Blog archive July 2025
21.07.25 / 01 / clean air
I found a couple of old photos of central London, before the skyline changed. I attempted to colour-correct one, and then I realised - it's not an old-photo problem, it's smog. The brownish haze and sickly light was normal then. I had forgotten. The current photos show clear blue sky, at the end of a 30C heatwave with no rain for weeks. Looking north from Horizon 22, on the hottest day of the year, I can see detail of the fields on the horizon.
London was famous for its coal smogs, but these ended in the 1960s after clean-air legislation. By the end of the 80s photochemical smog was the problem. Commuting in across south London, I could tell the air quality by whether I could see the BT Tower - or not. The skyline would fade out or even vanish. In the late 90s I was working near Oxford Street, and everything in the office would be covered in a black dust. It was the particulates from the diesel buses and taxis that choked Oxford Street in those days. If you blew your nose it was black. In 2003 the worst smog I can remember extended out to the edge of London, you could see it in the length of a street and taste it in the air.
And now the photos tell a different story. Above, 2006, 2025, 2009, 2025, 2014. The London-wide ULEZ (Ultra Low Emissions Zone) that forced everyone towards hybrid and electric vehicles has had an effect. The buses and taxis don't belch fumes. The smell of a petrol exhaust is as rare and surprising as tobacco smoke. Like the indoor smoking ban, people complained, but they wouldn't want the old air quality back. It's happened gradually so hardly anyone notices.
I wish I had taken more photos of the skyline before 2010. I didn't because it was boring, and I didn't realise that I would want more 'before' shots to compare with what was about to happen.
