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The Corner Shop: Shopkeepers, the Sharmas and the making of modern Britain
A BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK'Nuanced, human and engaging' Nikesh Shukla, Observer'Full of life, characters, gossip and all the richness of the local community' Sir David Jason'A delightful story of growing up "above the shop"' Nigel Slater, Observer'Cleverly links her own memories of shop-bound life with the last 50 years of British history' Spectator'I come from a hidden I am the daughter of shopkeepers. I've seen you on a Sunday morning, nipping out to get a pint of milk or to grab a newspaper. I came to know a lot about you; whether your politics leaned to the right or left, whether you were gay or straight, and whether you were plagued by cash-flow problems or had enough disposable income to indulge your penchant for Cadbury's Creme Eggs.'Babita Sharma was raised in a corner shop in Reading, and over the counter watched a changing world, from the clientele to the products to the politics of the day. Along with the skills to mop a floor perfectly and stack a shelf, she gained a unique insight into a shifting landscape - and an institution that, despite the creep of supermarkets, online shopping and delivery, has found a way to evolve and survive - and is now once again keeping us all going.From the general stores of the first half of the 20th century (one of which was run by the father of a certain Margaret Thatcher), to the reimagined corner shops run by immigrants from India, East Africa and Eastern Europe from the 60s to the noughties, the corner shop has shaped the way we shop, the way we eat, and the way we understand ourselves. WINNER OF THE BUSINESS BOOK AWARD FOR AN EXCEPTIONAL BOOK THAT PROMOTES DIVERSITY'A triumph' Radio Times'A compelling, full selection box of a story' Sanjeev Kohli'One of the best books I've read on the immigrant experience in this country' Daily Mail'I loved it cover to cover' Angela Clutton, author of The Vinegar Cupboard
196 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 18, 2019
25 people are currently reading
482 people want to read
About the author
Babita Sharma
12 books3 followersBabita Sharma (born April 1977)[1][2] is a British television newsreader on BBC News (TV channel) and BBC World News, presenting the Newsday strand each Monday to Wednesday from London with Rico Hizon in Singapore.[3][4]
Sharma is of Indian descent[5] born in 1977 and grew up in Reading, Berkshire. Babita lived above a number of corner shops around Reading and Caversham owned by her Mother and Father.[6]
[7] She attended the University of Wales and graduated with a degree in Journalism, Film and Broadcasting. After completing her education, Sharma began working with BBC Radio Wales and Thames Valley Television.[8] She moved to Dubai,[7] working on radio for Channel 4 FM and for Ajman TV where she presented a weekly music programme. She returned to the UK in 2003 and began her BBC career at BBC Radio Berkshire as a travel presenter and producer. She then moved to the newsroom in Southampton, reporting and producing for BBC South Today. In 2007 she moved on to BBC Spotlight Channel Islands working as a video journalist and regular presenter of the evening bulletin.
Sharma is of Indian descent[5] born in 1977 and grew up in Reading, Berkshire. Babita lived above a number of corner shops around Reading and Caversham owned by her Mother and Father.[6]
[7] She attended the University of Wales and graduated with a degree in Journalism, Film and Broadcasting. After completing her education, Sharma began working with BBC Radio Wales and Thames Valley Television.[8] She moved to Dubai,[7] working on radio for Channel 4 FM and for Ajman TV where she presented a weekly music programme. She returned to the UK in 2003 and began her BBC career at BBC Radio Berkshire as a travel presenter and producer. She then moved to the newsroom in Southampton, reporting and producing for BBC South Today. In 2007 she moved on to BBC Spotlight Channel Islands working as a video journalist and regular presenter of the evening bulletin.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews
April 22, 2019
I know...I’m biased. This is a book written by the little sister of one of my best friends from school, so it was always going to be a winner with me. It follows the adventures and fortunes of my friends’ mum and dad, emigrating from India in the 1960s to England, becoming shopkeepers and some of the tales of Babita, Monica and Nira growing up as corner shop kids. Entertaining read made all the more special that I went to Bab’s book launch, have a personalised signed copy and of course have known the Sharma family very well for many years. And I’m the first to review on Goodreads!
August 9, 2020
I don't know the author - other than from various TV appearances and I didn't get a free copy - I just saw it featured on Audible and I really enjoyed it. In fact, I loved it. Perhaps because although I'm white and 15 years older than the author - in so many ways her personal story mirrored my own as the child of local licensees. I would say that we had more in common than divided us.
There is one wonderful short passage where Babita mentions that she drives her friend's family crazy with her fascination with their front door and their doorbell. As a child who grew up above a pub I could sincerely relate!
However over and above her personal story and memories (trips to the cash and carry among them - which really made me smile for my own childhood charging around Makro :)
This is a thoughtful and insightful book about the position and importance of a succession of small business owners from the late 1940's to 2015. Contrasting this with the changes in the law on UK shop opening, Sunday trading and other changes we have seen on the landscape across the years. She makes some genuinely interesting points both about Supermarkets, immigrants and growing up above the business.
I found it fascinating as a potted history of much of my life and the human stories and memories added the frosting onto this terrific listen. The author herself narrates and as you would expect from a presenter, newsreader and journalist she does it extremely ably and with warmth.
There is one wonderful short passage where Babita mentions that she drives her friend's family crazy with her fascination with their front door and their doorbell. As a child who grew up above a pub I could sincerely relate!
However over and above her personal story and memories (trips to the cash and carry among them - which really made me smile for my own childhood charging around Makro :)
This is a thoughtful and insightful book about the position and importance of a succession of small business owners from the late 1940's to 2015. Contrasting this with the changes in the law on UK shop opening, Sunday trading and other changes we have seen on the landscape across the years. She makes some genuinely interesting points both about Supermarkets, immigrants and growing up above the business.
I found it fascinating as a potted history of much of my life and the human stories and memories added the frosting onto this terrific listen. The author herself narrates and as you would expect from a presenter, newsreader and journalist she does it extremely ably and with warmth.
November 30, 2020
This book never really came to life for me. It was interesting enough, and a pleasantly diverting and easy read, but no more. This was a particular disappointment in that, having heard her discuss the book on the radio, she's clearly an engaging and entertaining woman. Although she and her family aren't absent from the book, she seems to have felt that the shop should be the star and that pushing herself and her family further forward in the book would have taken some of the book's limelight. I think that was a mistake: it would have brought the shop to life.
The best book I have read about the immigrant experience in the UK is unquestionably Picklehead by Rohan Candappa. Candappa doesn't hesitate to push his family's backstory into the forefront of the book, and far from detracting from the book's main theme of the growth of the popularity of Indian food in the UK, it brings it to life. For example, one the stories in his book is of his aunt leaving Rangoon on the last ship before the Japanese invasion, of it arriving in Calcutta after it had been feared lost and after having run out of food for several days, only for the entire city to come aboard when it docked in order to feed the survivors. 65 years later his aunt tells him that the first mouthful of potato curry she was fed that day remains the greatest culinary experience of her life. (And then he gives you the recipe....)
Nothing like that here, but oh how the book would have benefitted from it. Her father lived through Partition, moving from the Muslim part of Punjab to the Hindu part, and while the author writes about the horrors and tragedy of Partition in objective terms, she doesn't go into any detail of her father's personal experiences. I can only assume that she believed that to do so would have been self-indulgent and would have detracted from the main theme of the book. I believe that it is quite the opposite: writing about the corner shop without explaining in all their gory detail the emotional forces which drove her parents to choose the path which they did removes much of the context of the entire story. Sure, she writes of it, but she doesn't really write about it.
Similarly, she tells the story of how one of her best friends casually and unthinkingly threw the 'P' word into a conversation, an event so significant and which clearly had such a strong effect on both of them that when the author brought it up with the friend decades later the friend also remembered the incident. Although the author relates the incident in the book, I couldn't help but feel that she lost her nerve in the relating of the story and pulled her punch. Similarly, she mentions that her husband is Irish but says nothing of how they met and married. This stuff is relevant. If you're going to tell the story of the immigrant experience, tell the whole story, including the degree of integration experienced by the second generation, instead of just dropping hints about it.
Ultimately, this is a story of the corner shop, but by sticking to the story of the shop at the expense of the human story, it becomes lifeless. Yes, it was news to me that the Sunday supplements come in a different bundle and have to be inserted into the Sunday papers by the newsagent by hand. Yes, it's interesting that they made 50% of their weekly income on Sundays and that Sundays are now the biggest retail day of the week by hour. Ultimately, though, the book suffers from her having approached it as a journalist rather than as a writer. Had she told the story of herself and family in more detail with the shop in the background, far from her and her family having stolen the limelight, the effect would have been that the shop would have stolen the show. That might have elevated it from the merely interesting to the quite outstanding.
The best book I have read about the immigrant experience in the UK is unquestionably Picklehead by Rohan Candappa. Candappa doesn't hesitate to push his family's backstory into the forefront of the book, and far from detracting from the book's main theme of the growth of the popularity of Indian food in the UK, it brings it to life. For example, one the stories in his book is of his aunt leaving Rangoon on the last ship before the Japanese invasion, of it arriving in Calcutta after it had been feared lost and after having run out of food for several days, only for the entire city to come aboard when it docked in order to feed the survivors. 65 years later his aunt tells him that the first mouthful of potato curry she was fed that day remains the greatest culinary experience of her life. (And then he gives you the recipe....)
Nothing like that here, but oh how the book would have benefitted from it. Her father lived through Partition, moving from the Muslim part of Punjab to the Hindu part, and while the author writes about the horrors and tragedy of Partition in objective terms, she doesn't go into any detail of her father's personal experiences. I can only assume that she believed that to do so would have been self-indulgent and would have detracted from the main theme of the book. I believe that it is quite the opposite: writing about the corner shop without explaining in all their gory detail the emotional forces which drove her parents to choose the path which they did removes much of the context of the entire story. Sure, she writes of it, but she doesn't really write about it.
Similarly, she tells the story of how one of her best friends casually and unthinkingly threw the 'P' word into a conversation, an event so significant and which clearly had such a strong effect on both of them that when the author brought it up with the friend decades later the friend also remembered the incident. Although the author relates the incident in the book, I couldn't help but feel that she lost her nerve in the relating of the story and pulled her punch. Similarly, she mentions that her husband is Irish but says nothing of how they met and married. This stuff is relevant. If you're going to tell the story of the immigrant experience, tell the whole story, including the degree of integration experienced by the second generation, instead of just dropping hints about it.
Ultimately, this is a story of the corner shop, but by sticking to the story of the shop at the expense of the human story, it becomes lifeless. Yes, it was news to me that the Sunday supplements come in a different bundle and have to be inserted into the Sunday papers by the newsagent by hand. Yes, it's interesting that they made 50% of their weekly income on Sundays and that Sundays are now the biggest retail day of the week by hour. Ultimately, though, the book suffers from her having approached it as a journalist rather than as a writer. Had she told the story of herself and family in more detail with the shop in the background, far from her and her family having stolen the limelight, the effect would have been that the shop would have stolen the show. That might have elevated it from the merely interesting to the quite outstanding.
October 16, 2021
As soon as I heard about this book on Between the Covers on BBC I knew I needed to read it!
It was such an interesting book all about the history of the corner shop but it also looks at the UK retail scene over the years and immigration.
I learnt so much through this engaging and fascinating book. I loved Sharma's anecdotes from her childhood. Babita's parents owned three different corner shops throughout her childhood and it was really interesting to hear about her experiences helping out in the shop as well as lovely memories of some of their regular customers.
It was interesting to read how much of an impact Margaret Thatcher had on retail during her time as prime minister. I knew very little about some of the changes she made and it was nice to learn more about Sunday trading laws and how our consumption habits have changed over time.
I would definitely recommend this book if you are interested in any of the topics I've mentioned. It was really well written and insightful and a really enjoyable read.
It was such an interesting book all about the history of the corner shop but it also looks at the UK retail scene over the years and immigration.
I learnt so much through this engaging and fascinating book. I loved Sharma's anecdotes from her childhood. Babita's parents owned three different corner shops throughout her childhood and it was really interesting to hear about her experiences helping out in the shop as well as lovely memories of some of their regular customers.
It was interesting to read how much of an impact Margaret Thatcher had on retail during her time as prime minister. I knew very little about some of the changes she made and it was nice to learn more about Sunday trading laws and how our consumption habits have changed over time.
I would definitely recommend this book if you are interested in any of the topics I've mentioned. It was really well written and insightful and a really enjoyable read.
February 16, 2025
This interesting, informative and well written book is well worth reading. Babita Sharma recounts the experiences of her father arriving in Britain in response to an appeal for workers from the newly independent colonies. He worked long hours in a factory before he was joined by the woman who he would marry. She too spent a while in a factory but loathed the experience because it was boring and because it was clear that women were treated as inferior to men.
They decided to buy a rundown corner shop and do it up. It was initially manned by Mrs Sharma while her husband did night shifts at the factory and, after a little sleep, cash and carry runs. In between they had three daughters. They worked incredibly hard and extremely long hours. The girls had to pitch in too.
Babita describes how the family built up and developed the business before eventually replacing it with another second shop which also sold newspapers. In doing so, she describes how the landscape of Britain was changing and how these social and political developments affected the family. e.g. The power cuts of the 1970s led to a huge (and dangerous) demand for paraffin that the shop had to satisfy. Limits on Sunday trading gave small family run shops and advantage until they were repealed with devastating results. The rise of supermarkets and out of town shopping centres marked the end of the road for the Sharmas but as Babita points out, small local shops are enjoying something of a revival again. (Covid has added to this trend recently.)
In between, we get fascinating glimpses of family life! I love the idea of Mrs Sharma enjoying the satirical “Spitting Image” and wanting to know who killed JR in ‘Dallas’ but carefully switching channels to prevent her daughters’ exposure to anything too rude or shocking. Also, the fact that they were all so tired by the time they shut the shop at night that they often ate instant meals that they had in the shop rather than delicious home-made curries. Babita remembers those foods, sweets and magazines so well that you are transported back in time!
A really enjoyable read!
They decided to buy a rundown corner shop and do it up. It was initially manned by Mrs Sharma while her husband did night shifts at the factory and, after a little sleep, cash and carry runs. In between they had three daughters. They worked incredibly hard and extremely long hours. The girls had to pitch in too.
Babita describes how the family built up and developed the business before eventually replacing it with another second shop which also sold newspapers. In doing so, she describes how the landscape of Britain was changing and how these social and political developments affected the family. e.g. The power cuts of the 1970s led to a huge (and dangerous) demand for paraffin that the shop had to satisfy. Limits on Sunday trading gave small family run shops and advantage until they were repealed with devastating results. The rise of supermarkets and out of town shopping centres marked the end of the road for the Sharmas but as Babita points out, small local shops are enjoying something of a revival again. (Covid has added to this trend recently.)
In between, we get fascinating glimpses of family life! I love the idea of Mrs Sharma enjoying the satirical “Spitting Image” and wanting to know who killed JR in ‘Dallas’ but carefully switching channels to prevent her daughters’ exposure to anything too rude or shocking. Also, the fact that they were all so tired by the time they shut the shop at night that they often ate instant meals that they had in the shop rather than delicious home-made curries. Babita remembers those foods, sweets and magazines so well that you are transported back in time!
A really enjoyable read!
August 14, 2020
The Corner Shop offers a succinct and insightful look into the world of shopkeeping and the ups and downs of a family once invested in the decidedly British institution.
Definitely an interesting read and not a topic I’ve read about in detail before. I particularly enjoyed how Babita Sharma wove her personal anecdotes in with the general history of corner shops. Critically I did find the writing style a bit too journalistic at times (I appreciate Sharma is a journalist), but some parts felt rushed and others repetitive.
Overall, a worthy read and very timely. A fantastic example of a positive immigration story - one of determination, hard work and a willingness to take a chance.
Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC.
Definitely an interesting read and not a topic I’ve read about in detail before. I particularly enjoyed how Babita Sharma wove her personal anecdotes in with the general history of corner shops. Critically I did find the writing style a bit too journalistic at times (I appreciate Sharma is a journalist), but some parts felt rushed and others repetitive.
Overall, a worthy read and very timely. A fantastic example of a positive immigration story - one of determination, hard work and a willingness to take a chance.
Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC.
April 12, 2020
An inspiring story about a family dealing with life in Britain, running a shop and working hard. A touching story of their lives told with humour and genuine emotion. Another tale of immigration into Britain that needs to be shared in schools and libraries to educate, inspire and teach people what Britain is truly made of.
Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion
Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion
May 15, 2021
A little overwritten in places, but really interesting and enjoyable.
May 16, 2019
From BBC Radio 4 - Book of the week:
An insightful look at modern Britain through the prism of the corner shop.
From the general stores of the first half of the 20th century to the reinvigorated corner shops run by immigrants from India, East Africa and Eastern Europe, their influence has shaped the way we shop, the way we eat, and the way we understand ourselves.
Babita Sharma grew up as a ‘corner-shop kid’; gaining a unique insight into a very British institution from behind the counter. She is a journalist and presenter on BBC World News.
Read by the author
Abridged by Rosemary Goring
Produced by Eilidh McCreadie
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000...
An insightful look at modern Britain through the prism of the corner shop.
From the general stores of the first half of the 20th century to the reinvigorated corner shops run by immigrants from India, East Africa and Eastern Europe, their influence has shaped the way we shop, the way we eat, and the way we understand ourselves.
Babita Sharma grew up as a ‘corner-shop kid’; gaining a unique insight into a very British institution from behind the counter. She is a journalist and presenter on BBC World News.
Read by the author
Abridged by Rosemary Goring
Produced by Eilidh McCreadie
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000...
March 15, 2020
Loved it - I was enraptured by this book which was part corner shop stories, part historical account of South Asian (and then Polish) immigration to the UK. It was very interesting to learn about how legislation and policies led to corner shops owned by migrants being part of the UK's landscape.
July 3, 2020
This is such a charming, funny and surprisingly powerful story of immigration as told through the corner shop. A wonderful read.
April 22, 2021
Part personal family memoir, part social history - some interesting bits but overall rambling, repetitive and poorly structured.
February 22, 2023
Some interesting content so poorly delivered. There were so many opportunities here to liven the text with anecdotes. The historical content was interesting but the book was sadly lacking in life and was at times annoying.
September 7, 2019
Babita Sharma is a journalist and presenter who grew up with her family above a corner shop in Reading that her parents owned. In this entertaining read she combines memoir with a brief account of immigration to Britain between the 60s and 90s but there isn’t much depth here, I was largely aware of many of the facts presented here (although the personal angle is interesting) and a mistake about when the EU was formed was jarring.
May 13, 2019
Bits of this were very interesting. I enjoyed reading about the different waves of immigration into the UK and the cultures and how they assimilated into the landscape of Britain via the iconic corner shop. It was particularly interesting that it was such a recent book so that there was a chapter on the recent influx of Eastern European countries and how they have taken over the corner shop. It was interesting to view the shop as a meeting place where cultures could bond and change each other and it is clear that the author has a lot of affection for her subject. I did find the repetition rather much at times, as it seems each chapter was structured more like an episode or standalone documentary rather than an actual chapter. I also found the extended linkage between Mrs Thatcher and her background as the daughter of a shop owner and the author and her background as the daughter of a shop owner quite strained at points. I would much rather have experienced this as a radio programme than a book.
October 4, 2021
This book had so much promise.
A history of the corner shop told from the Point of View of South Asian Shopkeepers in the UK, what a premise!
I first heard about the book when Babita Sharma was on the show, Between the covers, on BBC2 and it finally came up on my library holds list.
I was interested to learn about not only her family history but the history of the corner shop.
Whilst the social history of the corner shop and how South Asians came to the UK to run them was fascinating, I found it dragged in places and some of the chapters were just too lengthy.
I would have liked more personal anecdotes on what it was like to run a corner shop which there were in the book, but it was mostly filler with social history which is not how this book was sold to me.
Overall I think if you enjoy history which shows how the corner shops in the UK have changed, this is an interesting book, but you can also watch Back in time to the Corner Shop on BBC iPlayer if that’s available which covers the same topics and I found much more enjoyable.
A history of the corner shop told from the Point of View of South Asian Shopkeepers in the UK, what a premise!
I first heard about the book when Babita Sharma was on the show, Between the covers, on BBC2 and it finally came up on my library holds list.
I was interested to learn about not only her family history but the history of the corner shop.
Whilst the social history of the corner shop and how South Asians came to the UK to run them was fascinating, I found it dragged in places and some of the chapters were just too lengthy.
I would have liked more personal anecdotes on what it was like to run a corner shop which there were in the book, but it was mostly filler with social history which is not how this book was sold to me.
Overall I think if you enjoy history which shows how the corner shops in the UK have changed, this is an interesting book, but you can also watch Back in time to the Corner Shop on BBC iPlayer if that’s available which covers the same topics and I found much more enjoyable.
November 14, 2021
I first heard about this book on Between the Covers in 2020 and managed to order it early this year.
I was expecting more of a memoir but this book is more the social history of the corner shop with a bit of memoir thrown in. I found it hard to get in to at first but about half way through I was drawn in to the world of the corner shop and the Sharma family. I also learned a lot about immigration history and how certain more right wing political parties have used Asian/Indian communities who have legally come over here as scape goats. J loved the way Babita Sharma talked about the individual characters that would regularly come to the corner shop and what it was like living in a shop. I also quite enjoyed the social history but felt she didn't always link the two in the most succinct way. I now respect corner shop owners even more!
I find it hard to rate this book. I would probably give it 3.5 stars but will have to settle for 3.
I was expecting more of a memoir but this book is more the social history of the corner shop with a bit of memoir thrown in. I found it hard to get in to at first but about half way through I was drawn in to the world of the corner shop and the Sharma family. I also learned a lot about immigration history and how certain more right wing political parties have used Asian/Indian communities who have legally come over here as scape goats. J loved the way Babita Sharma talked about the individual characters that would regularly come to the corner shop and what it was like living in a shop. I also quite enjoyed the social history but felt she didn't always link the two in the most succinct way. I now respect corner shop owners even more!
I find it hard to rate this book. I would probably give it 3.5 stars but will have to settle for 3.
April 24, 2020
The Corner Shop by Babita Sharma, from Two Roads Books has been an absolutely delightful revelation. It’s a simple story of the lives of Sharma’s parents as the owners of a corner shop that plays out within the political context of the 70s and 80s. The book feels very warm and personal but equally erudite in terms of her research of this period.
Challenging themes of migration, racism, political agenda and change are humanised with the Sharma family’s tales of struggle and achievement in a country and culture that’s new and not always hospitable.
The whole story is a page turner. It’s a much needed feel good read because there’s hope, there’s entrepreneurship, there’s loss but ultimately there’s a celebration of the human spirit. It’s an absolute must buy What more do you want on #WorldBookNight. And did I say it has a cute cover!
Thank you @netgalley for ARC of this book!
Challenging themes of migration, racism, political agenda and change are humanised with the Sharma family’s tales of struggle and achievement in a country and culture that’s new and not always hospitable.
The whole story is a page turner. It’s a much needed feel good read because there’s hope, there’s entrepreneurship, there’s loss but ultimately there’s a celebration of the human spirit. It’s an absolute must buy What more do you want on #WorldBookNight. And did I say it has a cute cover!
Thank you @netgalley for ARC of this book!
March 5, 2021
The Corner Shop by Babita Sharma
After seeing this book on the BBC2 book review show, Between The Covers, I added it to the ever growing pile of books I wanted to read. I thought it sounded very interesting. Oh how wrong I was! It bored me so much I struggled to finish it.
Sharma is constantly referring and comparing herself to Margaret Thatcher because she also grew up in a corner shop. Every other page after around chapter 3 has a reference to Thatcher. I'm not sure what I expected from the book, maybe reminiscing over funny stories about customers but it certainly wasn't that.
The only interesting thing I learnt was that Maggie Thatcher's father was called Alf Roberts, which was also the name of a character in the longstanding British soap opera Coronation Street that ran the corner shop in the 1980s!
Sorry Babita but it's a no from me 👎
After seeing this book on the BBC2 book review show, Between The Covers, I added it to the ever growing pile of books I wanted to read. I thought it sounded very interesting. Oh how wrong I was! It bored me so much I struggled to finish it.
Sharma is constantly referring and comparing herself to Margaret Thatcher because she also grew up in a corner shop. Every other page after around chapter 3 has a reference to Thatcher. I'm not sure what I expected from the book, maybe reminiscing over funny stories about customers but it certainly wasn't that.
The only interesting thing I learnt was that Maggie Thatcher's father was called Alf Roberts, which was also the name of a character in the longstanding British soap opera Coronation Street that ran the corner shop in the 1980s!
Sorry Babita but it's a no from me 👎
March 28, 2022
An enjoyable history of the corner shop, brought to life through personal experience of Sharma who was brought up in a shopkeeping family, and it's here where the book really shines. Lots of the points are evergreen - the benefits of migration and the impact of a national energy crisis in particular.
At it's weakest it's repetitive and overly indulgent in off topic nostalgia. Although I'm pretty aligned politically with the topics Sharma focuses on, I think she overplays her hand towards the end when looking at the state of the current corner shop. I'm not sure if the aim is to shoehorn in a political point or bring the book to a positive conclusion, but it didn't work for me in either scinario.
This shouldn't, however, put anyone off reading this interesting exploration of a less discussed cornerstone of British culture
At it's weakest it's repetitive and overly indulgent in off topic nostalgia. Although I'm pretty aligned politically with the topics Sharma focuses on, I think she overplays her hand towards the end when looking at the state of the current corner shop. I'm not sure if the aim is to shoehorn in a political point or bring the book to a positive conclusion, but it didn't work for me in either scinario.
This shouldn't, however, put anyone off reading this interesting exploration of a less discussed cornerstone of British culture
April 17, 2022
This stunning personal account of life in Thatcher’s Britain resonated with me because I was a kid who lived above the family business too.
This book calls out racism and how it was and still is weaponised by politicians in the UK. How white working class are manipulated to hate ‘newcomers’ who clearly have more in common with them (poor, neglected, under represented, dismissed) than they ever will with the politicians and ruling class media owners who supposedly ‘speak their language’.
Social history - UK contemporary, India contemporary
Themes - fitting in, standing out, community, racism in the UK
This book calls out racism and how it was and still is weaponised by politicians in the UK. How white working class are manipulated to hate ‘newcomers’ who clearly have more in common with them (poor, neglected, under represented, dismissed) than they ever will with the politicians and ruling class media owners who supposedly ‘speak their language’.
Social history - UK contemporary, India contemporary
Themes - fitting in, standing out, community, racism in the UK
March 15, 2024
An easily digestible mix of personal recollection and the cultural and political contexts of the day. What struck me most was how the 1980's and the 2020's have such parallels in the notions of anti immigration and assimilation for next generation immigrants. I guess as a 'shopkeeper' myself and having worked in the retail and supermarket industry, I did find the history and the development of the corner shop particularly interesting. With just enough personal detail and firm opinions to get an insight into the Sharma family too. One of those readable books that brings a period of history to life.
September 17, 2020
The subject is interesting which is what kept me going but otherwise this is a poorly written book. It's repetitive, it jumps around and the continuing analogisation with Margaret Thatcher's life gets old pretty quickly. I listened to this, so not sure if it was the narrator's fault, but the reference to "Raju" as the Hindu word for king (as opposed to Hindi) was, to me, one of the biggest solecisms in this.
August 18, 2021
3.7 *
An interesting read, enjoyable in parts where I was remenising about the era of the 80s and being the child of a shop keeper myself.
Some sobering aspects with the relevant historical citations around immigrant communities in corner shops throughout the past 60yrs which gave me a different perspective now I am an adult.
Easy to follow, clear chapters, humerous content, a read to recommend
An interesting read, enjoyable in parts where I was remenising about the era of the 80s and being the child of a shop keeper myself.
Some sobering aspects with the relevant historical citations around immigrant communities in corner shops throughout the past 60yrs which gave me a different perspective now I am an adult.
Easy to follow, clear chapters, humerous content, a read to recommend
June 4, 2020
Such a powerful and personal story of a history erased from our education. Made me emotional and thoughtful of how my great grandparents came to this country and the struggles they went through. A brilliant and highly recommended read to anyone wishing to know and learn about how the South Asian community came to be in the UK today!
January 7, 2021
An entertaining and insightful book about a British/immigrant institution. Babita Sharma knows the life of the corner shop ‘from the inside’ and she does a bit of extra research as well to substantiate her impressions. The style is light and empathetic (of shop, customers and even Maggie Thatcher) but there is a lot of repetition which gets rather tiresome.
June 5, 2019
What I enjoyed was the use of an everyday item, here a corner shop, as a means of telling both a personal story and setting the historic aspects of the Asian migration and the times in the 60's and 70's. Most enjoyable.
August 20, 2020
You know that programme where a family pretend to live a journey through the decades? This is like that except the family travels through time living above various incarnations of corner shop. Eady to read and good fun.
March 7, 2021
The life of a corner shop during last 40 years
Loved this account of family life running a shop. Lovely memories of sweets and chocolate brands of my childhood set against an ever changing political and social landscape. What will the next 40 years bring? Great read.
Loved this account of family life running a shop. Lovely memories of sweets and chocolate brands of my childhood set against an ever changing political and social landscape. What will the next 40 years bring? Great read.
May 16, 2021
A readable memoir of first generation British immigrants with social history and memoir intertwined. Babita is a warm narrator and, even if she slips into cliche, paints a full picture of cornershop life.
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