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Here's What London Looked Like In The 1940s

London in the 1940s was dominated by the second world war. Suffering horrific bombing during The Blitz, large parts of the city were destroyed, especially the industrial areas in east London. Looking through some of these photos you'll notice the statue of Anteros in Piccadilly Circus is missing. It was removed for safekeeping, and returned in 1948. The 1940s was also the decade that saw London host the Olympics, the Queen married Prince Philip, and the Empire Windrush brought excited and hopeful young people from the West Indies to London. Cow Lane Bridge, Peckham, hit by a V2 missile in 1944, repaired within two daysSource: Old London The ruins of the City of London from Southwark Bridge to Blackfriars - photo taken from St Paul's Cathedral in 1942Source: Sir William Davenant The Bedford Theatre, 1949Source: Old London 1948 London Summer Olympics - opening ceremonySource: Bbc 1948 London Summer Olympics - McDonald Bailey wins heat six of the mens' 100m eventSource: Dailymail A group of men sleeping on an escalator as they shelter from an air raid, in a London underground station during the blitz, 10th October 1940Source: Gettyimages Woman selling biscuits in an underground air raid shelter, 1940Source: Telegraph Station garden competition, Hammersmith, 1943Source: Old London A Journey Unknown - short comic looking at the Empire Windrush in 1948Source: Orlando Soldiers, sailors & civvies, Wembley, 1941Source: London Life Aldwych tube station during the Blitz, 1940Source: Telegraph 1948 London Summer Olympics - Great Britain men's gymnastics team at Empress Hall, Earl's CourtSource: Dailymail Two small girls wave flags in the rubble of Battersea, VE Day 1945Source: Iwm 'Empire Windrush' brings 492 Jamaican immigrants to Tilbury docks - the start of modern UK immigrationSource: Histi Pics Aldwych, used as an air raid shelter, October 1940Source: Pinterest 1948 London Summer Olympics - HJ Bignall hands over the Olympic torch to Fred Prevett at Redhill, SurreySource: Dailymail 1948 London Summer Olympics - Reg Harris of Great Britain wins heat eight of round two, mens' sprintSource: Dailymail Miss Hannah Casson operates the ticket machine in her booth at a London Underground station, 1942Source: Iwm Piccadilly Circus, 1945Source: Old London 1948 London Summer Olympics - Emil Zatopek wind the gold in the 10,000mSource: Dailymail VJ Day street party, London, 1945Source: Old London 1948 London Summer Olympics - Australian Mervyn Wood wins the single sculls final at Henley on ThamesSource: Dailymail Piccadilly Circus, 1940Source: Old Pics Archive Trafalgar Square, 1947Source: Nika Garrett 1948 London Summer Olympics - Roger Chesnau in the 3000m steeplechaseSource: Dailymail Camberwell Green, late 1940sSource: Lambeth Walker Elizabeth Taylor in Trafalgar Square, 1948Source: History In Pictures 1948 London Summer Olympics - a Coca Cola stall at Wembley StadiumSource: Dailymail Ingrid Bergman and Alfred Hitchcock at the George Inn on Borough High Street in London, 1948Source: Flashbak.Com West End book business basement shelter, Bloomsbury, 1940. Source: Flashbak Blitz ghosts, 1940Source: Nick 1948 London Summer Olympics - Fritz Hegner of Switzerland on the shooting range, mondern pentathlonSource: Dailymail London, 1941Source: Old Pics Archive A wide view of the bomb-damaged shell of the John Lewis department store on London's Oxford Street, 1940Source: Old Pics Archive The East End bombed in the Blitz - note the Tower of London in the background, 1941Source: The Ripper 1948 London Summer Olympics - workman with signs to be put up in the Olympic Centre in Richmond ParkSource: Dailymail A woman delivers boxes of fish to traders at Billingsgate Market, 10 September 1943Source: Mirrorpix Bus in Camden, 1940sSource: London Life 1948 London Summer Olympics - opening ceremonySource: Dailymail Winston Churchill and his daughter, Mary Spencer Churchill, in London, c. 1943Source: Old Pics Archive The 1944 Summer Games - due to be held in London - were cancelledSource: Ww2 Tweets From 1944 The Blitz - unexploded bomb, London, 1943Source: Old Pics Archive Don't worry, I'll fix it. 1940sSource: Old London Harry Beck's 1948 mapSource: Dailymail Metropolitan Police Box, 1948Source: Old London 1948 London Summer Olympics - Argentina's eights crewSource: Dailymail 1948 London Summer Olympics - the torch is presented at WembleySource: Dailymail VE Day street party, Argyle Road, Edmonton, 1945Source: 1900s Police road safety, 1949Source: Old London People bed down for the night in air raid shelter in Piccadilly Circus, 1940Source: Telegraph Shopping in Richmond, 1941Source: London Life Aldwych Underground station, 1940 - ENSA lead a sing-song undergroundSource: Telegraph A Heinkel He111 bomber flies over central London, 7 September, 1940Source: Avax St Paul's in 1947Source: Sir William Davenant Soldiers help to clear the debris of Bank Underground station, 12 January 1941Source: Telegraph Three Jamaican immigrants (left to right) John Hazel, a 21-year-old boxer, Harold Wilmot, 32, and John Richards, a 22-year-old carpenter, arriving at Tilbury on board the ex-troopship 'Empire Windrush'Source: The Dandy Lion Project The 10th of May 1941 saw the last major raid during the London Blitz, dubbed 'the longest night'. There was damage to many important buildings including the Houses of Parliament, seen hereSource: Londonhistorian King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, 1940 - 'I am glad we have been bombed. It makes me feel I can look the East End in the face'Source: Londonhistorian Women protest for a raise, London, 1949Source: Dr Bernie Borgstein St Paul's during the Blitz of WWII, 1940Source: Londoninsight 1948 London Summer Olympics - A Curtis leading the final lap of the womens' 400m freestyleSource: Dailymail Winston Churchill inspecting air raid damage in Battersea, 10th September 1940Source: London24 The view across the River Thames of the Houses of Parliament in scaffolding, 1941Source: Dailymail Bomb damage at St Pancras railway station in London in May 1941Source: Sir William Davenant Police officer on the Strand, 1941Source: Old London A royal weddingSource: Karolina Mothers protest to demand day nurseries for their children so that they could engage in war work, Hampstead, 1943Source: Home Front Museum London, 1940Source: Bbc World Service King's Cross station, 1940sSource: Old London St Paul's Cathedral, 1940Source: Wikia Source: Ronnierocket Brooklands Grand Prix circuit, 1945Source: Buzzfeed 1948 London Summer Olympics - floating boxing ring at the Empire Pool in WembleySource: Dailymail Elephant and Castle underground station shelter with trainSource: Flashbak On the night of October 14, 1940 a bomb penetrated the road and exploded in Balham Underground station, killing 68 people. A No 88 bus travelling in blackout conditions then fell into the craterSource: Dailymail 1948 London Summer Olympics - crowds watching in the rainSource: Dailymail Abandoned boy holding a soft toy, London, 1945Source: Classic Pics A familiar face in uniformSource: Londonhistorian Lewisham High Street, 1940sSource: Old London A boy sits amid the ruins of a London bookshop after an air raid, 1940Source: Old Pics Archive During heavy attacks of the German Luftwaffe on 29 December 1940Source: Theatlantic The wreckage of a bus, which was blasted against a house in London during The Blitz, 9th September 1940Source: Old Pics Archive Camden children collecting penny for the Guy, 1948Source: The London Sound Survey Londoners seek shelter in Aldwych tube station, April 1941Source: History In Pictures 1908 and 1948 London Summer Olympics programmes side by sideSource: Dailymail 1948 London Summer Olympics - Mens' 100m heat, Empire Pool, WembleySource: Dailymail Jun 22 1948 The Empire Windrush brings first group of 492 Jamaican immigrants to the UKSource: Daily Radical History According to the original caption, Rose worked as a booking clerk during the first world war and returned to this job when war broke out "with the same smiling efficiency", 1942Source: Iwm Tubby Isaacs Jellied Eels, Aldgate East, 1940Source: Spitalfieldslife Elizabeth Taylor, London, 1948Source: Flashbak.Com The Blitz reached Buckingham Palace in 1940Source: Londonhistorian Kids could forget the idea of easter eggs in 1941. Here they munch on their carrot treats insteadSource: Old London Wallys barber shop on St Martin Street has defiant signs after losing its windows during the London blitz, 1940Source: On This Day & Facts Miss Feely operates one of the large lifts which carry passengers from street level down to the platforms and back up to the street again, 1942Source: Iwm Three Kings pub, Cromwell Road, 1941Source: Old London 1948 London Summer Olympics - India vs Spain in the field hockey preliminaries at ChiswickSource: Dailymail London, 1940Source: Iliketowastemytime Winston Churchill with General Eisenhower, VE Day, London, 1945Source: Michael Beschloss King's Cross and St Pancras, 1945Source: Buzzfeed A boy reading in a ruined bookshop in London, after a night of heavy bombing. October 1940Source: Lost In History Piccadilly Circus, July 1941Source: Londonhistorian St George's Cathedral, Southwark, 1942Source: History London Big Ben floodlit on 8th May 1945Source: Old London A man in London holds all that is left of his possessions after his house was bombed, 1941Source: Prof.Frank Mc Donough Tower Bridge stands firm following the first mass air raid on London in 1940Source: Telegraph Clapham Tram depot following an air raid, 1941Source: Old London September 1940Source: Imperial War Museums Rita Hayworth arriving at Croydon Airport, 1948Source: Old London The North stand, Stamford Bridge. 1948Source: Old London Streets of London, 1949 Source: Historyphotographed A boy points out his bedroom to his friends, after his home had been wrecked during a bombing raid in an eastern suburb of London, 1940Source: Historyphotographed Balham underground station, 1940Source: Londonhistorian 1948 London Summer Olympics - members of the British gymnastics team practising on the high bar in Hyde ParkSource: Dailymail Four young women enjoy a stroll in the Spring sunshine along a shopping street in the West End of London during 1941Source: Iwm Southbank, 1949Source: Rob Baker King's Cross station, 1940sSource: Old London Maths lesson in the Elephant & Castle Underground station during an air raid alert over London in 1941Source: Yesteryear American soldier and his English girlfriend, Hyde Park, 1944Source: History In Pictures 1948 London Summer Olympics - weightlifting at Earl's CourtSource: Dailymail Canary Wharf and the Isle of Dogs, 1945Source: Buzzfeed Soho, 1947Source: Flashbak.Com 1948 London Summer Olympics - cyclists at the start of one of the road races, Windsor Great ParkSource: Dailymail A WH Smith bookstore in London, 1940Source: Bibliophilia A market brings colour to the BlitzSource: Iliketowastemytime 1948 London Summer Olympics - opening ceremonySource: Dailymail A teenage Princess Elizabeth in her ATS uniform, 1942Source: Lost In History Frith Street, Soho, 1943Source: Nika Garrett 1948 London Summer Olympics - AA patrols with signs for Olympic Way, the new road which was constructed to Wembley StadiumSource: Dailymail Firefighters dealt with blazes caused by bombing on Queen Victoria Street, 1941Source: London Fire Brigade A waiter in wartime Soho, 1942Source: Discovering London Police officer during the Blitz, 1940Source: Old London Hippodrome Theatre, London, 1944Source: Old London London fashion shoot, 1949Source: Old London Traffic moving slowly on an icy Queen Victoria St, London c.1941. A light dusting of snow softens the bomb damageSource: Sir William Davenant Ealing c.1940 with pedestrian lanes to speed people up and avoid bumps in the blackoutSource: Sir William Davenant 14th October, 1940, Bomb damage Balham results in tube tunnels collapsing, over 60 killedSource: Imperial War Museums Spotter, watching out for German air raids, during a Charlton Athletic vs Arsenal match at The Valley, London 1940Source: History Pics Mrs Hilda Slater cleans a window of an Underground tube train at a station in London, 1942Source: Iwm WW2 bomb damage around St Paul's Cathedral, London in 1946Source: Lost In History The Mallard at King's Cross, 1948Source: Old London Boys will be boys, 1941Source: Old London Prefabs around Galbraith Street on the Isle of Dogs, 1946 - built quickly to take care of post-bombing housing shortages, prefabs proved popular and remained occupied longer than originally planned!Source: The Ripper Children in London celebrate Christmas in an underground bomb shelter, December 25, 1940Source: History In Pictures Brixton Station Road, 1940sSource: Old London 1948 London Summer Olympics - fencingSource: Dailymail Soho, 1940Source: Rob Baker London, 1947Source: Historyphotographed Diners in a busy restaurant at Aldwych in London during the spring 1941Source: Rob Baker Aldwych underground station, London, used as air raid shelter during the blitz of WW2. 21 October 1940Source: Old Pics Archive London, 1949Source: Retro Mark Highbury, 1940'sSource: Old London A Yeoman Warder at the Tower of London, 1947Source: Historicroyalpalaces 1948 London Summer Olympics - Andre Marie of France wins the 110m hurdles trialSource: Dailymail Clapton FC return to the Old Spotted Dog ground in 1943Source: Old London Women of the Women's Voluntary Service run a mobile canteen in London, 1941Source: Classic Movies 1948 London Summer Olympics - the flame is litSource: Dailymail Women war workers enter and leave an underground aircraft parts factory, August 1943Source: Telegraph Waterloo Station approach, 1947 Source: Rob Baker 1948 London Summer Olympics - Fanny Blankers-Koen winning the womens' 100m hurdlesSource: Dailymail King George VI and Queen Elizabeth meeting air raid victims, 1941Source: Old London Shelterers sleep on the benches which line the wall of this London trench shelter Source: Flashbak A bomb penetrated the road and exploded in Balham Underground station, killing 68 people, 1940Source: Londonhistorian Tram on Westminster Bridge, 1949 with Big Ben in the backgroundSource: Londonhistorian Poster recruiting female bus and tram workers, 1941Source: Retrographik West Ham, Boleyn Ground, 1940Source: Old London King's Cross railway station, 1940Source: Old London Readers browsing through the bomb-damaged library of Holland House, London, 1940Source: History In Pictures The City of London in 1948, taken from the roof of St Paul's cathedralSource: Old London Mrs L Philpotts and Mrs E Firth carry out essential maintenance work to the escalators at a London underground station, 1942Source: Iwm An air raid warden checks on children sleeping on hammocks strung between the train tracks, 1940Source: Telegraph Mrs Vera Hibberd at work in the signal box at Wembley Park station to check up on trains which vary a minute or two from the set timetable, 1942Source: Iwm Mrs Edith Hill manoeuvres a forklift trolley in a depot where railway seats are overhauled and repaired, somewhere in London, 1942Source: Iwm A Flying bomb incident, showing bomb damage to terraced houses in Sandmere Road, Brixton on 1 July 1944Source: Old London Elephant and Castle Underground station shelterSource: Flashbak A woman drinking tea, 1940, in the aftermath of a German bombing raid during the London BlitzSource: History In Pictures 1948 London Summer Olympics - 80,000 people watched the King open the 14th Olympic GamesSource: Dailymail Waterloo station women welders, 1940sSource: Old London The docklands ablaze after the first mass air raid on London, 1940Source: Yesteryear Soldiers return from Europe after D-Day, 1945 on a London Underground trainSource: Telegraph People outside the Ritz movie theatre in Leicester Square showing Gone with the Wind, 1941Source: Old London

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