'Shoe repairers were nearly on every shop corner…. All that lot and were all trying to make a living!'
Dennis Manville started in the trade in 1952, aged 13.

	Cream can with screw lid, circa 1900.

During the 1800s, most goods were not mass-produced, but were made by workers skilled in specific trades. Even the supply of milk was considered a trade. Local dairies sold milk over the counter from cows kept in pens at the back of the premises.

Towards the end of the 1800s large numbers of people in Brighton were employed in trade. Workers were generally employed in trades outside of the tourist industry. In 1891 over 1,000 people worked as painters and glaziers and more people had jobs as boot makers than hotelkeepers.

	Invoice from H. Thunder, Boot and Shoe Maker, Brighton, dated February 1910.

Over the last 100 years, improved transport links meant that goods could be mass-produced in factories many miles from Brighton. Large-scale businesses grew and the number of small traders in the town declined.

See objects on display in the Trades section of Exploring Brighton gallery