Turn Back Time: The High Street 3-4

The 1930s

A group of modern shopkeepers and their families are on the journey of a lifetime - they're taking over empty shops in a neglected market square in Shepton Mallet to see if they can turn back time for the British High Street. They'll live and trade through six key eras of history and in this episode they move into to the 1930s.

Life should be sweeter this week, as government regulations reduce working hours and cheap sugar means lots of sweets, confectionary and cake. Nostalgia boosts sales for the grocers, who have masses of 1930s recognisable brands, the dressmaker has to sell thirties glamour to the town, and the butcher has good old British beef.

The Edwardian bazaar is now a toy shop, reflecting the shopkeepers' target customers - children. But it is far from plain sailing; the Bakers find themselves running a cake shop, but cakes aren't their forte. Rivalry builds between the grocers and the butchers, underminding the community spirit of the high street.

The shopkeepers spend a week selling the 1930s to the town, but they have to pull out all the stops for Empire day - can they persuade a whole new generation of the joys of the traditional high street?

WW2

In this episode the shopkeepers and their customers are plunged into World War Two.

For the first time profit isn't everything, as the shopkeepers find themselves dealing with rationing, promoting make do and mend, and trying to persuade an entire town to pull together as it would have done sixty years ago.

The grocer family struggle with wartime rules and regulations, and customers have to decide whether to stick to rations or to buy from the black market. The bakers feed the town from their British restaurant, while the butcher promotes mutton to modern shoppers. The dressmaker and the blacksmith convince the town of the benefits of 1940s style recycling.

But shortages, an air raid and hungry customers all take their toll; will they keep the town onside in the run up to the VE day celebrations at the end of the week?

BBC1 - 16/23 November 2010 - 2x60 minutes