We Love 1997

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Every now and then, you happen across a sight or sound that transports you back in time, Proust-like, but with fewer soggy biscuits. A few months ago, we linked to a set of photos taken by Flickrite jollyness showing old posters at Oxford Circus as it underwent a refurb (HMV, Björk, Erasure on cassette, Boy George); we were thrilled to find a couple of examples in the same vein at Aldgate East the other day.
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We have to ask, though: With a sizeable chunk of the Underground's income deriving from the floor-to-ceiling ads that invade our sight in pretty every much station, why aren't they maximising their revenue potential by keeping remnants of a past era hanging around in poster slots? We aren't complaining - seeing the decade-old posters brought on a highly enjoyable reminiscing session. Nothing like a good old wallow on a Sunday afternoon.

So, what were you doing in the summer of 1997?

Comments (4) [rss]

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Of course, seeing old ads on the tube isn't just limited to where some of the old fittings are being removed for renovation.

On the northbound Victoria Line platform at Warren Street, there's a full size ad for The IT Crowd - from around this time last year. In other words, they haven't sold another ad to cover it up for about a year. And it was only the recent retiling at Oxford Circus that removed the ads for The Virgin Queen DVD release from their year-long placement in one of the tunnels.

Advertising is obviously a tough market at the moment...

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Gives a pretty bad impression, doesn't it? Can't they just stick any old poster in there? Very odd.

Also, there haven't been any posters put up on the walls of the Tube platform at Queensway station since it was reopened last June! It's very restful on the eyes, actually.

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Let's bung them a fiver and get a londonist one up.

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Elephant & Castle is another offender - there is an ad there for the cinema release of Kinsey, which happened in 2005

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