Norwich in 1950 was a different place. Still scarred by war the city was coming to terms with itself. Children played in the rubble of bomb sites, and workers strove to build a prosperous peace on building sites. By the end of the decade the retail heart of the city would be reconstructed, new building programmes would be changing domestic life, and the manufacturing industries would be making world-class products with household names. Birthplace of Barclays, Aviva, Start-Rite and Colmans, the city was ready to embark on another chapter in its long history of commercial and cultural development. From post-war austerity to the threshold of the consumer society, Norwich embraced the 1950s as a decade of change.