1960-1969

During the 1960s London developed a new sense of itself. It became officially larger when its  government was reorganised as 'Greater London'.  It also got a new image as the capital of youth and anti-establishment values. Buildings and skirts went higher: hair got longer: music got louder.  Carnaby Street and the King's Road became as famous as  Piccadilly Circus and Trafalgar Square.

London began to look more futuristic as high rise buildings and inner-city motorways changed the look of the streets. Despite new restrictions on entry, Commonwealth citizens continued to come to the capital to live and work. The long standing  problem of race discrimination began to be tackled with the first Race Relations Act.

London's population, 1961

Greater London:  7,992,443 people 
Inner London:  3,200,484 people

London’s economy and jobs

London’s economy started to develop worrying signs during the 1960s. Trade with Commonwealth countries halved as London lost cargoes that had previously been secured through trade protection schemes. Plans took shape to shift London's docks downstream to Tilbury. In 1969, St Katharine's Docks at Wapping became the first of the old upriver docks to shut.

During the decade London lost 360,000 jobs in manufacturing, including 5,500 when the massive AEI factory at Woolwich closed in 1968. It gained 190,000 office jobs and London began to develop a new sector of its  economy - tourism. The London Tourist Board was created in 1963.

London events

1962 London smog kills 750 people from respiratory diseases
1962 Immigration Act limits migration from Commonwealth countries
1965 Race Relations Act outlaws racial discrimination in certain activities
1966 Anti-Vietnam War demonstrations

London buildings

1963 Mill bank Tower
1965 Post Office Tower
1966 Centrepoint
1968 Queen Elizabeth Hall and Purcell Room
1968 collapse of Ronan Point brings a backlash against high rise buildins

London travel

1963 Dartford Tunnel opens
1968 A new tube line, The Victoria Line,  opens