After studying at Hornsey College of Art in North London, Peter Mitchell travelled to Leeds to visit friends. He took a job as a lorry driver with Sun Electrical in 1973. “I delivered electrical items such as fridges and heaters to factories and homes all over the city,” said Mitchell. “For a couple of years, every day I went all round Leeds.”
“I’ve always thought Leeds was a very philistine place. I’ve been taking that back over the last two or three years, I have to say. But I came to Leeds in 1970, and I remember all those gable ends that you saw from the train coming into Leeds, whole lines of them to the railway edge.” Mitchell expressed. “This is what amazed me about Leeds, coming from the metropolis where you could only see little bits of north London or south London, but Leeds you could see in a whole day. And I got the impression that Leeds’ time was up, that it was being demolished all over the place — which it was.”
Take a look at these beautiful vintage color snapshots of London and Leeds taken by Mitchell in the 1970s:
London and Leeds in the 1970s
London and Leeds in the 1970s
London and Leeds in the 1970s
London and Leeds in the 1970s
London and Leeds in the 1970s
London and Leeds in the 1970s
London and Leeds in the 1970s
London and Leeds in the 1970s
London and Leeds in the 1970s
London and Leeds in the 1970s
London and Leeds in the 1970s
London and Leeds in the 1970s
London and Leeds in the 1970s
London and Leeds in the 1970s
London and Leeds in the 1970s
London and Leeds in the 1970s
London and Leeds in the 1970s
London and Leeds in the 1970s
