Princes Street, Edinburgh 1977

Princes Street, Edinburgh, 1977. Seen from above at the east end of the street, this wider view looks towards the great clock tower of the North British Hotel, with the Royal British Hotel on the left and a steady stream of cars, buses and shoppers moving along Princes Street below. The scene is packed with period detail, from the flags along the shopfronts and the crowded pavements to the mix of 1970s traffic heading towards the junction beneath the hotel.

Beyond the rooftops, Calton Hill forms a dramatic backdrop, with the unfinished colonnade of the National Monument clearly visible on the skyline along with the hill’s observatory buildings. At street level, one of the most noticeable signs is the large Bank of Scotland sign on the scaffolded corner building, while the road itself is dotted with buses, small saloons and pedestrians waiting at the crossings. It is a strong city-centre view of Edinburgh in the late 1970s, combining landmark hotels, busy shopping streets and one of the capital’s most recognisable hilltop backdrops.