On Tottenham Court Road

A deserted Tottenham Court Road. Photograph: Martin Godwin/Guardian

On an ordinary afternoon, Tottenham Court Road would be full of tourists and Londoners looking for bargains at its furniture and electronics shops.

But this was not an ordinary day. Warren Street tube station, at the end of the road, had been closed in a security scare, two weeks to the day after four suicide attacks on the capital’s transport network killed 56 people.

As a result, Tottenham Court Road, on this bright sunny afternoon, looked like a ghost town. Police had evacuated virtually the whole length of the street, sealing off side roads with blue and white tape.