I was 18 in 1998... I'm 42 now. It doesn't seem that long ago, but it was a completely different world. I miss it terribly

@JaySamurai79

Жыл бұрын

I hear you I'm 43 myself. I use to travel from old kent road to trocadero with friends. I remember hearing trocadero's craziness from within the train station down below. It was amazing and so full of life.

@rever7zukuk386

9 ай бұрын

The west end hasn't changed too much tbh

@decimustv4257

9 ай бұрын

WELL, I was a 100 in that video, so I beat you. Now I am the oldest person in the world. SO THERE!

@marcus9905

9 ай бұрын

Meetoo, I was 18 back then. I’d drive in from Grays most weekends during 6th Form, just to buy cd singles in the multitude of record shops, have a slap up meal, and maybe pay £9 to see a film at the Empire or Odeon. Such optimistic times! Piccadilly is now a shit show of tack and souvenir shops. Remember how popular Trocadero was with Sega World and the shops. The building’s been empty for God-knows-how-long now, and a colleague said the council have approved plans to turn it into a mosque!?

@serinadelmar6012

9 ай бұрын

@@qewfsdsd65445 all the buildings? There are plenty of buildings in view that are definitely 20th century, including one that I worked in, so not sure what relevance that might have in terms of a city changing beyond architecturally, which isn’t what most people refer to when they say how much things have changed.

Pre-9/11 and everything that followed. We didn’t have a clue how good we had it in the late-90s.

@shaunsteele8244

2 жыл бұрын

true... and it's an incredibly depressing thought to think that "this is as good as it will ever get". It's all downhill for the next 25 years

@mmff5242

Жыл бұрын

@@shaunsteele8244 apex of civilisation was years ago. we now have front row seats at the collapse of the west and being at the mercy of the east. does not bode well (read up on chinas century of shame at the hand of the british. They'll be loving whats coming).

@rever7zukuk386

9 ай бұрын

Internet changed the landscape

@Ridersonthestorm8899

9 ай бұрын

​@@rever7zukuk386True, closed down shops as a result of internet shopping for sure, not sure there is any going back on that.

@amandeepv

9 ай бұрын

Yes a magic period from the slump in early 90s to the immigrant rush and unaffordable prices of the 2000s

When London was wonderful and not the arse end it is now 😢

@ok2760

9 ай бұрын

No, I think it's just your life that's gone to shit.

@user-lx5do4zc6n

9 ай бұрын

London is way better now. You have diverse community which means that the sesh is propa auetntic. Me and the fellas can have sesh in Hckney then go to queer chem sex party down the mosque. Fookin tae wee patter

@uksilverstacker413

16 күн бұрын

It looks exactly the same yah wallop 😂

@Zoebakerolive

16 күн бұрын

@@uksilverstacker413 nope! Completely different.

@Discoverengland

6 күн бұрын

​​@@uksilverstacker413 wallop is another word for a smack, So how does your insult work lol

The 90's were truly the pinnacle of British life.

@ok2760

7 ай бұрын

In other words, when you personally were young

@anthonylyons4617

Ай бұрын

No. Before the third world invaded

I was working in Piccadilly back in 1998, so this is so familiar. The scary thing is I still recognise some of the window displays. Anyone remember Foyles bookshop in the 90s when it was still a dingy (but always fascinating) secondhand bookshop?

@dexocube

9 ай бұрын

Charing Cross Road used to be full of bookshops, world famous for it. Only a couple left now.

@IlfordRetro

9 ай бұрын

Yes! The old Foyles was like a never ending hive of books piled all over the place. I remember the character it had through its untidiness. I found a few gems just lying in piles which I don't think I'd have found if looking for them on ordered shelves.

@CiaoAndrewElias

9 ай бұрын

I worked in Foyles 96 to 97. Good times. I was interviewed for the job by Christina Foyle in her apartment above the shop. Danny LaRue used to park his Roller in the loading bay at times.

Would spend hours in Trocadero playing the arcades. 80s and 90s were my golden years. 💛

@Texy88

9 ай бұрын

I did the same thing. Whenever I had a week off work in which I didn't go abroad I would usually take a day-trip to London and spend a lot of time in the Trocadero playing the arcade games. I was very sad when that arcade was no more.

@JaySamurai79

9 ай бұрын

@Texy88 So many great memories there. When Street fighter 2 came out I made so many friends through that game lol

@rever7zukuk386

9 ай бұрын

Same. A lot youth gangs and delinquents used the place as a hanging out point too from what i remember

@giaximoi

20 күн бұрын

sega world..

I spent a fair chunk of my disposable income at Tower Records in the mid-late 90s!

@steveodonoghue2772

2 жыл бұрын

Me too! And the trocadero. The good old days 😉

@muhammadabbas3086

Жыл бұрын

Me too

@davidmccann9811

Жыл бұрын

Yep, and in the 80s. Just spending hours looking at records in Tower before walking up to Oxford Street for the HMV and Virgin Megastore.

@cassisbrook

Жыл бұрын

@@davidmccann9811 I did it back to front: Virgin Megastore, HMV, then Tower. 🙂 Edit - late 80s, I have to include Stateside comic book shop after Virgin Megastore (I think it was part of the store then?)

@madgemuso7314

9 ай бұрын

HMV and Tower Records & the record shops on Berwick Street off Oxford Street.

Miss this London badly, Thanks for this time machine video.

I was 21 in 1998. I honestly think the late 90s were the peak. We had enough technological advances but not so many that we didn’t still require a human touch. It was pre social media, pre smartphones. People had time for each other. Pubs and clubs were packed, the economy was getting better. Holidays were cheap, as were houses. I am so happy I lived through this time.

@museonfilm8919

Ай бұрын

Exactly. I'm even feeling nostalgic for Super Nintendo!!

@th8257

20 күн бұрын

A lot of what you're describing there is just being young. I too was 21 in 1998. It was a period of prosperity and optimism, no doubt. But it was all built on a huge credit bubble that was waiting to burst. It was artificial. Of course, we didn't know that at the time and it seemed like we were moving into a much happier universe. It was very much the definition of a "fool's paradise," looking back.

When Britain still felt British 😔

@jaspal201

6 ай бұрын

Now it's just all American consumerism, greed and tory govt

@jeshkam

Ай бұрын

There we go again...

@th8257

20 күн бұрын

Russian troll

@dirkbogarde44

13 күн бұрын

@@jeshkam True though.

I worked at Belgo in Covent Garden in 1997. It feels like stepping back in time seeing it here a few months later.

@KJ-gc8oq

9 ай бұрын

Is that the place that sold Belgium beer, if so, i liked the one that tasted like fruit cake.

@bluelotus9654

2 ай бұрын

Ì loved that place. Ì went there a couple of times around 97 and 98

Wow, I worked at Cafe Pasta in Covent Garden in the 90s, it is like going back in time when London had character, now it is just like any other city. I miss that time greatly 😔

I was 14yrs old that year and I can remember the group stages of the world Cup. My little brother was born that year and he's about to turn 26. It feels like yesterday to me.

I can't quite put my finger on it but something's changed over the last 25 years.🤔

@joshlevy3480

9 ай бұрын

No multi cultural in other words not from England, unenriching mobile black letter boxes for one thing etc etc etc!!! Frigging tragedy what's been done to London and the rest of England!!! Cheers anyway!!!

@mattfm101

9 ай бұрын

Tony Blair opened the doors to mass-migration, just because people aren't carrying guns it doesn't mean they aren't equivalent to an army. Open borders and lax laws around immigrants will inevitably lead to the destruction of what was your country.

@ok2760

9 ай бұрын

What's a pathetic old racist to do but watch videos of olde London?

@user-mc1yd9bp5x

5 ай бұрын

No cell phones, no covid no 911, it all changed mid 2000s, social media mucked everything up too

@PSYCHIC_PSYCHO

Ай бұрын

@@joshlevy3480Actually there were ethnic minorities living in London in the last century, from the 1950's onwards; it only deteriorated from 2010.

This was the London of my youth. I lived in the suburbs and around this time used to commute daily to the city for work. I rarely visit now when I do it's surprising how much it has changed (not for the better) in the intervening years. It isn't a huge amount of time in the scheme of things but enough for extremely noticeable differences. The world then seemed full of hope and possibility maybe it was the flush of youth but I think there was more to it than that. The place had feeling of the past but also an amazing future. Now it feels lost almost a pre apocalyptic. Thank you for posting and allowing me to remember happier and better times.

I was 22 in 1998... I remember all of that from studying around there... Things were much more quaint back then, and it's not even that long ago... A time when London was owned by Londoners... Not foreign countries... Thanks very much for the footage! X

@johndean8295

9 ай бұрын

It wasn't that quaint getting back.to.luton thru.kings X

I enjoyed the film. Though I did go a bit giddy with the camera shaking and quick pans around. I did love to see mostly my people and no third world inhabitants on the streets. I was there last October and couldn't believe the amount of people now in these areas. It almost made me feel claustrophobic. I think that London 1998 was still a great place to live and visit. In the early 2000's it changed rapidly. And not for the better. Thank you for the film and taking me down memory lane ❤

Britain had a spring in its step, the pound was rising in value,wages rising, economy growing and rents/ house prices were affordable. Avg house prices in London was only 3-4 times the average income. Now it's 12x the average income!

Worked soho/convent garden for many years in the 90’s….this video takes me straight back there….great memories!

I left the north east to go and work in London in 1998, I worked as a plumbers mate in the Royal Opera House pictured around the 3 minute mark. It doesn't seem that long ago to me but it was a quarter of a century ago now, how time flies. Thanks for sharing the video!

I spent nearly one year between 1996 and 1997, worked in Europa Foods supermarket..now Tesco, good memories.

@rever7zukuk386

9 ай бұрын

I miss europa foods

2:44 Strange thing is when I walked through Covent Garden piazza recently that water was still leaking into the same container.

@dronespace

2 жыл бұрын

😂

@robtyman4281

Жыл бұрын

Maybe you briefly time-slipped back into 1998, before looking again 10 seconds later and realising there was no leaking water.....and the container was nowhere to be seen!!!

@davidmccann9811

Жыл бұрын

They got their money's worth out of that. 😂😂

@judethat

11 ай бұрын

Lived in London at this time, loved Belgos

@eddyp483

9 ай бұрын

Read that just as i got to the clip of the leak 😅

Wow look so different back then, must have been Awesome to be alive in the 90s

@shaunsteele8244

2 жыл бұрын

yes it was amazing. People living in the moment and not staring at their phones

@davidmccann9811

Жыл бұрын

I was born in London at the end of the 60s and to me, the 70s/80s/90s all had their own unique flavour. But they were all very different to now.

@paulleach3612

9 ай бұрын

@@qewfsdsd65445 The '90s are to gen-z what the '60s are to millennials...

miss it so much....i use to work in Neal's yard...st tropez restaurant....

TOWER RECORDS damn i had some great shopping days in there, great video, cheers.

I only remember it from the 80s. It looked very empty to me in 1998...in 1980 l was 13 and worked on Berwick st market. I often had to do small deliveries ti restaurants on a barrow to Covent garden, Piccadili circus etc.. Neal st was where most of londons Old market barrows were leased from and repaired.

Seeing the neon signs in Piccadilly Circus seems very strange now. The Sanyo one was so iconic and was at one point the only remaining neon sign left until its removal in 2011.

@marcus9905

9 ай бұрын

The neon lights were iconic and historic. It’s now a giant tele-screen abomination. The neon should have been listed. Such a shame. 😢

@user-mc1yd9bp5x

5 ай бұрын

So sad 😢

I worked in Trafalgar Sq at that time so walked all these streets most days. On my lunch break, out for drinks after work, weekend shopping jaunts (especially Tower Records!) Happy memories of an easier time. Thanks.

I left school at 15 in 1992.. Got a job as a pot washer in Morgans on Ganton St Soho.. Its now 2022 Morgans isn't there anymore.. but I am!

@rever7zukuk386

9 ай бұрын

👍

Watching this 25yrs on is pretty nuts, was walking through Covent Garden 2 days ago, absolutely packed compared to 1998, the building upgrades in this footage were worth it!

When London was normal

The Old World. I remember. Thank you for this.

@rever7zukuk386

9 ай бұрын

Central London still looks the same. Time flies though

@ok2760

9 ай бұрын

Come out and say what you really mean

@awentimes8221

9 ай бұрын

​@@ok2760 Before mobile phone screen zombies, pre digital, pre widespread use of internet, before social media, pre mass immigration. This has all changed the culture and people indigenous to these isles.

@awentimes8221

9 ай бұрын

@@alan6 I hope the R word is Righteous. But I have no doubt it will be something else. I've got an R word for what we're living in now - Ruins.

@user-mc1yd9bp5x

5 ай бұрын

​@@awentimes8221also covid destroyed social structures

I worked just off Regents Street for 9 years in the 90s. I loved it around there. I remember a Dunkin Donuts next to Burger King, that must have been after this film. I'm sure there was a pizza land or something like that along there somewhere. It had a great all you can eat salad buffet.

The Blue plaque actor William terriss he haunts the underground station

Lived in London 1996-1999 and worked all over for High Street stalwart- the best time of my life, it’s become such a hassled dump since 2000 - so much so that I haven’t been back since the pandemic, and my remaining friends there insist on coming down to the South West to escape it.

@thec5875

23 күн бұрын

stop being cowards running away

People had personalities then and warmth

@kerimel5695

Жыл бұрын

So you don’t?

@ohnoitisnt

Жыл бұрын

yeah. seems like a much nicer place

@rever7zukuk386

9 ай бұрын

It's the same. London is all hustle and bustle

@Ridersonthestorm8899

9 ай бұрын

​@@rever7zukuk386Yeah but its not the same is it? We all know that so stop pretending

@rever7zukuk386

9 ай бұрын

@sparkeystevens7521 I think you're mixing up london and England. England is a mess. London is still thriving, business gets done in London

Just looked up that Belgo restaurant, closed in 2020 according to Wikipedia, shame as it looks good

Great video, i drank in The Crown for many many years, the Rough Trade record store was in a basement just down the street as well. The Coach and Horses pub and The French House in Soho are still great pubs to this day.

Went uni on the strand. 96 to 99. Grew up along that part of charing cross, leicester sq and covent garden. Its not what it was!

I do regret that I never visited London before the invasion. I would have loved to see it then.

@ok2760

9 ай бұрын

Hello, my name is Sean. I am racist but I can't actually come out and say it.

@donglegs

9 ай бұрын

If staring at crowds of white people just moving from place to place does it for you, you shouldn’t have to travel that far

@eventhori3on

9 ай бұрын

😂

@lucidmoment71

9 ай бұрын

@@ok2760 Is it really racism to see the Capital City of England have less than 30% English people in it?

@ok2760

9 ай бұрын

@@lucidmoment71 as if you're not an old-fashioned racist

London has and still is, expensive.

It just feels so much quieter. Everything is so intense there now. I just want to get in and get out, no hanging around

A time encapsulated... An important historical record... And a great eye for the visual...

@shaunhutchings

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you

@airkuna

2 жыл бұрын

Wtf are you talking about?? Nonsense

@markofsaltburn

2 жыл бұрын

@@airkuna It is, evidently, a time encapsulated to some extent, and it is an important historical record, because ALL historical records are important, so what exactly is your problem?

@airkuna

2 жыл бұрын

@@markofsaltburn what is here in this video "an important historical record"??????

@aquablushgirl

2 жыл бұрын

@@airkuna So much of London has changed architecturally. Not to mention how much busier it is and how people are on phones all the time. Plus the fashion and the shops and the cars etc in this era This shows how it was, therefore it is an important historical record. That is a factual statement.

This look's like Dublin thirty years later. 👊☘️

1975 yılları soho mesurdu patron um Enver usta sık sık ziyaret ederdi ruslipde garsonluk yaptım oraları çok iyi bilirim

The artistic or creative small things like the water tubes, the metal gate that has writing on it that consists of its bar. The ambience I remember from my childhood, though I was only 4 in 1998, makes me feel like the internet is such an effective numbing agent that maybe it takes away from some visual creativity we might have use to crave in our surroundings.

That was very good, an excellent document of how things were.

People with cameras are always criticised, always the subject of scorn, always unwelcome, then one day those same scorning unwelcoming critics turn around and praise those with the foresight to record history, a naked unfiltered history free of bias, free of agenda, free of politics. So which one is it? Are cameras bad or good? The critics have no answer

@j-roc6989

2 жыл бұрын

Good point 👉

I love u soho

Great video thanks

The last decade :(

I work on Agar Street and you almost tantalisingly filmed it! Would have loved to have seen it.

I used to love going to HMV and watching _Fraser_ with Jude Law and Vanessa Feltz

No eastow fc insight London was wonderful back in the day

( 6:53 ) Whitleys! 👍🏻

My dad got lost in the Piccadilly section during WWII

This year was my first trip abroad and to London after Soviet union collapsed.

Had some great nights out in Punch and Judy's in the 90s

No smartphone zombies yet. :0)

I work in Seven Dials now and can honestly say from this video to now, not much has changed. Nostalgia merchants on full show in the comments. I guess me being born in 1998 has a completely different outlook, and thank god for that!

@Peter-mj6lz

3 ай бұрын

The experience is different I think. It’s the small things that make a difference.

I would have been 17 at the time. I miss this London a whole lot.

London was affordable and cooler up until early 2000s. after 2005 started crumbling.

It was nice but the prices always have been the same

This video is just missing, stardust-music sound better with you, playing in the distance. That track was everywhere that year.

The Carlisle Arms in Bateman Street has since been gutted and is now a noisy disco cocktail bar.

Prior to being a Police Station the building was used by homeless people. 1982 I was working with DER TV rentals, I installed a TV in the building

@grlscove8858

2 жыл бұрын

Are you talking about Charing cross police station?

😮 not one townie in sight😂

Tony Blairs New Labour voted in to the tune Things can Only get Better....fast forward to London 2023 Hmmmm

@PSYCHIC_PSYCHO

Ай бұрын

London's decline has nothing to do with Blair; and everything to do with Tories from 2010.

@brasstacks4801

Ай бұрын

@@PSYCHIC_PSYCHO Nothing to do with Blair? "I will rub their noses in diversity" (not a tory fan either they are also culpable)

@georgemulford2910

14 күн бұрын

@@PSYCHIC_PSYCHOcan you explain how?

@PSYCHIC_PSYCHO

14 күн бұрын

@@georgemulford2910 While my support for Blair ended in 2002; the bottom line is that Blair raised funds for vital public services which he fully funded; he also modernised the way those public services were accessed. He also raised funds and paid for major public infrastructure projects which also benefited various industries. During Blair and Brown's reign London was booming and London looked great, people were optimistic. Lastly Blair raised U.K.'s standing on the global stage. Whereas the Tories have done the diametric-opposite.

@georgemulford2910

14 күн бұрын

@@PSYCHIC_PSYCHO but what did the Tories specifically do to cause the decline of London? Does any accountability lay at Sadiq Khans feet?

Hey, I want to do a comparison video showing how things looked before and how they are now. Could I use some of your footage in it? I'd really appreciate your permission and would give you proper credits.

@shaunhutchings

Ай бұрын

Credit me and state I gave permission.

People were much nicer then

It's been a dump since 2003, this is the time people forgot or never knew. London is like an Asylum with no order

Before steadycam 🤦🏻‍♂️

14:36 sounds like a disembodied voice saying 'Hey Jim!'. It didn't have the louder fuller tones of a human voice. Some of the older analog equipment like old camcorder are better at capturing spirit voices. I love old VHS recordings.

Less people too was nicer now it’s too busy

Anybody notice the giant going into the Boardwalk restaurant at 13:13 😮😅

@danb1618

9 ай бұрын

😂 wow! Great spot 👁️

I was born in London back in July 1974; I am in the opinion that London was at it's best during the 90's and 10 years into the 21st century; since 2010 successive Tory governments have contributed to London's decline. As I am a London Underground enthusiast my all-time favourite Underground trains were in service before the turn of the century, some old ones existed after that albeit in refurbished condition which didn't appeal to me.

When it was cheaper, whiter and way more interesting.

This guy loves a Belgo

Incredibly not one shot of the most famous landmarks in Soho-- Bar Italia Frith Street or Ronnie Scott's 🥴🎶🎶☕

Felt so safe walking the streets then. When I come back London seems so much more aggressive. The class and style has gone. Also where have all the white people gone?

@ok2760

9 ай бұрын

The reason you think it felt so safe then is because of the fear and division stoked by all that time you spend on Facebook

@mas3974

9 ай бұрын

That's not the answer for everything you know. @@ok2760

@eventhori3on

9 ай бұрын

​@@ok2760😂

@Morning404

9 ай бұрын

No one cares that you feel unsafe karen. Don't like it here leave simple as.

Where are all the "models"?

@davidmoore570

2 жыл бұрын

None I'm afraid in this part of town !

@Emulous79

2 жыл бұрын

@@davidmoore570 Did you get the joke? "Models" being women of loose ways.

@davidmccann9811

Жыл бұрын

​@@Emulous79 Standing in doorways in Soho. That was when they had the 'PEEP SHOWS' where you could look at a naked women for £1. 😂😂

no women covered in tattoos, how times have changed, for the worst

When you could walk down the street without some kid with hair like mini mouse on a clacking Line bike swiping your phone.

The days before everyone was glued to their mobile phones or iPads and before idiots were whizzing round on their scooters. No Just Eat drivers either. No ULEZ or Low Traffic Neighbourhoods. The London population was just over 7 million in ‘98 compared to 9 million today. It looks cleaner and more open. And a distinct lack of diversity…..🤔

good place when there weren't palestinian, indian and etc

@_B.M_

7 ай бұрын

I knew plenty of indians back then.

@PSYCHIC_PSYCHO

Ай бұрын

Actually Indian immigrants began arriving to the U.K. in large numbers from the 1950's-1970's, towards the end of the last century there were 1,500,000 British-Indians in London; I am one such British-Indian who was born in London 50 years ago.

what was once soho now ruined and gentrified and boring

Wild how much more white it is.

Labour had only been in office for a year and hadn't put their, open door policy in action yet. Britain hadnt illegally invaded other countries, causing catastrophic unrest in the middle east. Blair had not tied us, hand and foot to Europe, with his eyes on being its president.

@paulleach3612

9 ай бұрын

...and we had yet to face over a decade of Tory austerity under the guise (lies) of all being in it together.

@georgemulford2910

14 күн бұрын

Seems like Tony Blair has a lot to answer for.

Same as today except everything’s just that little bit shitter back then.

Before the infux Great days

@badlefthook624

11 ай бұрын

It's true. People (lefties and libs) don't wanna hear it, call us far right blah blah blah, but it's true. This is who we once were and it's sad and disgusting that london and our identities have been destroyed. Glad these days were mine.

Immigration has destroyed this 😔

@_B.M_

7 ай бұрын

Yeah right. There were plenty of immigrants since the wars

Cleaner, neater. Dirtier more deteriorated now