Changes in shopping patterns through the ages form a large part of our social history.

Supermarkets took the place of many of the good old corner shops, and many of today’s youngsters won’t remember what it’s like to go into a greengrocer’s or a hardware store, with their colourful displays and distinctive aromas.

For youngsters growing up in times past – when a shopping trip meant daily visits to various different stores and chatting over the counter, rather than bulk-buying once a week – running errands to the corner shop for relations often proved profitable, with many a penny netted for going.

Roger Clarke’s book A Penny For Going, hands readers a wonderful opportunity to revisit the streets of Saltaire, the community created by philanthropic mill-owner Sir Titus Salt, and reminisce, or learn, about the shops trading their wares in the days before the village became a magnet for tourists, through its World Heritage Site status.

In his book, Roger explores how local shops played a part in the regeneration of the village, and how little shops lining the streets are continuing to contribute to its success into the 21st century.

The story begins with the poverty of the years of the Industrial Revolution, resulting in many people growing their own food on allotments, a practice still being carried out today in the village plots where locals tend their produce in the shadow of Saltaire’s sprawling Salts Mill.

Roger looks at the progression of the availability of produce, the development of the meat trade and the introduction of markets.

His rigorous research has taken him around shops in Gordon Terrace and Victoria Road, or Victoria Street as it was previously known.

The book is beautifully illustrated with vintage postcards and photographs, contrasting the enterprises which once traded with the current premises.

There were drapers and milliners, watchmakers, tailors and tobacconists, in contrast to the cafes and restaurants, bookshops and vintage emporiums satisfying the demands of the village’s modern clientele.

Of course, any tome about Saltaire cannot be compiled without paying homage to Sir Titus. Roger regales readers with tales of the mighty mill man, and nuggets of information about the village traders.

A Penny For Going by Roger Clarke, is published by Jeremy Mills Publishing, priced £8.50.Proceeds will go to the Saltaire United Reformed Church Restoration Fund. The book is available from the church, in Victoria Road; Saltaire Visitor Information Centre in Salts Mill; Saltaire Bookshop in Myrtle Place and Shipley Stationery Centre in Shipley.