I walked into the Burger King very hung over the day after a party, got all the way up to the counter and the cashier looked at me and said 'its not burger king anymore' it was only then that i realised it was now an HSBC. It must have been just after it changed over. 😅
Thank you so much for this! I randomly stumbled across it through the YT rabbit-hole. I remember Kingston like this when I was growing up in nearby Surbiton and am glad my memory hasn't failed me. Fond memories of Beatties, LaserQuest(!), Eden Walk, the old bus garage, Xelectrical, Woolies and the market. In some ways, a better time but I will be sure to return for a wander at Christmas now :)
Just discovered this, and blimey hasn't it changed. I Worked in Bentalls then Manfields back in the mid - to late 60s. I loved Kingston back in the day!
My god! This is an absolute gem. I remember a few years back making a joke saying how 90s the Bental's Centre is, and here we are December 1991 with it being built. What an excellent video.
I love this video... although I only lived there for 7years (till '19) I still miss this place..my best memories are from there.. can't wait to go back to NORMAL - post covid- and go down to zone 6 :)) from Budapest
I moved to Kingston for the first time in April 1991. Remember C&A (now Wilko), Burger King (now HSBC) and Woolworths, (still empty). Believe it or not, walking around Kingston today, it's not as busy as it was back then.
I grew up in Leatherhead, and a bus trip to Kingston was a treat! I remember Bentall's department store, and the amazing Christmas displays they used to have up the escalators. A great look around the town, thanks for sharing :)
Oh man. I miss Books, Bits and Bobs. I remember going there spending my pocket money, paper round money (and occasionally school lunch money) on old 2000ad comics. Much missed.
Barkman Computers when it was just a little corner in Cardinals, seeing "Shadow of the Beast" posters on the wall. Also, wasn't there a sandwich counter in the Woolworths next door?
I still have vague memories of how terrifying Clarence Street was pre-pedestrianisation. Ram packed pavements, getting rid of the road was a smart move for the town.
Funny, I think Clarence was better when it was rammed with traffic jams & pedestrians crammed on the narrow pavements, since it was pedestrianized it's always seemed a bit lifeless to me, but people view things differently I guess.
This is brilliant! Kingston was my hometown for 30 years and I loved it. But after watching a recent video of Kingston it broke my heart to see what they have done to it. It has lost all it's charm and character, it is very sad to see the way it has become, very sad :-(
True. I moved out two years ago because it had become so crowded and everything was being built on. I still think sometimes I shouldn't have moved away but as you say it has lost its character.
I was 4 when this video was made but looking at the footage most of it I can remember through the 90s most of the shops were still there the only difference towards the late 90s Virgin mega store was later moved opposite before the magnet shop was which is the Game shop or the art shop today and Virgin Mega store is now where Uni Qlo is. My mum and Dad use to do cleaning jobs at evenings or nights to earn extra money and as a kid I remember going with my Dad who did cleaning jobs for Laser quest use to love playing the arcade games in there. They also did some other offices in Kingston! Also C&A is now Wilkinson's but C&A then moved if I'm not wrong where now is Prime mark before they made it bigger today. Further down towards the Train station where the Odeon is now use to be Whittards and just before Whittards shop use to be the Options Cinema which is now a night club. Eden Walk M&S and Boots still there and Clinton's card as well, BHS is now poundland so not much has changed there. In this video the Bentals Centre was still being constructed but the store Bentals has been there for years if I am not wrong since the 30s. Also on the other side of Bentals centre who remembers the Tower of Records store which is now Sports Direct crazy! Anyways great video really bringing back some memories for me can't believe this is almost 30 years ago and how many people was there as well when Internet shopping didn't kill Saturday shopping good times.
I think the huge retail park at Colliers Wood a few miles away took a lot of trade away from Kingston town centre. It looks really rammed with shoppers here.
Those were days when life was better, non of these stupid social media stuff, and buildings that looked good and had character, now so many old building have been taken down and places have changed so much can't even recognise some of them places now, and with new characterless buildings and flats everywhere makes me sick.
I was there at this time, it was pretty characterless suffering from what yr talking about then, tbh, that process, which is always particularly bad in towns whose economy is based upon being retail centres, has been gradually wrecking the historical character of Kingston town centre since as far back as the 1930's
I was actually surprised that this is not that different to the town I moved away from (two years ago). I moved there in 2005 i.e. closer to the date of filming than to the present. But the areas we see here - Eden Street, Clarence Street, Market Place - haven't changed that much. It's more the bits just outside that which have changed more radically.
Everyone saying how much it’s changed…from this footage it still looks pretty similar to me. From what I’ve been told though it used to look a lot different
I think the bits we see here which are the old town centre, haven't changed much, or were rebuilt before this was taken. The parts further out have been changed more. I agree, moved there in 2005 and left in 2021 and what we see here is pretty much what I remember.
I watched it being filmed between the marketplace and Bentalls centre main entrance. Rowan Atkinson got the hump because too many people tried walked across the camera shot.
The destruction of Bentall’s is like sacrilege for this old sod who asa kid had discovered what swing door entrances and moving stairs called escalators were like. Likewise the old Market Place where Boots on the corner opposite to the stores of Woolworth’s, British Home Stores and a shade further down but just before the pongy street of the Tannery factory WH Smith’s….Ah but ain’t sweet memories made of this…That Market Place Pub where my dear Mum had bought me a half pint of beer in a Pub on my sixteenth birthday passing me off as 18 with a wink to the good hearted publican! And the big Building on Clarence Street corner where I had registered for my National Service in the RAF…oh but how memories are made of this…
Does anyone know of where I can find old pictures of Florence Rd, Lowther Rd & York Rd in Kingston-Upon-Thame before Dale Court was built Someone told me there were nice terrace cottages there but were demolished in the early 1970`s
Ravi Shankar Kingston was always busy like this like most towns these were the days before internet shopping Saturdays were literally the main shopping day when everybody head for town in those days you had to go out to grab a bargain whereas now you just look at a screen :((
Back in 1991 before the Bentall Centre opened, so all shoppers had to make do with Eden Walk, John Lewis, Adams walk. When the Bentall Centre opened in 1992, Eden walk became less crowded but still used for events.
A few years after all the building work and 'rejuvenation. 'Kingston had character back in the 80s. The pedestrianisation of towns all over the Uk make them into little havens for crime.
Pikey Primark (Penneys in Ireland) destroyed Eden Street and The Society of Friends (Quakers) were kicked out of their church and it was demolished following 350 years of worship. So Jeremy Kyle people can buy jeans and track suits for £5 Disgusting !!!!
That was indeed a sacrilege. The old Friends Meeting House was one of the few bits of green space left in Central Kingston. The new Quaker Centre is good but the old one was a historic building. As usual Kingston Borough Council doesn't much care for its history if there is money involved.
@@chrisamies2141 Your comment brought me back here after a year. That building was hundreds of years old if not nearly a thousand!! It should have been grade listed -it’s disgraceful. I am so angry 😡 I am not religious but if I had to choose it would be Quaker I have read about George Fox and William Penn and went to see the Quakers in Monte Verde Costa Rica 🇨🇷 They abandoned America to avoid the Korean War draft in the 50s They have a nice community in Costa Rica 🇨🇷
I visited that Quaker meeting house around '92, the flower garden at the back was amazing. Unbelievable that that nice Victorian building was demolished for another soulless retail extension. But it's not new this behaviour in Kingston, if you look at photographs of the town centre 100 years ago, the scale of damage done to its historic architectural character by the Council Planning office seeking to maintain K's retail shopping appeal by "regeneration" schemes is shocking, so many nice buildings & a substantial part of its ancient character has been lost forever, replaced with bland identikit retail boxes & an dominating major road system in pursuance of shoppers' £'s. Croydon - another shopping centre town - has suffered even worse.
Funny what difference 5 years makes. Kingston has nose dived. I rarely go into Kingston now. Full of mobile shops and that horrible American candy eyesore where the jewellery shop used to be opposite bentalls centre.
![KINGSTON UPON THAMES Town Centre Walk, A Very Hot Weekday in Late Summer / London KT1 - N071 [4K]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/FGKFq5Rq59g/mqdefault.jpg)
Just discovered this . How busy is Kingston here!!! Went to Kingston uni in 91 and been here since . Forgotten how thriving Kingston once was
So Burger King was taken over by HSBC... now we have to go all the way to Twickenham for it! :D Interesting video, thanks for sharing it.
The Burger King lasted until at least the late 2000s I think.
I walked into the Burger King very hung over the day after a party, got all the way up to the counter and the cashier looked at me and said 'its not burger king anymore' it was only then that i realised it was now an HSBC. It must have been just after it changed over. 😅
Wimpy before burger king 😋😛
Thank you so much for this! I randomly stumbled across it through the YT rabbit-hole. I remember Kingston like this when I was growing up in nearby Surbiton and am glad my memory hasn't failed me. Fond memories of Beatties, LaserQuest(!), Eden Walk, the old bus garage, Xelectrical, Woolies and the market. In some ways, a better time but I will be sure to return for a wander at Christmas now :)
so many people sitting on the benches and not a mobile In sight 😮
Changed so much,I remember when John Lewis wasn't even built and you could drive down the high street.God I am old :D
Just discovered this, and blimey hasn't it changed. I Worked in Bentalls then Manfields back in the mid - to late 60s. I loved Kingston back in the day!
My god! This is an absolute gem. I remember a few years back making a joke saying how 90s the Bental's Centre is, and here we are December 1991 with it being built. What an excellent video.
I love this video... although I only lived there for 7years (till '19) I still miss this place..my best memories are from there.. can't wait to go back to NORMAL - post covid- and go down to zone 6 :)) from Budapest
Thanks for sharing, this really captures the era.
I moved to Kingston for the first time in April 1991. Remember C&A (now Wilko), Burger King (now HSBC) and Woolworths, (still empty). Believe it or not, walking around Kingston today, it's not as busy as it was back then.
Didn't Woolworths become Clas Ohlson and then close again?
@@chrisamies2141 Not sure I'm afraid. But I remember the huge unit it occupied by the Market.
Bit late but yh, it was Clas Ohlson
I grew up in Leatherhead, and a bus trip to Kingston was a treat! I remember Bentall's department store, and the amazing Christmas displays they used to have up the escalators. A great look around the town, thanks for sharing :)
Would've loved to have seen footage of Cardinals, Books, Bits and Bobs and The Record Shop!
Oh man. I miss Books, Bits and Bobs. I remember going there spending my pocket money, paper round money (and occasionally school lunch money) on old 2000ad comics. Much missed.
Me and mates used to buy stink bombs from there and then spend the day setting them off in shops all over Kingston. Great memories!
Barkman Computers when it was just a little corner in Cardinals, seeing "Shadow of the Beast" posters on the wall. Also, wasn't there a sandwich counter in the Woolworths next door?
Wow, that took me back!!! I was 17 at the time and lived just off Richmond Road.
Biggest difference? People are much thinner and no white earphones or mobiles!
I still have vague memories of how terrifying Clarence Street was pre-pedestrianisation. Ram packed pavements, getting rid of the road was a smart move for the town.
Funny, I think Clarence was better when it was rammed with traffic jams & pedestrians crammed on the narrow pavements, since it was pedestrianized it's always seemed a bit lifeless to me, but people view things differently I guess.
This was very interesting to watch. All the old shops and towns layout. Pretty sure I saw one of my exes near the start too 😂👏
scary to think that this already is a quarter-century ago!
update ...3 decades ago :(
The best years!
Nice to see it so busy and a lot less empty shops. Unfortunately shopping on the high street these days lacks the variety it used to have.
This is brilliant! Kingston was my hometown for 30 years and I loved it.
But after watching a recent video of Kingston it broke my heart to see what they have done to it.
It has lost all it's charm and character, it is very sad to see the way it has become, very sad :-(
True. I moved out two years ago because it had become so crowded and everything was being built on. I still think sometimes I shouldn't have moved away but as you say it has lost its character.
I was 4 when this video was made but looking at the footage most of it I can remember through the 90s most of the shops were still there the only difference towards the late 90s Virgin mega store was later moved opposite before the magnet shop was which is the Game shop or the art shop today and Virgin Mega store is now where Uni Qlo is. My mum and Dad use to do cleaning jobs at evenings or nights to earn extra money and as a kid I remember going with my Dad who did cleaning jobs for Laser quest use to love playing the arcade games in there. They also did some other offices in Kingston! Also C&A is now Wilkinson's but C&A then moved if I'm not wrong where now is Prime mark before they made it bigger today. Further down towards the Train station where the Odeon is now use to be Whittards and just before Whittards shop use to be the Options Cinema which is now a night club. Eden Walk M&S and Boots still there and Clinton's card as well, BHS is now poundland so not much has changed there. In this video the Bentals Centre was still being constructed but the store Bentals has been there for years if I am not wrong since the 30s. Also on the other side of Bentals centre who remembers the Tower of Records store which is now Sports Direct crazy! Anyways great video really bringing back some memories for me can't believe this is almost 30 years ago and how many people was there as well when Internet shopping didn't kill Saturday shopping good times.
The C& A store! .....and those blue Mercury phone boxes lol .......this is so 90s! Was this before the Bentalls Shopping Centre opened?
It’s so cool seeing how your town was 28yrs ago
28 years ago. We're not in 2011 mate and very soon we'll be a year away from THAT being a decade ago haha
Brilliant.
I miss being a child
damn, M&S and Boots have been there fore ages!
I think the huge retail park at Colliers Wood a few miles away took a lot of trade away from Kingston town centre. It looks really rammed with shoppers here.
Those were days when life was better, non of these stupid social media stuff, and buildings that looked good and had character, now so many old building have been taken down and places have changed so much can't even recognise some of them places now, and with new characterless buildings and flats everywhere makes me sick.
I was there at this time, it was pretty characterless suffering from what yr talking about then, tbh, that process, which is always particularly bad in towns whose economy is based upon being retail centres, has been gradually wrecking the historical character of Kingston town centre since as far back as the 1930's
Look at all those people out shopping. Actual people in shops. At the end of the 90's and into the new century that would become a thing of the past.
I was actually surprised that this is not that different to the town I moved away from (two years ago). I moved there in 2005 i.e. closer to the date of filming than to the present. But the areas we see here - Eden Street, Clarence Street, Market Place - haven't changed that much. It's more the bits just outside that which have changed more radically.
I like the shocking green on the bridges (Eden walk entrance), pipes, western mall, safety fences and railings on Eden walk car park.
Everyone saying how much it’s changed…from this footage it still looks pretty similar to me. From what I’ve been told though it used to look a lot different
I think the bits we see here which are the old town centre, haven't changed much, or were rebuilt before this was taken. The parts further out have been changed more. I agree, moved there in 2005 and left in 2021 and what we see here is pretty much what I remember.
An episode of Mr Bean was filmed here in the 90's
outside O'Neill's if I'm correct haha or at least that street.
I saw it being filmed.
I watched it being filmed between the marketplace and Bentalls centre main entrance. Rowan Atkinson got the hump because too many people tried walked across the camera shot.
The destruction of Bentall’s is like sacrilege for this old sod who asa kid had discovered what swing door entrances and moving stairs called escalators were like. Likewise the old Market Place where Boots on the corner opposite to the stores of Woolworth’s, British Home Stores and a shade further down but just before the pongy street of the Tannery factory WH Smith’s….Ah but ain’t sweet memories made of this…That Market Place Pub where my dear Mum had bought me a half pint of beer in a Pub on my sixteenth birthday passing me off as 18 with a wink to the good hearted publican! And the big Building on Clarence Street corner where I had registered for my National Service in the RAF…oh but how memories are made of this…
What was the name of the shop where TK Maxx is now?
Omg i was born in 1999 this feels so weird to me
The Western mall then reminded me of Chief rangers carousel at Thorpe park.
I remember when Eden walk had shocking green enterances
When I was little I used to call Eden walk shopping center The green and Western mall Two greens.
Does anyone know of where I can find old pictures of Florence Rd, Lowther Rd & York Rd in Kingston-Upon-Thame before Dale Court was built Someone told me there were nice terrace cottages there but were demolished in the early 1970`s
Best bet is Kingston Museum, if yr still looking
I also like the black on Alderman judge mall.
brings tears to my eyes ....all gone now
The seven Saxons skinhead pub
Only changes
Bentalls is built
Most of the shops aren’t there now
The cars are different
Oh and we have mobile phones
Hsbc has now taken burger kings place
No it’s on the corner where Nat west used to be (worked at natwest when young)
why is it so crowded?
Ravi Shankar Kingston was always busy like this like most towns these were the days before internet shopping Saturdays were literally the main shopping day when everybody head for town in those days you had to go out to grab a bargain whereas now you just look at a screen :((
It’s xmas
Back in 1991 before the Bentall Centre opened, so all shoppers had to make do with Eden Walk, John Lewis, Adams walk. When the Bentall Centre opened in 1992, Eden walk became less crowded but still used for events.
John Lewis about the time it opened.
Ah, the Druids Head.... 8 rum & blacks for £1......Those were the daze.....
I used to drink with the Kingston skins can't remember the pub name
It ain’t changed much
Bentalls was being built yet two people in the video have bentalls bags 🤔 5:23
No it was being renovated. Bentalls was there back in 1970’s
@@janettetazare2281 👍
As a boy I loved Kingston, but by 1991 it was only marginally more attractive than the council rubbish dump. And it's got worse!
A few years after all the building work and 'rejuvenation. 'Kingston had character back in the 80s.
The pedestrianisation of towns all over the Uk make them into little havens for crime.
Pikey Primark (Penneys in Ireland) destroyed Eden Street and The Society of Friends (Quakers) were kicked out of their church and it was demolished following 350 years of worship.
So Jeremy Kyle people can buy jeans and track suits for £5
Disgusting !!!!
That was indeed a sacrilege. The old Friends Meeting House was one of the few bits of green space left in Central Kingston. The new Quaker Centre is good but the old one was a historic building. As usual Kingston Borough Council doesn't much care for its history if there is money involved.
@@chrisamies2141
Your comment brought me back here after a year.
That building was hundreds of years old if not nearly a thousand!!
It should have been grade listed -it’s disgraceful. I am so angry 😡
I am not religious but if I had to choose it would be Quaker
I have read about George Fox and William Penn and went to see the Quakers in Monte Verde Costa Rica 🇨🇷
They abandoned America to avoid the Korean War draft in the 50s
They have a nice community in Costa Rica 🇨🇷
I visited that Quaker meeting house around '92, the flower garden at the back was amazing. Unbelievable that that nice Victorian building was demolished for another soulless retail extension. But it's not new this behaviour in Kingston, if you look at photographs of the town centre 100 years ago, the scale of damage done to its historic architectural character by the Council Planning office seeking to maintain K's retail shopping appeal by "regeneration" schemes is shocking, so many nice buildings & a substantial part of its ancient character has been lost forever, replaced with bland identikit retail boxes & an dominating major road system in pursuance of shoppers' £'s. Croydon - another shopping centre town - has suffered even worse.
now Kingston is so upmarket, you wont find normal lower middle classes shopping there. not that they exists anymore anyway :(
Funny what difference 5 years makes. Kingston has nose dived. I rarely go into Kingston now. Full of mobile shops and that horrible American candy eyesore where the jewellery shop used to be opposite bentalls centre.
@@_dude.. I was actually basing my comment on when I worked there in 2011. Many stores have their "flagship" store there.
Still looks like England!!