A long-awaited photo exhibition opened to the public today, offering a fascinating glimpse into Preston’s history.
The ‘Preston Now and Then’ exhibition, collected and curated by Lea photographer Bernie Blackburn, is located on the top floor of St. George’s Shopping Centre in Preston. It will remain there until the end of July, after which it will move to the Avenham Park Pavillion until the end of September.
The exhibition is free to attend, and the photographs – which seamlessly blend the past and the present – showcase some of Preston’s most iconic locations during the Guild year celebrations. Visitors can witness changes to the train station, the old Booths store and areas such as Broadgate, Avenham and New Hall Lane, and photos of the university and Fishergate high street highlight the extent to which the town and then city centre has been redeveloped.
Talking about the exhibition earlier in the year, Mr. Blackburn said: “The ‘Preston Now and Then’ exhibition is a celebration of Preston’s history and the whole collection will be on show for the people of Preston as part of this year’s Guild celebrations.
“Without local backing this project would not have been possible, so I’d like to thank everyone who’s helped out with sponsorship and support.”
Blog Preston helped to fund the cost of staging the exhibition, and was one of a number of local organisations that sponsored the exhibition, including Preston Digital Archive, St. George’s Shopping Centre, Conlon Construction and Chris Miller Ltd.
You can see a slideshow of photos from the event below.
Will you be attending the exhibition? If you have already visited, what did you think?