Stunning vintage photographs showcase the colorful East End of London, capturing its vanished essence

   

In 2017, photographer Chris Dorley-Brown stumbled across thousands of extraordinary color slides, which belonged to local, East End photographer David Granick, when he was invited to examine the Tower Hamlets Local History Library & Archives. Born in 1912, Granick lived in Stepney until his death in 1980. A brilliant photographer and member of the East London History Society, throughout his life he shot thousands of images of the area, which he also used to illustrate his lectures on various local history themes.

 
Gardiners, circa 1977.


Taken between the late 1950s and 1980, these evocative photos captured a fading world, a time when the area was still bearing the scars of the war. “The collection has about 3,000 slides going back to the fifties,” explains Dorley-Brown, “but they have been well preserved. Many had been unseen for fifty years or more.”

The East End in Colour 1960-1980 by David Granick is published by Hoxton Mini Press.

Stifford Estate, Stepney Green, 1961.

 

Alie Street, 1963.

 

 
Whitechapel Road, 1965.

 

 
The George Tavern, Commercial Road, 1969.

 

 
Brushfield Street, 1970.

 

West India Dock, 1971.

 

Spitalfields Market, 1973.

 

Commercial Road, 1974.

 

Watney Market, 1974.

 

Belhaven Street, 1977.

 

 
The New Globe, Mile End Road, 1977.