Standing on the banks of the River Nene, the thriving town of Northampton has come a long way from its industrial past in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries when its wealth was built on the dominant boot and shoe industry. Since then small independent family-run retailers have given way to large national chain stores and shopping centres such as the Grosvenor, and modern shops, cafes and bars fill the lively town centre.

Yet despite these changes, Northampton still retains many of its original buildings and monuments, including the Guildhall, the Sessions House, Becket's Well and Bradlaugh's Monument.

In Northampton Then & Now, Philip Sawford compares archive images of the Northampton of the past with full-colour modern photographs of the town today, exploring just how much has changed as well as finding unexpected similarities.