This walk will take you on a tour of small shops, past and present, in the Hanover and North Laine areas of Brighton. The walk is based on first-hand stories from Shops Book first published by QueenSpark in 1978, and available to download as a PDF here.

The first half of the tour takes you over the hills of Hanover, and will last about 30 minutes. You will be rewarded with some fantastic westerly views across Brighton.  The second half is flatter and also takes about 30 minutes.  You may prefer to do one half of the walk, or do the whole thing in one go. Either way, you should get a flavour of how local shopping has altered over the years.

Shopping used to be a daily event, done at the corner store or in the many specialised shops. These days it tends to be done weekly at larger stores. The disappearance of street selling and the decline of street life in general is another major change.

It was generally considered that there were three types of trader:

THE PROFESSIONAL SHOPKEEPER was distinctly better off than the rest. He was usually an employer, and had learnt the skills of his trade as an apprentice and manager. He often belonged to trade professional associations.

THE SMALL SHOPKEEPER was less well off than the professional, had a lower status in the neighbourhood and depended solely upon his family to staff his shop.

STREET SELLERS included barrow boys, costermongers and street traders, who were itinerants, without capital, a fixed shop or regular customers. Their trade was risky but, at times, very lucrative.

Start the walk at the bottom of Elm Grove by St Joseph’s Catholic Church.