Salon de Thé (Fun Palace outtakes)

There’s something warmly nostalgic about this simple scene of people taking afternoon tea, shot as part of a survey of London leisure by theatre director and filmmaker Joan Littlewood. The celebrated Mme Beartaux's salon de thé on Soho's Greek Street is the stage for a timeless British ritual, with an assortment of mouth-watering cakes on hand. From here, we're taken to a lavish display of imported cigars in a neighbouring shop, before joining a queue of people at a bus stop, some hopping onto a departing number 39 bound for Parliament Hill.

The footage was shot for a film to Littlewood's idea for a 'Fun Palace' - a huge movable construction that would house education and entertainment attractions. In 1963 Littlewood shot 60 reels of 16mm rushes around London to show what people currently did for leisure and to demonstrate that something else was needed. The film was finished but is now lost, and sadly Joan's Fun Palace never got built. However, the rushes paint a fantastic picture of the period, with many expertly filmed by cameraman Walter Lassally, who also shot We are the Lambeth Boys and A Taste of Honey.