Kensington High Street, London 1971

Kensington High Street, London, in 1971, looking east along one of west London’s busiest shopping streets with Barkers dominating the right-hand side of the view. The great stone frontage of the department store stretches along the pavement beneath the large Barkers name high on the tower, while on the left the older civic and commercial buildings include the entrance to Kensington Town Hall. Red double-decker buses on route 31 head through the traffic, black cabs and saloons crowd the carriageway, and shoppers pack both pavements, creating a classic early-1970s London street scene. The mix of Edwardian grandeur, department-store modernity and heavy everyday traffic captures High Street Kensington before later retail and streetscape changes altered its character.