the original film move and speak.