Blyth Services at Night, Blyth, Nottinghamshire, February 1981

Throughout Graham’s childhood his family would take its annual two weeks’ holiday in the Lake District, travelling from his home in London to visit relatives. He says: ‘To an impressionable five-year-old, travelling up the Great North Road seemed a close contender to visiting the moon the anticipation kept us wide awake, and we’d question our parents as to where we were roughly every five minutes.’ Paul Graham’s A1 – The Great North Road is published by MACK and showing at London’s Huxley-Parlour from 28 October until 18 December

Tony, Tower Cafe, Caldecote, Bedfordshire, May 1982

The Great North Road runs the length of England, from London to Edinburgh, like a spinal cord for the country. A road has a life and history of its own that reflects in miniature the social life of a nation, and which acts as a unifying factor in the landscape. Graham’s photographs depict both aspects in detail

Cafe Assistants, Compass Cafe, Colsterworth, Lincolnshire, November 1982

‘To make the most of the time that my father had off work, we would travel overnight, following a carefully prepared route up through the Midlands and the industrial north, to arrive at Cumberland in time for breakfast. I have many fond memories of these journeys, but they all hinge on the central thrill of the trip – that we were travelling up the Great North Road’

Great North Road Garage, Edinburgh, November 1981

Graham says: ‘The principal route, the one that would connect the nation’s capital with its industrial source, the one that linked the “two nations” of north and south, was to be A-road number one, the A1. This 400-mile route, running from London up through the Midlands and industrial north-east, along the east coast of Scotland, to finish in Edinburgh, was the busiest road in the country, and quickly became known as the Great North Road’

Bus Converted to Cafe, Lay-By, West Yorkshire, November 1982

In the late 1950s, the A1 was usurped by the faster and straighter M1 motorway. Most traffic favoured the new route, which meant declining business for hotels, cafes and garages that had thrived along the road. The A1 soon entered a state of atrophy, underused and decaying. But by the 1980s, some traffic had returned, partly to gain relief from the boredom of motorway driving and partly because of the road improvements brought about by new bypasses and the A1(M) reconstructions

Paul Graham, Burning Fields, Melmerby, North Yorkshire, September 1981

Although the original route of the A1 dates back to before Roman times, the actual motor road was only constructed in sections between 1910 and 1930

Little Chef in Rain, St Neots, Cambridgeshire, May, 1982

Graham says: ‘The new journeys, taken as a 25-year-old, soon opened my eyes to the fact that the A1 was no longer the main artery of the nation, nor was it a “great” road any more. As I travelled up and down, the question of when and where to photograph was left open to chance, though certain determinations were consciously made: not to photograph as though this was an American road trip, not to take images from a moving car window, not to use any stylisations like blur or filters. And positively, to embrace the grey skies’

Couple on Day Trip, Washington Services, Tyne and Wear, May 1982

A1 – The Great North Road was Graham’s first book, published in 1983. It was self-published but as the first colour book it had a startling impact on British photography. Uniting the tradition of social documentary with the fresh approach of new colour, the book paved the way for a new generation of British colour photographers to emerge

Interior, John’s Cafe, Sandy, Bedfordshire, April 1981

Graham says: ‘I was working in colour, which was radical for the UK at that time, dominated as it was by black-and-white photography, and the entrenched hierarchy around that.’ You can read more about this image here

Bible, Driver’s Bedroom, Blyth Services, Blyth, Nottinghamshire, February 1981

‘With A1, many could not see beyond the use of colour, could not see the love and empathy for a changing country, or for photography itself. For them, the colour negated any other concerns, but time took care of all that …’

Lorry Driver, Beacon Services, South Mimms, Hertfordshire, May 1982

‘In 1983 I started by picking up the threads of the old North Road, the cafes whose decor echoed a bygone era, the poppy fields in the mists of North Yorkshire, and the old car salesrooms whose signs still advertised classic English motors, long since demised. I photographed these together with the modern housing, power stations and commuter trains of today. Finally I took as honest and open portraits as I could of the people who work, travel, or live on the road – those who support it, and whom it supports’