The 1875 directory for East Brighton listed 35 bootmakers, 3 breweries, 19 dress-makers, 15 tailors, 2 watchmakers, 2 tinners, 2 brushmakers and 2 basketmakers. By 1974 they had virtually all disappeared, apart from one jeweller and one costumer.
This 1978 book is about shopkeepers and street traders, based on interviews with people whose families had been trading in Brighton for decades. These vivid memories tell stories of hardship, determination, camaraderie, and enterprise. This important book captures a lost era in Brighton’s working class life and its original 1978 foreword is today as much a piece of history as the stories contained in this text.
This book is currently out of print, but you can download a PDF of the original text of Shops Book by clicking here.
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