New book featuring Blackburn historian explores Britain in the 1930s

Steven Brindle, who studied history at Oxford and spent almost 40 years working for English Heritage, has contributed the introduction to Britain in the 1930s: A Window on the Past and Signpost to the Future.

The 616-page hardback, co-authored by Maureen Hill and published by Atlantic Publishing, explores a decade of sharp contrasts: mass unemployment and economic hardship in industrial communities alongside suburban growth, consumer culture and a changing appetite for leisure.

It is due to be published on November 5.

The book uses photographs from every British county and city, from Cornwall to Orkney and Cardiff to Derry, to show a country caught between tradition and modernity in the years before the Second World War.

Images include crowded seaside resorts, lidos, dance halls and pleasure piers, as well as rural villages, markets, agricultural shows and roads where horses and carts still travelled alongside motorcars.

Crowds gather as an open-top motorcade passes the Albany Hotel and Lancashire Penny Bank during the 1930s. (Image: Associated Newspapers)

Blackpool and Morecambe feature among the coastal towns that became synonymous with the growing popularity of British holidays during the decade.

Steven has written extensively on architectural and engineering history. His previous books include Architecture in Britain and Ireland, 1530–1830 and London: Lost Interiors.

The photographs come largely from the Associated Newspapers archive, alongside material from Getty Images, including the Hulton Library and Keystone Collection.

The book also features work by photographers including James Dixon-Scott, Anthony Frank Kersting, Will F Taylor, and Leo Herbert Felton.

The collection reflects writer J B Priestley’s idea of “three Englands”: the ancient country of villages and cathedrals, the industrial Britain created by the Victorians, and a newer Britain of suburbs, cinemas, and motorcars.