London 15 years ago: Soho street scenes, the Tate’s Weather Project and St Pancras, October 2003

London 15 years ago: Soho street scenes, the Tate's Weather Project and St Pancras, October 2003

Here’s a selection of London scenes from my archives, including scenes from Soho street scenes, the Tate’s Weather Project and St Pancras.

The photos were all taken 15 years ago – back in October 2003 – during a month when Darkness and Dido topped the UK album charts and Concorde made its final flights.

London 15 years ago: Soho street scenes, the Tate's Weather Project and St Pancras, October 2003

The much missed original Photographers Gallery in Great Newport Street, whose cafe served the finest cakes in London.

London 15 years ago: Soho street scenes, the Tate's Weather Project and St Pancras, October 2003

Shaftesbury Avenue in the low autumn sun.

London 15 years ago: Soho street scenes, the Tate's Weather Project and St Pancras, October 2003

Only the facade now remains of York Mansions and Clifton Mansions at 52-58 High Street, Bloomsbury.

London 15 years ago: Soho street scenes, the Tate's Weather Project and St Pancras, October 2003

See more photos of the apartment block here.

London 15 years ago: Soho street scenes, the Tate's Weather Project and St Pancras, October 2003

Euston Station.

London 15 years ago: Soho street scenes, the Tate's Weather Project and St Pancras, October 2003

Work underway at St Pancras railway station and hotel.

London 15 years ago: Soho street scenes, the Tate's Weather Project and St Pancras, October 2003

Inside St Pancras.

London 15 years ago: Soho street scenes, the Tate's Weather Project and St Pancras, October 2003

Booking hall.

London 15 years ago: Soho street scenes, the Tate's Weather Project and St Pancras, October 2003

The magnificent train shed.

London 15 years ago: Soho street scenes, the Tate's Weather Project and St Pancras, October 2003

St Pancras clock.

London 15 years ago: Soho street scenes, the Tate's Weather Project and St Pancras, October 2003

See more: London St Pancras station 15 years ago – photos of the semi-derelict Midland Grand hotel from June 2003

London 15 years ago: Soho street scenes, the Tate's Weather Project and St Pancras, October 2003

Kings Cross railway station.

London 15 years ago: Soho street scenes, the Tate's Weather Project and St Pancras, October 2003

Street argument.

London 15 years ago: Soho street scenes, the Tate's Weather Project and St Pancras, October 2003

The Brutalist circular office block at One Kemble Street.

London 15 years ago: Soho street scenes, the Tate's Weather Project and St Pancras, October 2003

Opening in June 2000, but then swiftly closing after pedestrians using the bridge found it swaying around in an alarming manner, a repaired Millennium Bridge reopened in February 2002.

Still known by some as the ‘Wobbly Bridge,’ the 325 metres structure offers a handy route from the Tate Modern to St Paul’s Cathedral on the northern banks of the Thames.

London 15 years ago: Soho street scenes, the Tate's Weather Project and St Pancras, October 2003

Thames at Low tide.

London 15 years ago: Soho street scenes, the Tate's Weather Project and St Pancras, October 2003

London 15 years ago: Soho street scenes, the Tate's Weather Project and St Pancras, October 2003

The Weather Project by Olafur Eliasson in the Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall was an absolute sensation.

Visitors who stepped in from the rigours of the London winter found themselves facing a dazzling sun, shining out into a setting almost devoid of colour, its outlines blurred by mist.

When walking towards it down the sloping floor of the 150-metre-long Turbine Hall, their expectations were gradually raised through a whole range of experiences.

Once they had reached the end of the space, their illusions were shattered when they were allowed to discover the technical components that created the installation: a wide semicircular screen back-lit by a battery of about 200 yellow mono-frequency lamps mounted 7.7 metres from the end wall of the Hall.

Almost as though revealing a previously hidden theatrical face of the sun, the entire installation set-up came into view, and the impression that it formed a complete circle in an endless environment turned out to be no more than a reflection created by mirror foil that ran the entire length of the ceiling and was supported by aluminium frames.

On closer inspection, the fog was also revealed to be artificial in origin by the mechanical nozzles that blew it out.

London 15 years ago: Soho street scenes, the Tate's Weather Project and St Pancras, October 2003

London 15 years ago: Soho street scenes, the Tate's Weather Project and St Pancras, October 2003

London 15 years ago: Soho street scenes, the Tate's Weather Project and St Pancras, October 2003

London 15 years ago: Soho street scenes, the Tate's Weather Project and St Pancras, October 2003

London 15 years ago: Soho street scenes, the Tate's Weather Project and St Pancras, October 2003

London 15 years ago: Soho street scenes, the Tate's Weather Project and St Pancras, October 2003

London 15 years ago: Soho street scenes, the Tate's Weather Project and St Pancras, October 2003

London 15 years ago: Soho street scenes, the Tate's Weather Project and St Pancras, October 2003

Disused unit in railway arch.

London 15 years ago: Soho street scenes, the Tate's Weather Project and St Pancras, October 2003

Street advertising for the BCF computer fairs that used to be a regular fixture around Tottenham Court Road.

Check out this article on the History of London Street Advertising and the Photo Gallery of Human Billboards.

London 15 years ago: Soho street scenes, the Tate's Weather Project and St Pancras, October 2003

The now-vanished Raymond Revuebar on Brewer Street, as seen from Rupert Street, Soho.

The Raymond Revuebar (1958–2004) was a theatre and strip club at 11 Walker’s Court (now the location of The Box Soho nightclub), in the heart of London’s Soho district. For many years, it was the only venue in London that offered full-frontal, on-stage nudity of the sort commonly seen in other cities in Europe and North America.

Its huge brightly lit sign declaring it to be the “World Centre of Erotic Entertainment” made the Revuebar a local landmark.

London 15 years ago: Soho street scenes, the Tate's Weather Project and St Pancras, October 2003

London 15 years ago: Soho street scenes, the Tate's Weather Project and St Pancras, October 2003

Berwick Street market.

London 15 years ago: Soho street scenes, the Tate's Weather Project and St Pancras, October 2003

The sleazy Walker’s Court.

London 15 years ago: Soho street scenes, the Tate's Weather Project and St Pancras, October 2003

London 15 years ago: Soho street scenes, the Tate's Weather Project and St Pancras, October 2003

Brewer Street with Madame JoJo’s to the left.

London 15 years ago: Soho street scenes, the Tate's Weather Project and St Pancras, October 2003

Dancing in the Southbank Centre.

London 15 years ago: Soho street scenes, the Tate's Weather Project and St Pancras, October 2003

London 15 years ago: Soho street scenes, the Tate's Weather Project and St Pancras, October 2003

London 15 years ago: Soho street scenes, the Tate's Weather Project and St Pancras, October 2003

Giving it large.

London 15 years ago: Soho street scenes, the Tate's Weather Project and St Pancras, October 2003

Greem Man celebrations, Borough.

London 15 years ago: Soho street scenes, the Tate's Weather Project and St Pancras, October 2003

London 15 years ago: Soho street scenes, the Tate's Weather Project and St Pancras, October 2003

London 15 years ago: Soho street scenes, the Tate's Weather Project and St Pancras, October 2003

 

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