Britain as seen from a double-decker bus: Photos reveal life across the country in 1974 – from coalworkers’ cottages in working class towns to tattoo parlours, pylon painters and rock’n’rollers

• The images were taken by photographer Daniel Meadows
• He pictured nearly 1,000 people over the course of 14 months in 1973 and 1974 

Dressed in overalls with their faces covered in grime, these men would likely make the heart of a health and safety inspector skip a beat. 

The pylon painters – seen in Great Washbourne, Gloucestershire in 1974 – were among nearly 1,000 people pictured by photographer Daniel Meadows over the course of 14 months.

Also among his pictures is the drab scene in the coal and steel-producing town of Workington, in Cumbria, with a workers’ cottage standing in front of a smoke-spewing chimney.

A third photo shows a shop keeper in Sheffield standing next to boards appealing for ‘trumpets, guitars, banjos, flutes and violins’, all of which he is prepared to pay cash for.  

Mr Meadows, who is now a respected photographer with several collections to his name but was then unknown and in his early 20s, travelled around the UK in a re-purposed double decker bus that dated back to 1948.   

Dressed in overalls with their faces covered in grime, these men would likely make the heart of a health and safety inspector skip a beat. The pylon painters – seen in Great Washbourne, Gloucestershire in 1974 – were among nearly 1,000 people pictured by photographer Daniel Meadows over the course of 14 months

This photo shows a shop keeper in Sheffield standing next to boards appealing for ‘trumpets, guitars, banjos, flutes and violins’, all of which he was prepared to pay cash for

The vehicle, which cost £360, doubled up as a dark room where Mr Meadows could develop his pictures.  

On his 10,000-mile trip he photographed 958 people living in 22 towns and cities, including Plymouth, Barrow-in-Furness, Stratford-upon-Avon and Southampton. 

Mr Meadows, from Great Washbourne, called his project the Free Photographic Omnibus.

After taking pictures and developing them on the bus, he would hand out free pictures to his subjects the next day.

Some of the people he pictured would go on to be friends of his for decades.  

Mr Meadows (above), who is now a respected photographer with several collections to his name but was then unknown, travelled around the UK in a re-purposed double decker bus that dated back to 1948 

Two residents walk past a workers’ cottage in Workington, a coal and steel town in Cumbria

A group of performers from Circus Hoffman in Plymouth, Devon, are seen in August 1974

A woman awaits the outcome of a strike meeting in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, in November 1974

A Mrs Byford and another woman poses for a photo outside a church in Stratford-upon-Avon while holding bunches of flowers, March 1974

Tattooist Ron Ackers is seen in April 1974 displaying some of his own inkings

Two young women display their interesting fashion choices as they pose for a photo in Southampton in May 1974

Brothers Steven and Anthony Weldrake pose for photos in Hartlepool, Cleveland, September 1974 

The owners of ‘The Pape Shop’ in Attercliffe, Sheffield, pose for a photo outside their store as a an advert for bitter is displayed next to them. October 1973

A man lies on a bench in Newcastle in September 1974 as the city’s gas supply is worked on

Speaking to The Times, Mr Meadows, who has enjoyed a long career as a respected photographer since his initial trip, admitted the project ‘wasn’t easy’. 

He told how he would regularly get a parking ticket soon after parking up.

The photographer added: ‘I loved taking my lead from random encounters with strangers.’ 

His images – 150 in total – are being printed in the Book of the Road, published by Bluecoat Press.

Order a signed copy of Daniel Meadows’s Book of the Road from bluecoatpress.co.uk.  

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