Posting a little bigger would be better for critique.
It is a colorful interesting picture of the street. For me the black and white is not as good because of the lost colors.
The things that could be better for me is
the framing in the foreground - where you have framed through the man in front, the man right behind him and the assorted articles beside him. Stepping back a bit, dropping down a bit, and shooting until no people are framed through in foreground would make it better (but take a long time).
The area at the back above the sign is underexposed. I would work on making it darker in photoshop.
Neither image is doing much for me. Too busy and cluttered.
If I have to chose, I'd go with color. The black and white makes it even busier and more cluttered. At least the color give some seperation of elements.
Nick,
Thought you could use one more response.
I like the composition very much. Busy-ness, clutter, etc captured well.
I'm torn between the BW and color. The BW has a more classic look.
Main technical issue, as Scott pointed out, is nearly blown out highlights top center, and I think your image will improve considerably with work on this.
Next time, please post 800x if possible.
Oh, and I like your mat/frame presentation.
