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By Paul Foster, Sheila Hale and David Pratt

This volume is a collection of richly-illustrated essays devoted to different trades and retailers who have disappeared from Chichester in the past thirty to forty years. It comprises twelve chapters by different authors (many of whom are birth-Cicestrians), beginning with a chapter on ‘Bread and Confectionary’ and ending with one on ‘Pills and Potions’. The topic of each chapter is introduced by an original drawing in colour by David Pratt.

Detailed Description

This large octavo volume (192 pages, with 109 black & white illustration and 59 in full colour) records an important aspect of recent cultural history – the loss from our town centres of trades and retail businesses that, in many cases, had been running successfully for over a century. This change, from an urban scene of privately-owned shops to centres dominated by multi-nationals, coffee-shops and other leisure outlets (mostly clothing shops), has occurred in nearly every town and city in Britain – and to catch remembrances from owners and customers is a pressing need.  There are a variety of ways that remembrances of this significant aspect of our retail history might be memorialised, but It is believed that the present volume is the first and sole such volume devoted to the topic.  Chapters comprise: Bread and Confectionary; Fish, Farm and Forest; Provisioning the Kitchen Cabinet; Leather and Last; Liquid Refreshment; Personal Attire; ‘Fork ‘andles’; Fabric and Furnishings; Paper and Print; Feasting the Eye; Silver and Gold; Harnessing Power; Pills and Potions.

ISBN: 978-1-907852-09-1