FORGET the sophistication of the Sixties advertising execs in TV's Mad Men. Advertising back them was really quite straightforward.

Just look at the massive poster at the end of a row of soon-to-be-demolished houses in the photo of Rougier Street in 1962 (top). "Beer: it's lovely!" it says. Now that's how to advertise...

If you ignore the fact that the house at the end of the row has been reduced to rubble, this could have been a pretty routine everyday scene. A group of people - one of them a schoolgirl; another seemingly a soldier in uniform - stand waiting patiently at a bus stop. A bus is approaching - a number 9A, although it is impossible to make out the destination.

All these neat brick houses, however, were scheduled for demolition as part of a redevelopment planned by motor engineers Leedhams (York) Ltd. "The site will be used for extension of the showroom and service premises," says the caption on the back of the photograph.

We have four more photographs of Rougier Street for you today, all trawled up from a dusty old folder in our archives.

They show:

1958

York Press: Another, slightly earlier view of the row of houses bought by Leedhams (York) Ltd for its petrol-filling and service station and showrooms. "Some of the property is not included in the deal," says the caption, helpfully.

1931

York Press:

The junction of Rougier Street, Tanner's Moat and Station Rise, with railway offices in the background. The shop on the corner with the huge, faded 'Evening Press' sign on it is Lumbs' newsagent and tobacconist. The traffic lights pictured are thought to be among the first to have been installed in York. 'Football league problems solved' says a news hoarding next to the Lumbs' sign.

1960

York Press:

The School medical centre in Rougier Street, which had been converted from the wartime Civil Defence decontamination depot. The medical centre had been criticised by Dr CB Crane, its principal medical officer, as 'inadequate and not worthy of the service which it houses'.

1972

York Press:

'It's one-third off the Co-op!' says the (clever?) headline above a story attached to this photograph which explains how the store chain was to sell off one-third of its George Hudson Street shop in a 'massive trading reorganisation'.

"The sale, subject to contract, will hand the Rougier Street end of the premises over to a finance house with plans to open it as a ground-floor store with offices above," the story continued. Co-op chief executive John Midgley said that the shop was too big for the company's needs. In fact, the store was thought to have the largest shop frontage in Yorkshire.