We’re at the corner of Camden High Street and Delancey Street. In the left hand pic, a small crowd has gathered outside Woolworths to watch a performance by an old time busker. Of course, there were no portable amplifiers, microphones etc in those days, but this guy could still make an impressive noise when banging the bass drum, which he did by pulling smartly on the piece of string attached to his shoe. Elbows could be used to bash the cymbals, but at the moment this photo captured him, he seems to be playing a flute, or some kind of wind instrument. The right hand picture, taken July 2011 shows that, not only has Woolworths gone, but the lovely glass frontage has been replaced by something much more bland. The Brighton pub is now the Blues Bar.
(N.B. This picture is from the Camden Town set, which includes photos taken in 1901,1927, the 30’s and the 1940’s bomb damage to the tube station. The rest are views of the Camden area in the 1950’s, with many of them, ‘then and now’ pics. Click on the link below to see the full set
www.flickr.com/photos/59082098@N05/sets/72157627101241916/
The original story can be seen at this link.