Damaged Goods Books Announce ‘Up The Packet’ and ‘London’s Dead Pubs’

Following previously released books on Johnny Moped, New Order and two volumes of Paul Talling’s acclaimed Lost Music Venues series, Damaged Goods Records further expands their side hustle with two new books to be published by Damaged Goods Books this May and June. Almost as if it was planned, the subject matter for both books compliment each other as much as they do in real life, pubs and crisps!

First up, ‘Up The Packet – One Man’s Crisp Odyssey’ is published May 14th. Compiled by former NME journalist, Fierce Panda Records head honcho, all-round indie rock legend, and crisp packet collector Simon Williams, ‘Up The Packet’ details one man’s journey through rock n’roll and eating crisps.

Since 1977, Simon has amassed more than 8,000 crisp packets. They are all empty, they all live in shoeboxes, and they are all different. Apart from the swapsies.

‘Up The Packet’ is a tale about those crisp bags and their amazingly zinging innards: from the Tayto potato to the Spudos spud; from the wartime birth of Golden Wonder to the 1990s stock & awe of Walkers; from the ’70s kid-friendly frenzy to the growth in grown-up snacks and into the indie credibility revolution. It takes the reader on a crunchy cultural journey through the entire history of the potato crisp, packed with solid packet factettes and frankly wild snacking theories. Oh, and it delivers some fabulous new full colour pictures of crisp bags through the past 50 years in the ‘Don’t Look Bag In Anger’ pull-out photo spread. For Crisp lovers, collectors, nostalgia geeks, and fans of retro graphic design.

Next up, Derelict London Presents – ‘London’s Dead Pubs,’ published June 25th. Following from London’s Lost Music Venues Vol 1 & 2, author Paul Talling turns his attention to the capital’s lost drinking dens. If you enjoyed his previous books, you’ll enjoy this one too. Read about The Ruskin Arms in Manor Park, where the Small Faces used to rehearse; The Star in Croydon where Jimi Hendrix, Captain Beefheart, Cream, and Fleetwood Mac all played; and Putney’s White Lion who hosted punk and new wave bands including X-Ray Spex, Tubeway Army, Crass, Monochrome Set and The UK Subs. In addition to the many music-related anecdotes, Paul broadens this book out into an alternative, sticky-carpeted history of London, viewed from the bar of some of its most iconic (and now sadly gone) drinking dens.

A well-stocked jukebox, bar snacks, and pints of Whitbread, Fuller’s, Truman’s or Courage on tap. Nothing quite matches the atmosphere of a London pub. But since 2004, one in five pubs across Greater London have closed. This book pays tribute to many of the great public drinking places we’ve lost, while also celebrating some pubs that have returned from the dead.