Sod Carnaby Street

Belle Vue, 1969. (20x16). It all used to happen at Belle Vue, once the entertainment centre of the north-west, which pulled in two million people a year before its demise in the 1980s. This photo is from a Variety Club day out in 1969, when kids were happy just to watch a Greater Manchester Police Alsatian chase a constable. Photograph: © Sefton Samuels /Proud Galleries

LS Lowry having a lie down, 1968. Vintage print (20x16). Months of pestering and eventually having to butter-up his cleaner paid off when Sefton Samuels was invited round by LS Lowry to his Pendlebury home – an honour rarely afforded to anyone by one of England's finest painters. Stacks of unopened post and piles of sketches littered the home, as Samuels snapped away. Photograph: Sefton Samuels/Proud Galleries

George Best signing autographs, 1968. Sefton found football’s first superstar just hanging around outside his clothes shop – happily signing autographs for kids who sheepishly made the pilgrimage to George’s store in Manchester. Photograph: © Sefton Samuels /Proud Galleries

Elsie's Kitchen, 1968. Vintage print (20x16). Sefton was allowed rare access on to the set of Coronation Street to capture icons like Pat Phoenix (who played the seductress Elsie Tanner). Prime minister James Callaghan described Phoenix as 'the sexiest thing on television'. She also became a cover star for the Smiths. Photograph: © Sefton Samuels /Proud Galleries

Kipping, 1961. Reprint by Sefton (20x16). Known as Manchester-on-Sea, Abersoch in north Wales is where many a family escaped for the summer in search of something beach-like. But there wasn't an awful lot to do there, apart from hang around and work on a mod look – or sleep off lunch. Photograph: © Sefton Samuels /Proud Galleries

Hanging Around, 1964. Vintage print (20x16). Photograph: Sefton Samuels/Proud Galleries

Phil Seaman, 1966. Vintage print (20x16). Seaman was one of Britain's best jazz drummers in the 60s. He is seen here playing at Club 67 in Manchester, six years before he died in his mid-40s. Photograph: © Sefton Samuels /Proud Galleries

Sail Away, North East, 1968. (20x16). Photograph: © Sefton Samuels /Proud Galleries

Strangeways here we come, 1971. (20x16). The imposing Victorian prison, which became the subject of the Smiths’ final album title and later home to Britain’s longest prison riot in 1990 (lasting 25 days). The prison has been rebranded HM Prison Manchester – and housed the Stone Roses’ Ian Brown for an air rage offence in the 90s. Photograph: © Sefton Samuels /Proud Galleries

Blonde in crowd, 1972. Vintage print (20x16). A multicultural slice showing how Moss Side had changed in the 60s – with an Afro-Caribbean festival in Alexandra Park in 1972. Photograph: © Sefton Samuels /Proud Galleries

Boy Meets Girl # 1, 1973. (16x12). 'Mark was two when he met Lecky outside a cafe near Manchester. It didn’t take the toddlers long to lunge,' remembers Samuels. Photograph: © Sefton Samuels /Proud Galleries

Boy Meets Girl #2, 1973. (16x12). Photograph: Sefton Samuels/Proud Galleries

Boy Meets Girl #4, 1973. (16x12). Photograph: © Sefton Samuels /Proud Galleries