Exploring the changing shops of Reading's Broad Street

Broad Street is the main shopping street in Reading, England's largest town (but not officially a city). Gone Shopping is a project to record and illustrate the changing shops in Broad Street over time.

The project was partly inspired by one of those moments when you stare at a new shop or building and can't, for the life of you, remember what it has replaced. And partly by a series of sketches of Broad Street's shops made circa 1885 by an artist named James Gafford.

Gone Shopping currently covers the period from 2001 to 2025.