A people's history of the high street

'The queen of food historians' LUCY WORSLEY 'Annie Gray leads the pack' JAY RAYNER A colourful history of one of our most loved and ever-changing public spaces The modern-day cry is that the high street is dying. But are our present concerns so different from those of the past? Historian Annie Gray takes us down the street and through the ages, from medieval marketplaces to the purpose-built concrete precincts still standing today. Peeping inside the windows of tailors, tearooms and grocers, we explore everything from the toyshops of yesteryear - places where curiosities were sold for adults rather than children - to the birth of brands we still shop at today. Vibrant with historical detail and surprising wares, The Bookshop, The Draper, The Candlestick Maker is an essential reflection on how we shopped and lived in days gone by - and what the future may bring.

"Praise for Annie Gray" - :

"Passionate, funny and deeply knowledgeable - Annie Gray is my favourite food historian" - author and host of BBC You're Dead to Me

"Gray is an inventive researcher ... she likes to get close up to the everyday past" - Spectator

"Popular history at its very best" - Daily Mail

"Engaging ... appeals to three national obsessions: the preparation and presentation of food; the lost world of great households, above and below stairs; and the private life of a national hero, Churchill" - The Times

"Deliciously entertaining" - Daily Mail

"Full of mouthwatering detail, and punctuated with Georgina's delicious recipes, this is below-stairs history at its most fascinating" - Daily Mail