Portobello Road Photographed in the Sixties by John Petty

This book is a collection of photographs taken over a period of three years during the early Sixties. Visiting Portobello for the first time the photographer, John Petty recognised that here was a rare opportunity to record street life at its most colourful. Abounding in characters, his camera captures a series of telling moments in the life of the market.

At that time Portobello was still very much rooted in the past: parts seemed to be locked in a 1930’s time warp, occasionally bordering on the Dickensian. The Swinging Sixties and the Carnaby Street culture had yet to make its impression on the market, although a few fledging hippies do appear in Petty’s portfolio conveying a striking contrast with the still firmly entrenched duffle-coated, sheepskin jacket brigade.