We want to get to know you more to help improve our service. Please take 2 minutes to fill out our survey here. Thank you! test2

This film is part of Free

Title of error

See Help

Lewisham's Film Review

Journey into a lost London with this exquisitely detailed tour of the shops and street life of 1920s Lewisham.

Travelogue 1922 5 mins Silent

Overview

This exquisitely detailed tour of the south-east London borough of Lewisham traverses town centre tramways and the Rivers Ravensbourne and Quaggy, gliding past ornate-signed outfitters and grander edifices like the Chiesman Brothers department store. We visit Deptford High Street and Catford, glimpse women workers leaving a Watney's bottling plant - and schoolboys practising their country dancing.

While you might spot the odd familiar name (Sainsbury's, Boots), most of the streets in the film have changed a great deal since the 1920s, thanks to extensive building work in the 30s and post-war redevelopment. Several high-explosive bombs fell during the London Blitz of 1940-41, but the worst damage occurred in 1944 when a V-1 flying bomb devastated Lewisham town centre, killing over 300 people.

Genres

Travelogue

Country

United Kingdom

Location

Lewisham

Language

No Dialogue with English subtitles

Watch for free

Trams and Trolleybuses in London Trams and Trolleybuses in London

Amateur film 1952 10 mins Silent Location: Lewisham

Stopping at numerous locations across London, an amateur filmmaker records the last days of trams in 1952 and trolleybuses in 1962.

Watch for free

RT Buses in SE London RT Buses in SE London

Industry sponsored film 1978 4 mins Silent Location: Crystal Palace

Take a trip down memory lane to a time when a fleet of the popular RT buses serves the capital and congestion is still a thing of the future.

Watch for free

David Is Homosexual David Is Homosexual

Amateur film 1978 38 mins Location: Lewisham

A lonely gay man discovers friends, love and activism in this rediscovered educational film made by the Campaign for Homosexual Equality

Watch for free

Street Scenes V: Changes, changes Street Scenes V: Changes, changes

School programme and Educational film 1975 17 mins Location: Lewisham

Changing streets and school playgrounds – plus children’s paintings – all feature in this final episode of a 1970s children series.

Watch for free

Opening of Tower House Opening of Tower House

Amateur film 1933 6 mins Silent Location: Lewisham

Precious pre-war film of Lewisham town centre, shot on the opening day of Tower House, the huge Royal Arsenal Co-operative Society store, in 1933.

Watch for free

All We Imagine As Light - Exclusive Q&A All We Imagine As Light - Exclusive Q&A

Short interview 2025 28 mins

Payal Kapadia discusses her Cannes prize-winning and Bafta-nominated drama with Ashanti Omkar.

Watch for free

Khichdi Khichdi

Animation & Artists Moving Image 2023 16 mins

The interwoven stories of four best friends who reunite in the UK, thirty-five years after training together as nurses during their teens in Ferozepur, Punjab.