You can still make out the facade at the bottom of this image, tough much changed, next to the Thirsty Bear on Stamford St, and behind it still towers King's Reach Tower, though now renamed South Bank Tower. When designed by Richard Seifert it was 364 ft high, but has since gone up. The building which used to house IPC Media was converted to residential use with the addition of 11 floors making it now 509ft.
 
It was well known to photographers as the home of the magazine Amateur Photographer, a venerable title which first appeared in 1884 and still comes out weekly, now published by TI Media. Back in 1981 it was still one of the best places to hunt for photographic bargains, with more pages of advertising than features. A few of the features were worth reading (and they did publish several by me) but photographers saw its equipment reviews as something of a joke. When some other publications were getting into MTF and other scientific approaches to lens quality all they ever did was to take a few snaps out of the window across the Thames. I used to wonder if they ever opened the windows or whether the results depended on how long it was since the window cleaners were at their floor.
 
I couldn't get the two buildings in a single image, so I took it as two, obviously knowing that in 38 years time I would easily be able to splice the two together.