THESE vintage pictures of Queen Street show how much it has changed in the past 40 years.

The area forms part of plans for major regeneration and while the planned Curzon Cinema has been launched and the former Keddies department store demolished to make way for it, plans to crate student accommodation by the start of 2019 have been delayed.

These old pictures show the area during the 1970s and 1980s with no bus lane in sight and cars turning right into Queen Street.

Keddies had a small chain of shops across Essex which began with one in Southend High Street and led to the Queen Street branch in the 1970s.

This closed for good in 1996.