The Co-Op's Got Bananas cover art

The Co-Op's Got Bananas

A Memoir of Growing Up in the Post-War North

 Preview

Try for £0.00
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Co-Op's Got Bananas

By: Hunter Davies
Narrated by: Cameron Stewart
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

 Despite the struggle to make ends meet during the tough years of warfare in the 1940s and rationing persisting until the early 1950s, life could still be sweet. Especially if you were a young boy, playing football with your pals, saving up to go to the movies at the weekend, and being captivated by the latest escapade of Dick Barton on the radio. Chocolate might be scarce, and bananas would be a pipe dream, but you could still have fun. In an excellent social memoir from one of the UK's premier columnists over the past five decades, Hunter Davies captures this period beautifully. His memoir of growing up in post-war North of England from 1945 onwards, amid the immense damage wrought by the Second World War, and the dreariness of life on rationing, very little luxuries and an archaic educational system, should be one that will resonate with thousands of readers across Britain.

In the same vein as Robert Douglas's Night Song of the Last Tram - A Glasgow Childhood and Alan Johnson's This Boy, Hunter's memories of a hard life laced with glorious moments of colour and emotion will certainly strike a vein with his generation.©2017 Hunter Davies (P)2017 Simon & Schuster Audio UK Europe War

Listeners also enjoyed...

 Wainwright: The Biography cover art
Old Rage cover art
Flesh Wounds cover art
There Once Is a Queen cover art
A Class of Their Own cover art
Went to London, Took the Dog cover art
Full Marks for Trying cover art
Odd Boy Out cover art
Black Gold cover art
The Doctor Will See You Now cover art
So They Call You Pisher! cover art
Going Places cover art
Secret Child cover art
If The Cap Fits: My Rocky Road to Emmerdale cover art
Kiss Myself Goodbye cover art
Thanks for Nothing cover art

What listeners say about The Co-Op's Got Bananas

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    19
  • 4 Stars
    14
  • 3 Stars
    4
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    20
  • 4 Stars
    11
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    18
  • 4 Stars
    10
  • 3 Stars
    5
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Audible.co.uk reviews

Amazon reviews
Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for s

The book was good

I liked the book but found the voice irritating was finding it hard to stay awake.

Report this

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for pjw

Easy Listening.

An enjoyable listen as it brought back memories for me. Good narration and we'll paced account. I was tempted to get the sequel but instead have bought the Beatles biography by this author.

Report this

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Crotcheteer

Enjoyable for a 50s born person

I learned a lot about 50s Carlisle which is one of my later life places. I enjoyed this very much but I am not sure someone with no knowledge of the far north west of England would get much from it.

Report this

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for John Hayes

Classical Hunter

Bounces along at a good pace and great insights into a tough, but loving early life. His progress to Fleet Street is always produced with typical Hunter humour and the actual time spent in Fleet Street gives a vivid documentary of what it was like at that time. I really enjoyed it and looking forward to the follow up which I will now listen to again!

Report this

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Peter

evocative

Very listenable and thoroughly enjoyable! Waiting for the post 1960 sequel. 10 out of 10.

Report this

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Lynn

Thoroughly enjoyable.

Full of interesting detail about life in the thirties to the start of the sixties.

Report this

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!