The Last Days Of London

Click here to book for the Gentle Author’s Tours After he photographed the end of the trams in 1952 at the age of twelve, photographer Colin O’Brien became fascinated by recording the ‘last days’ of vanishing aspects of London life. Thames Embankment, 1952 “When I was twelve, the trams stopped running forever so I took this picture with my box camera while the driver posed for me. I loved going out with my dad on Sunday mornings for a ride through the Kingsway Tunnel and out on to the Embankment. It was even more exciting if we managed to get the front seat on the top deck where I could imagine I was driving the tram.” Skinner St, Clerkenwell, 1952 “Long since demolished, the Rio Cinema was where we used to go as kids and watch films over and over again until we got bored. Westerns were my favourite and we all loved to mimic the actors and shout and clap at inappropriate moments” Clerkenwell Rd, 1970s “After more than a century of use by hundreds of families, Victoria Dwellings – once…