1980s London : portrait of a decade of change

The 1980s was a decade of immense change in London as well as across the rest of the country, setting in motion social and economic forces that shaped much that we recognise today in the capital, which experienced considerable upheaval in the process. In this book author Alec Forshaw presents a portrait of 1980s London using a selection of previously unpublished photographs by Theo Bergström.

This was the era of the Big Bang and deregulation of the financial institutions in the City, the abandonment of Fleet Street by the newspaper industry, the demise of the GLC, the beginning of regeneration in Docklands, and the last days of old Billingsgate Market.

While some areas witnessed gentrification, spiralling property prices and a myriad of new places to eat out, other places like Brixton and Tottenham were recovering from riots.

Bergström’s evocative images and Forshaw’s perceptive text capture a changing and uncertain world on the streets of London.