Party season 1880-1960 – great images of Londoners on a big night out

You might think that ‘party season’ is a relatively modern idea, and that before, say, 1988, everyone just sat indoors or the pub smoking fags, listening to the radio and slowly becoming more right-wing. NOT SO. A talk on December 9 at the Bishopsgate Institute looks at a century and a half of Londoners preparing, enjoying and emerging from big nights out.

Back in the eighteenth century, London’s notorious pleasure gardens along the Thames were permanent locations for vice, boozing and raving (possibly literally). But it was really in the nineteenth century that urban entertainment events really took off – dances, balls, subscription dinners, ‘gentlemen’s excuse mes’ (a kind of speed-dating) and other stuff. 

In ‘A Big Night Out in London (1880s-1960s)’, social historian Dr Michelle Johansen, a specialist in modern London, will look through the evolving identity of going out in the city, since the dawn of photography. Here are a few images from her presentation.

Lads gather around a pub piano, 1950s. Image: Bishopsgate Institute / Dr Michelle Johansen

Invite to a NYE party, 1950. Image: Bishopsgate Institute / Dr Michelle Johansen

Londoners at a local event, 1960s. Image: Bishopsgate Institute / Dr Michelle Johansen

Looking for a gig, late 1960s. Image: Bishopsgate Institute / Dr Michelle Johansen

A deserted Piccadilly Circus, early 1900s. Image: Bishopsgate Institute / Dr Michelle Johansen

‘A Big Night Out in London (1880s-1960s)’, Bishopsgate Institute. Dec 9, 7pm. £18, £13 concs. 

This year’s London NYE celebrations will be in Trafalgar Square. 

Check out the best things to do in London this weekend.