Smith’s Wharf, River Thames, London 1970

A stark view of Smith’s Wharf in 1970, photographed at low tide with the mudbanks exposed. The warehouse, with its soot-blackened brickwork and faded red doors, reflects the long decline of London’s traditional riverside trade. Once part of the bustling complex of wharves and granaries lining the Thames, it stood just upstream from Tower Bridge and had been active since the 19th century. By 1970 the building was already derelict, its boarded windows and broken glazing showing how quickly the docks emptied after containerisation shifted freight to deeper ports. Smith’s Wharf was demolished not long after this photograph was taken, making way for the wave of redevelopment that would eventually transform this stretch of the river into offices, apartments and cultural spaces.