A blog – with photographs comparing places, monuments, locations, transport, and people across the years.
A view of the Royal Standard in Blackhorse Lane, E17 in the 1970s. The Standard was a popular music venue for many years and was directly opposite Blackhorse Road tube station on the Victoria Line.
Image: Photographer unknown
I took this photograph in 2020 and, in the intervening years, the area around the Standard has completely changed with new developments of flats apparent behind it. In the last couple of weeks (Summer 2023) the Standard was finally demolished.
Image: ©TimeViews 2020
A photograph (taken in January 1973) of Bow Street Police Station and Magistrate Court in London.
Image: AP Photo/Harris
Now an hotel, this photograph was taken 50 years later (in January 2023).
Image: ©TimeViews 2023
Probably taken in the 1950s or 1960s, this photograph shows Covent Garden in its previous guise as a fruit and vegetable market.
Image: Photographer unknown
The same view in January 2023.
Image: ©TimeViews 2023
A view of the Covent Garden market and the traders who worked in the fruit and vegetable business. The photograph was probably taken in the late 1800s.
Image: Photographer unknown
Now a tourist attraction, the market’s buildings have hardly changed in over 100 years.
Image: ©TimeViews 2023
Hampstead in North London with the Underground station clearly visible on the right. I believe the photograph was taken in the 1980s.
Image: Photographer unknown
The same view in April 2023. Image: ©TimeViews 2023
A photograph (taken in 1972) showing the view from just outside the Charing Cross Hotel towards Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery.
Image: Photographer unknown
The same view in 2022 – 50 years later.
Image: ©TimeViews 2022
A photograph of an entrance to St. James’s Palace, taken from St. James’s Street. Two guards are posted outside and the street appears to be unmade. I don’t know the date of the photograph but would assume it to be the 1910s.
Image: Photographer unknown
The same view in February 2022.
Image: ©TimeViews Steven Miell
Opened in March 1958 by The Duke of Edinburgh, the London Planetarium occupied the site of a cinema which had been destroyed in WW2. It had an audience capacity of over 320. The dome was 18 meters in diameter and the venue showed the audience a show based on a view of the night sky as seen from earth. Various updates to the equipment were introduced until it was announced (in January 2006) that it was to be renamed ‘the Auditorium’ and would have entertainment shows, rather than astronomical presentations.
Image: Photographer unknown (1660s)
This view from the same spot was taken in January 2022.
Image: © TimeViews Steven Miell
St Mary le Strand in Strand, London. I assume that this photograph was taken in the 1930s, or possibly earlier. The church is situated at the eastern end of Strand in the City of Westminster. It stands on what was (until August 2022) a traffic island, north of Somerset House.
The church is the second to have been called St Mary le Strand, the first was a short distance to the south. The date of its foundation is unclear but it was mentioned in a judgment in 1222. The site occupied by this church (construction began in 1714) was formerly occupied by a maypole – the centre of May Day festivities during the 16th and 17th centuries. The pole had severely decayed by the early 18th century. The church was finally consecrated on January 1st 1724.
The church had been threatened with demolition at the beginning of the 20th century, and avoided destruction during the London Blitz in WW2 – although there was some damage from a nearby bomb.
The church in January 2023. The traffic island has been replaced by a pedestrian zone.
Image:© TimeViews Steven Miell
Looking south from Kingsway, this view of Bush House in Aldwych shows an entrance to the old underground tram station which emerged at the other end of Kingsway.
Image: Photographer unknown (1930s)
A view from the same position in January 2023.
Image: © TimeViews Steven Miell
TimeViews 
