London is a city of enormous beauty, a dynamic, ever-evolving cityscape built up over hundreds of years of architectural evolution. However, amidst this riot of growth and splendour some truly iconic sights may be found, landmarks which been drawing tourists by the thousands since before the days of Queen Victoria.

This stunning collection, collated by professional photographer Laina Watt, compares 40 rare archive images of Central London’s most iconic views and landmarks – including the Houses of Parliament, Piccadilly Circus, Oxford Street and Trafalgar Square – with modern images of the capital. In full colour, and drawing on only the finest images, it will delight visitors, residents and historians alike.

From the 1860s, residents of the town were commenting sadly on the rapid changes that were taking place, and at least one local artist found a ready market for his views of disappearing landmarks. What those long gone residents would think of the Cardiff of today one can only imagine. This compelling book doesn’t contain any artist’s impressions – things have moved along a bit since then – but a selection of fascinating old photographs paired with modern ones taken from the same spot as those photographers of a century or so ago. Many of Cardiff’s landmark buildings have been demolished, luckily many also remain and are still recognisable.
Younger readers will be able to visit places of entertainment, work and worship that their parents or grandparents have told them about, while for older readers it will be a real walk down Memory Lane.

The town of Bedford can trace its roots back to medieval times, and has seen many changes over the course of its long history. Despite centuries of change and modernisation however, Bedford remains best known as the place where John Bunyan wrote The Pilgrim’s Progress while incarcerated in Bedford Gaol in the seventeenth century.

Bedford Then & Now perfectly illustrates the changes that have taken place in Bedford’s townscape during the past 100 years. Richard Wildman’s fascinating selection of archive photographs placed alongside local photographer Alan Crawley’s stunning images of the same scenes today make this book an incredible record of Bedford’s history that will enthral residents and visitors alike.

Best known for its famous cross and delicious cakes, Banbury has been a market centre for many years, selling cattle and other livestock on its streets up until 1931. Nowadays, following much post-war development, modern Banbury thrives as an industrial and commercial town.

In this captivating collection of colour photographs of Banbury both as it was in the past and as it exists today, Oxfordshire historian Malcolm Graham and professional photographer Laurence Waters explore the enormous changes wrought upon Banbury over the years, providing a fascinating insight into the changed and changing nature of the town.

Aylesbury Then & Now looks back at long forgotten views of the town and takes a look at what is there today. Most will have changed beyond all recognition while a few areas remain much the same.

The town has had distinct periods in which there were great changes. The 1860s saw Market Square lose its central buildings and have Great Western Street and Exchange Street appear on the map for the first time. The 1920s and ’30s saw lots of houses being built and the 1960s witnessed unprecedented change with the County Offices and Friars Square Shopping Centre being built, together with the ring road dual carriageway which obliterated historic areas of the town. As we move into the twenty-first century Aylesbury is undergoing further changes with the building of the new Waterside Theatre. This is the start of a regeneration of the canal basin area. One thing is certain, the town continues to change with every new generation that comes along. These photographs tell that story in vivid detail.

In the years leading up to the Second World War animals were as ubiquitous as they are today, but not only as pets but as part of everyday life, in work and in leisure. In this wonderfully illustrated title, learn about how animals were trained and used, the role and fate of pets, farm animals and zoo animals during wartime, and the work of animal charities in protecting animals during this turbulent time in British history. For anyone interested in animal welfare this 2nd volume follows Animals in the First World War in revealing the fascinating story of animals during a time of conflict.

In 1959 John Betjemen described Walsall as ‘a borough which is obviously proud of itself…’ commenting that if the local council turned the High Street ‘into something worthy of the charming and modest buildings … it could be made into one of the most attractive streets in England.’

Yet, while the current High Street does not quite live up to the late Sir John Betjeman’s hopes, and although several once grand medieval landmark buildings in the town centre have been replaced, Walsall clearly still has great pride in its appearance. In ninety fascinating photographs, Walsall Then and Now illustrates the many changes to Walsall’s streets that have taken place over the last hundred years, and provides a fascinating look into the town’s past.

The Tottenham area has a history stretching back to the early Middle Ages, dominated by its advantageous situation on the route from Lincoln to London. Tottenham and Wood Green Then & Now perfectly captures the changes that have taken place over the last centuries, from changing transport and fashions to the developing character of streets and the spread of suburbs.

Placing archive images alongside beautiful modern photography of Tottenham’s streets today, and accompanying them with informative captions, Christine Protz and Deborah Hedgecock take us on a captivating tour through Tottenham’s past, and present.

Torquay Then & Now presents a photographic record of one of the country’s foremost tourist destinations. With black and white images carefully selected from the impressive archives held at Torquay Library, readers can readily compare views taken by eminent photographers during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, with current scenes photographed and reproduced in full colour by the author, who also provides expert commentary on the changing face of the resort much lauded as ‘The Queen of the English Riviera’. Residents and visitors alike will appreciate the evolving history, either wandering down memory lane or contemplating the rapid development of business and leisure facilities that have occurred in the early part of the twenty-first century.

Shrewsbury Then & Now is a superb collection photographs of the town, compiled by local historian and well-known author David Trumper. Scenes of yesteryear are contrasted with modern colour views to show what has been lost and what remains. This book offers an insight into people’s daily lives and living conditions in the town, and the nature of the photographs and David Trumper’s informative captions show the sometimes drastic changes which have taken place in the name of progress.

Drawing on detailed local knowledge of the community and illustrated with a wealth of fascinating images, this book recalls what has changed in Shrewsbury in terms of buildings, traditions and ways of life.

John Betjeman said no town hides its history better than Reading, but history there is in abundance, and it has been richly documented since the dawn of the photographic era. Reading was one of the first towns in the world to be photographed: William Henry Fox-Talbot, the inventor of modern photography, set up his workshop here and the streets of the 1840s town became the test-bed for the new technology.

This book takes a wide range of historic views of Reading and recreates their modern counterparts in colour. Rapid economic growth has seen dramatic change in the town, even within living memory. This fascinating book documents not only that change but also the continuity that has survived it all.

A century ago, when Henry Taunt, Oxford’s celebrated photographer, walked the city with his camera, Oxford was a city with a third of the population it boasts today. Consequently much has changed, although, largely spared the destructive bombing of the Second World War, Oxford’s architectural treasures remain in tact, preserving the character of this well-known and historic city.

Still dominated by the famous University and traversed by a multitude of cyclists, Oxford’s transformations have been subtle. Local historian Malcolm Graham has placed Henry Taunt’s beautiful shots of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Oxford alongside local photographer Laurence Waters’ stunning photographs of the same scenes today, in order to perfectly illustrate the changes that have occurred in this timeless city over the decades.