COMPARED to many English cities, York's streetscape hasn't changed that much over the last 50 years or so.

That doesn't mean nothing at all has altered, however - as our photographs today reveal.

Our first two pictures show Lord Mayor's Walk in the late 1950s, just after property at the northern, Gillygate end of the street had been cleared to make way for a car park and so the road could be widened. It was the first time for a long while that there had been such a good, uninterrupted view of the northern corner tower of the city walls.

Fast forward to 1968, however, and the view from the walls down over Lord Mayor's Walk near the Gillygate junction wasn't quite so pleasant.

"A depressing scene of neglect, with piles of rubbish and ramshackle buildings - that is what the visitor sees from York's well-preserved historic walls," read an article in the Yorkshire Evening Press of February 15, 1962. It then added a pointed punchline. The owner of the eyesore buildings seen from the walls and tucked away behind the Trust the Motorist car park was none other than... York Corporation.

Included in the pile of rubbish photographed, the Evening Press pointed out helpfully, were old mattresses, car seats, bedding and hundreds of decayed bricks.

The Corporation had bought the buildings with a view to demolishing them. "But it would be a waste of money to clear them up now," the Corporation's housing manager PH Hart said. "We are waiting for Ministry approval for the city's development plan."

Waiting for a development plan to be approved? Some things never change...

Moving on from Lord Mayor's Walk, and heading south, we have a stunning photograph of Layerthorpe Postern in 1920.

"Hunt's brewery in Aldwark inside the city walls dominates the view," says the caption to this photograph.

"On the left is the building housing a store and workshop for the painters and decorators, Bellerby's."

Fast forward to 1969 and we have a second view of this area, taken from a little further back, showing the Layerthorpe Bridge.

York Press:

The bridge, the caption reports, will "get a new look if the proposal to make it part of the city's inner ring road goes through."

From Layerthorpe Bridge to Castle Mills Bridge - another crossing over the Foss, but at the other side of town. We have two photographs of the bridge, both from the 1950s.

York Press:

The first, dated 1953 and taken from the roof of the Castle Museum, shows the bridge before it was reconstructed.

The second, taken from the roof of the debtors' Prison in 1956, shows the bridge after reconstruction.

And finally, to finish, a quirky photograph from 1958 (below) showing the inside of St Leonard's Hospital - when it was used as York's Information Service. Does anyone remember this?

York Press: