I notice men's builds in those days were mainly slim, these days literally every guy is a mini arnie schwarzenegger, or seems to be n my area. Must be evolution , can't all be gym related.
I was born in London back in July 1974; I am in the opinion that London was at it's best during the 90's and 10 years into the 21st century; since 2010 successive Tory governments have contributed to London's decline. As I am a London Underground enthusiast my all-time favourite Underground trains were in service before the turn of the century, some old ones existed after that albeit in refurbished condition which didn't appeal to me.
Thank you so much for these. I was blown away by the shot of the retail park. I’ve been hunting for a photo of the Texas store for years and boom,,,,video footage of it. Been scrubbing through your other vids for nostalgia hits. Who knew all these years later so many people look back on these otherwise unremarkable slices of life. Very important historic footage you have mate, thanks for uploading. My white whale is Chatham high street footage circa 96-2000. Someone must have some 😮
Hey, I want to do a comparison video showing how things looked before and how they are now. Could I use some of your footage in it? I'd really appreciate your permission and would give you proper credits.
I was 14yrs old that year and I can remember the group stages of the world Cup. My little brother was born that year and he's about to turn 26. It feels like yesterday to me.
I was 21 in 1998. I honestly think the late 90s were the peak. We had enough technological advances but not so many that we didn’t still require a human touch. It was pre social media, pre smartphones. People had time for each other. Pubs and clubs were packed, the economy was getting better. Holidays were cheap, as were houses. I am so happy I lived through this time.
A lot of what you're describing there is just being young. I too was 21 in 1998. It was a period of prosperity and optimism, no doubt. But it was all built on a huge credit bubble that was waiting to burst. It was artificial. Of course, we didn't know that at the time and it seemed like we were moving into a much happier universe. It was very much the definition of a "fool's paradise," looking back.
The artistic or creative small things like the water tubes, the metal gate that has writing on it that consists of its bar. The ambience I remember from my childhood, though I was only 4 in 1998, makes me feel like the internet is such an effective numbing agent that maybe it takes away from some visual creativity we might have use to crave in our surroundings.
Great video, i drank in The Crown for many many years, the Rough Trade record store was in a basement just down the street as well. The Coach and Horses pub and The French House in Soho are still great pubs to this day.
This is fantastic! I have watched "Confessions of a Sunday Painter" innumerable times over the years but the second programme, I had never seen! Wonderful, inspiring stuff!
I loved visiting the sex workers from 1980s 1990s and even early 2000 Plenty of woman in soho then and Cheap £20 a shot - now there’s is No woman around expensive 50 60 60 quid . It’s better if I used my right hand or Give my fat wife one 😂
Britain had a spring in its step, the pound was rising in value,wages rising, economy growing and rents/ house prices were affordable. Avg house prices in London was only 3-4 times the average income. Now it's 12x the average income!
Alas they wouldn't let you film in there. There was a strict no filming or photo policy, if you tried, they would physically confiscate your equipment.
I enjoyed the film. Though I did go a bit giddy with the camera shaking and quick pans around. I did love to see mostly my people and no third world inhabitants on the streets. I was there last October and couldn't believe the amount of people now in these areas. It almost made me feel claustrophobic. I think that London 1998 was still a great place to live and visit. In the early 2000's it changed rapidly. And not for the better. Thank you for the film and taking me down memory lane ❤
This was the London of my youth. I lived in the suburbs and around this time used to commute daily to the city for work. I rarely visit now when I do it's surprising how much it has changed (not for the better) in the intervening years. It isn't a huge amount of time in the scheme of things but enough for extremely noticeable differences. The world then seemed full of hope and possibility maybe it was the flush of youth but I think there was more to it than that. The place had feeling of the past but also an amazing future. Now it feels lost almost a pre apocalyptic. Thank you for posting and allowing me to remember happier and better times.
Wow, I worked at Cafe Pasta in Covent Garden in the 90s, it is like going back in time when London had character, now it is just like any other city. I miss that time greatly 😔
I work in Seven Dials now and can honestly say from this video to now, not much has changed. Nostalgia merchants on full show in the comments. I guess me being born in 1998 has a completely different outlook, and thank god for that!
This takes me back - Covent Garden hasn't really changed that much since 1996, quite honestly, but I think my attitude towards it has. Back when I was at university in Portsmouth I had friends on the south coast but during term breaks would be at my parents house in Essex. For whatever reason, it felt like the perfect central spot to catch up with someone in an afternoon over the summer break - we could grab a pizza, drink in one of the nearby pubs (The Essex Serpent was always my fave in those days) and enjoy ourselves before going our separate ways again. The older I got, the less I used it for socialising partly (I think) because it increasingly became a bit of a tourist trap and therefore more expensive. Most of my good memories stem from this period.
Lived in London 1996-1999 and worked all over for High Street stalwart- the best time of my life, it’s become such a hassled dump since 2000 - so much so that I haven’t been back since the pandemic, and my remaining friends there insist on coming down to the South West to escape it.
Actually Indian immigrants began arriving to the U.K. in large numbers from the 1950's-1970's, towards the end of the last century there were 1,500,000 British-Indians in London; I am one such British-Indian who was born in London 50 years ago.
