A perceptive, generous survey of Britain's towns, in all their grit and glory.
'Moss is good at digging out the secret delights of his locations . . . In a country where familiar hotspots like St Ives and Whitby are being ravaged by the holiday-let market, there is radical value, for Moss, in pointing to more marginal sites of interest.'
ALEX NIVEN,
NEW STATESMAN
'Moss's quiet curiosity is infectious . . . How could you not wish to read on and discover more about what Moss finds?'
OLIVIA POTTS,
SPECTATOR
***
Take your pick. Dubrovnik or Doncaster? Corfu or Crewe? A safari in Kenya or an abandoned zoo on the Isle of Man?
Most people in the United Kingdom live and work in towns. Only a handful of these ordinarily qualify as conventional tourist destinations, with most deemed too plain, rundown or unfun to be worthy of a leisure visit, but they have much to offer for the inquisitive traveler.
Travelling from Warrington, Birkenhead and Slough to East Kilbride, Armagh, Newport and beyond, Chris Moss seeks out Britain's bypassed towns. As he encounters the rich stories and spirits of these places, peeling back layers of history and culture, he considers why most have ignored the hidden pleasures they have to offer, be they Stockport's viaduct, one of the largest brick structures in the world; the scene-defining punk venues of Paisley; or Ipswich's ancient origins (the town being twice the age of Machu Picchu).
Where Tourists Seldom Tread is an invitation to move away from the preference for major cities and rural idylls and offers a new field guide to the country.
**
'Chris Moss has always had a rare eye for an unusual story . . . What he finds is a bottomless well of little-known histories, unusual facts and beauty where you least expect it.'
WANDERLUST (Best Books of 2026 So Far)
