Featured Image: Craven “A”

This photograph was taken 13 years ago during a visit to the Severn Valley Railway (SVR) station at Bridgnorth in Shropshire. It is a fascinating place, and an ideal venue for a photoshoot if you want a nostalgic theme.

I’m not certain that I appreciated the irony of this shot at the time, with the enamel sign advertising the benefits of the cigarettes contrasting with the dirty smoke emitted from the chimney of the steam train. It takes you back to a time when smoking was popular, accepted everywhere, and seen to be a little ‘cool’. And when advertisers could bend the truth a little more than they can do now.

Craven ‘A’ was named after the third Earl of Craven because this particular blend of tobacco was created especially for him in the 1860s, and it is still produced to this day by British American Tobacco. It was the first cigarette to be mass-produced with a cork tip, hence the tagline “Will not affect your throat”.