Student Rea Sachdeva was thrilled when a friend showed her some old black and white negatives dating back to 1970 that he’d picked up in a Bristol charity shop.
The portraits by a mystery photographer featured bygone owners and staff at work in the independent north Bristol shopping area of Gloucester Road where she was living while studying at the University of Bristol. They inspired Rea, now a graduate in Chemical Physics, to recreate the spirit of the collection in the present day, capturing the stories of the vibrant and unique businesses that have followed in their footsteps 50 years later.
As you can see in the amazing gallery below, the old images perfectly encapsulate a bygone age, particularly the fashions, the hairstyles, the displays and the prices, still in pounds, shillings and pence. A calendar hanging up in the butchers with the page turned to April 1970, meant the images were easy to date.
