Then and Now

THERE'S no precise date on our wonderful colour 'Then' shot from the South West Image Bank, but judging from the thoroughly modern Mini heading up towards the not-much-older National Provincial Bank at the top of Royal Parade, we look to have travelled back to 1961 or thereabouts. The Leyland bus, closest to the camera on the right, would appear to be No.135 (TCO 535) which entered the Plymouth service in the summer of 1960, and doubtless there are many readers who can readily identify and date the cars heading towards our vantage point: the 1957 MG Magnette, the 1959 Ford Zephyr and the two Austins, an A55 (or 60) and the A35 behind it – all of them British-made, incidentally – and, coincidentally, the front three at least all sporting familiar, yellow and silver metal AA badges. Among the changes that leap out most, note the flower beds, the maturing trees, the speed camera signs and the distinct lack of double-deckers.