Or consider JB Priestley's account of
travelling out of London in 1933 along the Great Western road and confronting the endless, low - density exurbia of ribbon sprawl: «We might suddenly have rolled into California... This is the England of arterial and by - pass roads, of filling stations and factories that look like exhibition buildings, of giant cinemas and dance - halls and cafes, bungalows with tiny garages, cocktail bars, Woolworths, motor -
coaches, wireless, hiking, factory girls looking like actresses, grey - hound racing and dirt tracks,
swimming pools, and everything given away for cigarette coupons.»