Leeds City centre in the 80's and early 90's was a very different place to the glossy, consumer paradise it is today. An grimy layer of post-industrial black soot stained the buildings and parts of the city centre were no-go areas to any but the most hardened drinker or punter on the look out for trade in the red light areas around Boar Lane and the Corn Exchange. The suburbs of Headingley, Meanwood, Burley and Woodhouse, offering cheap and sometimes free housing, were populated by students, squatters, musicians and artists existing alongside more permanent residents. This served to create a vibrant community living in the cramped back to backs, grubby bedsits and crumbling terraces and produced a perfect breeding ground for musical and artistic talent and political radicalism. These shots serve to portray the times and aspects of the alternative culture that existed then.

All images shot on either Ilford HP5 or FP4 film using a Pentax ME Super with 28mm lens.