Compiled 21 July 2026 Specimen
High Street, Linlithgow
West Lothian, Scotland · 55.97720, −3.60090
Single-street then-and-now comparison, one pin.
Comparison window
Then — capture
June 2011
Street View, summer capture
Now — capture
September 2024
Street View, autumn capture
Span: across 13 years — the real gap between the two selected captures, not a rounded figure. Frames were taken in different seasons (summer vs autumn), so some of the visual difference is foliage and light, not structural change.
Verified share link
Opens the exact pin, both dates and the camera angle
https://www.waybackwalk.com/#c=55.9772,-3.6009&then=2011-06&now=2024-09&pt=CAoSLEFGMVFpcE&pn=CAoSLEFGMVFpcF&pov=118,4,0&place=High%20Street%2C%20Linlithgow
Context for this window — sourced, not asserted
Governance
Local authority: West Lothian Council. Council control across the window is listed for context, not causation — high streets are shaped by rents, retail economics and online shopping at least as much as by any administration.
Source: Open Council Data UK (public domain)
Investment — what was funded here
Named, publicly-funded regeneration awarded to this authority and announced within the window appears here — e.g. “[Programme] · [Project name] · £[amount]m, announced [date]”. Money committed, not spent or completed. Where nothing is listed, we hold no record for the window — not proof nothing happened.
Source: gov.uk regeneration funding (Open Government Licence)
Retail premises over time
Retail local units (SIC 47) across the whole local authority: [N] in 2011 → [N] in 2024. Authority-wide, not street-level; the series sees only VAT/PAYE-registered businesses.
Source: ONS UK Business Counts via Nomis
Companies registered in the window
[N] companies registered in this postcode district during the window and still on the register today; composition [X]% retail / [Y]% hair & beauty. Survivorship-biased (dissolved companies absent); a registered office is not a shopfront.
Source: Companies House bulk snapshot
What’s here now
Shops counted live from OpenStreetMap today: [N] retail units mapped near the pin. Volunteer-built — coverage varies; a missing tag is not a missing shop. There is no historical OSM, so this is today’s inventory only.
Source: OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL)
Method caveats — these travel with the pack
- Colour is not evidence. Older Street View used earlier cameras with narrower range and heavier compression. A flat grey frame beside a vivid one says something about Google’s hardware, not the street.
- Politics is context, not causation. The governance line records who governed in the window; it does not claim they caused what the captures show.
- Investment is money committed, not delivered. Award dates are when a funding round was announced, not when work started or finished.
- Archive gaps are stated, not smoothed. The window is the honest gap between two real captures; seasons and camera generation differ between them.
- Authority-wide ≠ street-level. The ONS and Companies House lines describe the whole local authority or postcode district, not this street alone.
Citation & credit
Wayback Walk — “High Street, Linlithgow” (55.97720, −3.60090), Street View capture dates 2011-06 to 2024-09. https://www.waybackwalk.com/ (accessed 21 July 2026).
Suggested credit for publication: Comparison via Wayback Walk (waybackwalk.com).
Method in full, every source and caveat: waybackwalk.com/method.html · Terms & imagery rights: waybackwalk.com/terms.html
Compiled 21 July 2026
Context data: ONS · Nomis · Companies House · Open Council Data UK · gov.uk regeneration funding (OGL) · OpenStreetMap · Wikimedia Commons. Street View imagery © Google — viewed via the app, not republished in this pack. Each source under its own licence. Wayback Walk is operated as a sole trader in the UK; it is an evidence aid, not a certified statistical instrument.