The provenance of this picture of Commercial Street in Halifax is interesting. It started life as one of the “real photograph” postcards from the golden age of picture postcards in the years leading up to the First World War, Fifty or sixty years later it was republished by the Halifax Courier as part of a set of picture postcards of old Halifax entitled the “Those Were The Days Collection”. My interpretation is based on a scan of the fifty year old Evening Courier image which has then been enhanced a little to add a little atmosphere. It’s not particularly clear; but that’s alright – it’s intended to be a faded version of a faded memory.
Despite being well over one hundred years old, the scene is still instantly recognisable by those who know Halifax in the twenty-first century. Many of the building are still there, although the names on the shop fronts have changed. The old post office is still recognisable as is the Lloyds Bank building. Although a Bank HQ has now replaced the old brewery chimney, and all traces of the tramlines have vanished, it is still the Halifax we know today.
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