Snapshots of noughties London

Paul Baldesare is a London-based photographer who’s been photographing the city since the late 1980s. His work has focused on the London Underground, Columbia Road Flower Market, tourism and traditional English carnivals. Our collection at London Museum includes over 60 prints of his.

This famous shopping destination gave Baldesare an endless stream of people to photograph, and for us, a window into the styles people were wearing and buying in the 2000s.

This photo, also from Oxford Street, shows Baldesare’s eye for the surreal.

A plastic bag is more than enough to trigger noughties nostalgia.

This family are playing a game on the Nintendo Wii, a video game console which launched in 2006. Its social party games, like Wii Sports, were played using wireless motion-tracking controllers. It was a minor revolution, and a hit with many families.

These two are walking down Oxford Street while listening to their iPods. The original iPod launched in 2001 with the slogan “1,000 songs in your pocket”. With people previously needing a CD or tape to listen on the go, digital MP3 players like the iPod were part of a revolution in the way music was experienced.

These supporters in New Malden, Kingston upon Thames, are watching South Korea play in the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The London borough of Kingston upon Thames, in south-west London, is home to the largest Korean population in Europe. Around 10,000 Koreans – from both North and South Korea – live in New Malden alone.

These Chelsea fans are watching the 2007 FA Cup final against Manchester United in Tone’s Bar, North Cheam, in the London borough of Sutton, south London.

Also in North Cheam, this father and son are dressed up in ‘crusader’ outfits for St George’s Day 2006.

These judges are inspecting plants at the City of London’s flower show at the Guildhall in 2003.

This photo captures the rush at the end-of-show flower sale. Lambeth Flower Show began in 1967 and in 1974 became part of the first Lambeth Country Show, now an essential part of the south London summer calendar.