Film photography and processing in London in the 1970s

[alldoubtaboutit]

Hi, here are a few details about the story setting

Comments

[snailbones]

I can't give you names of specific businesses - most of them would be long gone by now. Most people would have taken their film to be processed at the local chemist - more often than not that would have been a branch of Boots

[alldoubtaboutit]

Thanks for the overview! I'll be looking into the machines next, I suppose. Funny enough, I have had the experience of developing black and white film by hand--thought the shops might have something more mechanical.

[derekl1963]

"by the 1970s/80s most customers would have wanted colour"

That depends on the shop's clientele... Really, a lot depends on the shop's clientele.

(Disclaimer: the following is what happened in the US, the UK may or may not have followed a similar model.)

By that era camera shops were starting to diverge into two different ranges. The first was the camera store, serving the consumer market, which dealt in cameras, film, flashbulbs, and gewgaws. The second was the photography store, serving what we would call today the prosumer market as well as the more professional market. They carried a larger range of cameras and film, and also added more accessories (lenses) as well as developing and printing equipment and supplies.

[snailbones]

Really, a lot depends on the shop's clientele.

LOL - you're totally right!

I was thinking in very general terms - black and white was very much out of fashion to the every day customer in the 70s. Everyone wanted their holiday snaps in colour back then as far as I remember.

I also had another thought - what about wedding photographers/small studios? There were loads of those around then - normally high street positions, and they'd have done studio portraits and such like too, plus sometimes a bit of photographic related retail too... erm - am I muddying the waters here? Sorry!

[perrie]

Jessops has existed since 1935 and originally opened in Leicester, so I would imagine that they would have had a London shop circa 1970/80. They're a reasonably well known name, but not a massive chain, and the Jessops stores I remember have always been fairly small and dark, with loads of equipment absolutely everywhere and only a couple of assistants in to run the shop.

I was born in the mid-1980s however, so someone with more knowledge of the period than me would probably be better able to help.

[alldoubtaboutit]

Jessops has been mentioned by another commenter, so they do sound like something worth looking into. It's good that they've been around for a long while, that makes research a little easier. Thanks!

[reapermum]

Can't help with your specific question but you might want some of this dispute as background.

[alldoubtaboutit]

Thanks! It might be of some use in the background!

[oh_meow]

I worked for bonusprint in the early 2000s and they hadn't improved a great deal by then either

[ffutures]

Oddly enough I was working in the business (part time) from the mid-seventies to early nineties. My memory is rotten, but briefly

[ffutures]

Sorry - what I meant to say was that shops in the west end of London, e.g. most of those I've named, would have been open late on Thursday because it was a late shopping night for the whole area. But most other places that wouldn't happen, and there might be half-day closing one day a week.

[ffutures]

Also, Dixons also sold radios, TVs, etc.

[alldoubtaboutit]

Thanks for the info! I'm looking for scruffy-type shops. Do the big commercial labs send down someone to pick up film for processing, or does the shop have to send it there via their own delivery person?

[ffutures]

Another company I forgot to mention - Pelling and Cross, very much aimed at the semi-pro / pro and serious amateur. They had a showroom on Paddington Street in Marylebone and a bigger place further out from central london, forget exactly where. They sold things like really big flashes for studios, giant rolls of backing paper, weird types of film (I got infra-red colour slide film from them a few times), and equipment for making e.g. poster-sized photos. Fairly expensive but VERY good - can't remember if they did their own developing and printing, but I think so.

[ffutures]

I just found a list of a lot of camera shops in London that includes a few that were around in the seventies - I don't really remember a huge amount about any of them, but this may be useful