I’m not generally one of those people who looks at old photos and comes to an immediate conclusion that things were once better, but I have some sympathy with that argument with this above photo from 1919. The sweeping tram-line and the grand buildings give it something of a European feel. What is now the Leeds was once Dean & Palmer tailors and that was still going into the 1970s.
The removal of the tram-lines was a dreadful mistake and it’s likely now too expensive the fix that decision. The buildings remain grand as they’re the same ones, but it feels a little less charming without the decorative shop displays. Here’s a 1939 colour photo of those shops (one of very few he took) taken by the great George Plunkett shortly before war was to break out.
