Photographs celebrating Bethnal Green’s Roman Road throughout the ages were displayed in local shop windows as part of a public exhibition.

The Roman Road Stories exhibition was a collection of pictures taken by local photographers to celebrate the historical East London high street and its local businesses.

Photographs were displayed in a dozen shop windows, including the Hair By Rosemary salon, The Angel and Crown pub and Robert’s Butchers, and at the Four Corners art gallery, until June 19.

Organiser Ruby Rees-Sheridan, curatorial and archive coordinator at Four Corners gallery, said: “It was really about both creating an exhibition that was accessible and out on the street, and at the same time celebrating the local area.

"In particular the local high street, which obviously last year - because of lockdown and everything moving online - has struggled quite a bit.

“It’s to get people back on the high street, explore the high street in a new way.

"Particularly, if you’re a local in the local area, things become quite familiar. All of a sudden, having all these photos up in local shops offers a slightly different perspective for people to potentially notice or discover new businesses they’ve not visited before.”

Businesses hand-picked their favourite pictures to display, from a selection of pictures taken by local photographers and the gallery’s historic archive.

Family-run Hair By Rosemary salon owner Rolando Pelosi said his photo of choice, which was taken in the 1970s, happened to be of very sentimental value.

“I was happy to see the pictures and straight away recognised my dad’s old car, parked opposite in the street," he said.

“My neighbours that I’m still in contact with, who used to live there at that time, I’ve shown them the pictures and they bring back memories.

“It was completely out of the blue, and quite a good idea to have an exhibition on shop windows so people can walk along the street, they don’t have to go into an enclosed space.”