Pictures show life in Colchester in the 1980s

It was a time when traffic still went through the town centre, the market was uncovered and cinemas were the big entertainment.

Our pictures show Lion Walk shopping centre which underwent a huge expansion in the late 70s and throughout the 80s.

Its original streets and buildings were destroyed to make way for the new precinct, which opened in 1976.

The original centre had a bridge linking the units in Culver Street East and Culver Walk but was taken down during a £20 million revamp in 2009.

Lion Walk dates back from further than the shopping centre we all know today.

It takes its name from the Lion Inn, built around 1500, which later became the Red Lion Inn.

The pictures also show Head Street including shops which were shortly due to be demolished to make room for the Culver Square Shopping Centre.

• READ MORE >> Eight brilliant pictures of life in Colchester in the 1970s and 1980s

There are also images of Cowdray Avenue before Leisure World was built and land next to the B1026 which is now home to Colchester's police station.

So scroll through some of our favourite images of what it was like to live in Colchester in the eighties.

Shoppers enjoy Lion Walk in the 1980s

Cowdray Avenue as it looked in the 1980s before Leisure World was built

This picture shows the Halifax bank, which is still there today. It was taken in June 1983.

Here is what Tesco at Highwoods looked like back in the eighties

This shows the land off the B1026/Butt Road before it was built on to form Colchester's police station

Church Walk in Colchester taken in the 1980s

Cowdray Avenue as it looked in the 1980s

The former sex shop in Butt Road, Colchester, pictured in 1983

This picture, taken in March 1985, shows the shops which were demolished to make room for the Culver Square Shopping Centre

Building work underway at Lion Walk back in the 1980s

Shoppers enjoy Lion Walk in the 1980s