Friday, August 9

In the past few years I have had several lengthy conversations with Ken Worpole about garden cities and their relationship to utopian nineteenth century creations like Bourneville and Port Sunlight. Ken has often talked about Letchworth and Welwyn as experiments whose effects still live on.

Today I took a train to Letchworth to see for myself. I left impressed. I visited ”the iconic bookshop”, David’s Bookshop, and marvelled at how a town of this size could support a bookshop that would put most of the bookshops in London to shame. With a fantastic array of new and second–hand stock, three warren-like storeys, an outdoor section, and assistants who knew the stock inside out.

That took most of the day, but I also visited The Wynd, where the Garden City Brewery drew me in to sample the beer brewed on the premises, and listen to the landlord who did the brewing.

I left feeling that Letchworth Garden City seems like a more exciting version of Port Sunlight; the atmosphere in and around the Wynd making much of the difference.