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All images (c) John Bulmer.
Colour photographs of the North of England, 1960s – 1970s, by John Bulmer
If you like this, check out:
Kodachrome test film, 1922
Pub of the future, 1965
Locomotives, 1950s, by O. Winston Link
Colour photographs of Post-war British industy
Svenska Dansband, 1970s
The Souper Dress, 1967
'BlowUp' - 1966/1999
Fashion, 1940s - 1960s, by Lillian Bassman
'Soul Train' Lines, 1970s
Ikea Catalogue, 1965
Kanaval, by Leah Gordon
US TV Ads, 1950s / 1960s
Porsche Factory, 1972
New York, 1940s, by Stanley Kubrick
"A Natural History" by Noah Doely
David Bowie being normal, 1966-2004
Elvis returning from the Army, March 1960
Priscilla Presley's 21st Birthday Party, 1966
"A few pictures of my father's High School band", 1960s
Jim Morrison by Yale Joel, 1968
Hanging out with Jimi Hendrix, 1964-1970
Good grief, what a bleak and miserable hole. I grew up in the East End of London but it was paradise compared to those places.
Reminds me of Life on Mars (the British tv show)
The color photos, with those reds – just stunning.
“its grim up north” they are not kidding:(
Ah, reminds me of home. Interesting people and interesting landscapes. Keep your East End, I’ll have the history of these places.
Also though, did he ever go to Stoke-on-Trent? He should’ve. There wasn’t anywhere in the world that looked like the Potteries with the bottle ovens, but they’ve almost all gone now.
Pic 23 “granvil! Fetch y cloth”
Manchester had (has?) a policy where the pubs had to be retained when the local area was redeveloped. It looks like that is what has happened in Pic 22 and 25. Can anyone identify them? And find a streetview of them now?
Yes it was grim just after the war and in the late 50s early 60s when these shots were taken.
Now it’s a fantastic place to live. Leeds is modern, vibrant, great for shopping but still retaining much of it’s beautiful old architecture.
Don’t knock it until you’ve been to see it for yourself, believe me there are far more grim places in London now than you’ll find up North.
The Broadway Inn in Salford was redeveloped but still remains. I think it may be the old pub. If so – the place has changed beyond recognition.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/salfordandmanchester/2532267240
Picture 20 – Peabody St is in Bolton (BL3 6SW) and visible on Google Streetview). The actual street is again very different and a lot less grim looking.
A house for sale in Peabody St!
http://www.propertyindex.com/RS2796240/Peabody-Street-Great-LeverBoltonBL3-6SW/100/
Thanks to the good folks of pubs-of-manchester it looks as if the location of The Broadway Inn is confirmed:
http://pubs-of-manchester.blogspot.com/2011/01/guest-pub-broadway-inn.html
The clichéd and narrow view of the north of England to most people in the south and London and through the eyes of a Cambridge-educated photographer from a life of privilege.
Almost racially abusive class-stereotyping. Class prejudice: the last remaining obscenity of inequality; worse because it crosses beyond racial barriers.
Recording History through the Lens and what the eye can see..they brought me to childhood 60′s – 70′s Belfast..much the same..living in bleak times with colour, lurking, in the background of the mind & Soul of the people who boar the hardship. Love the Honesty in your work.
One of the photographs has some graffiti daubed on a wall “Help us, Harold Wilson, Enemy of The Working Class” It seems Labour Governments never change, enemies of the Working-Class, then and now!
But they only seem to go as far north as Manchester, maybe Leeds — more like midlands than north really. Surely above and beyond York is actual North of England. North of London yes, but hardly North England. Bizarre.
GD: “The North” of England is as much a cultural concept as it is geographical. Yes, there is a lot of land between York and the Scottish borders, but nobody in the UK would argue that Leeds or Manchester (or any of the industrial cities of Yorkshire or Lancashire) were anything other than “Northern”. Interesting point though, because it’s all relative (to London, as per).
In the 2nd from last photo, is this bomb damage from WW2 not yet repaired ?
And anyone who didn’t grow up there and then can see from these pictures why the “women” in Monty Python’s Flying Circus looked the way they did.
Picture #23 has the Arndale building in the background so should be pretty easy to find… although saying that its totally different now, the black, brown and greys has given way to towers of glass, blues and shimmering silvers, spotless clean streets and trees.
Manchester has come on leaps and bounds in the past 30/40 years, it almost looks like 100 years of progress.
Amazing to me that people lived like this in the UK in the mid 60′s.
Thanks for sharing these images. Just great to look at. Nice one.
i grew up in yorkshire and i left with my family bound for australia in 1974 , i was 17 when i left and never been back we landed in melbourne at 7am got off the plane looked up at this big bright blue sky and said thank you very much this will do me
I left in 1974 with my family and Brother Gordon, yep the one above. I was 10 and my toughts were whats that up there and then i was told, its the sky, yep it really is blue.
Loving the photo of the two girls coming back from the chippy in 1965 dressed exactly like the two old dears scrubbing their front steps in the previous photo.
Not all of the north/north-west was like this back then, whoever took these photos and put them together clearly had the tired old ‘grim up north’ cliche in mind. Just not representative.