Once the core of the rural community, the village shop has now almost entirely disappeared from everyday life. That bastion of Britishness that once stocked everything from Atora shredded suet to Zebra grate polish has become as much a victim of the accelerating pace of social and economic change as the parish school and pub. The village shop was often the social focus of a community, as much a meeting place as a commercial venture. This book relates the development and history of the village shop. Charting its rise, Lin Bensley analyzes why the British developed the reputation that prompted Napoleon to declare that England was 'a nation of shopkeepers'. In a final section the author goes on to describe the slow demise of the village shop as both a social and a commercial venture.