Today is National Bookshop Day organised by 'Books are my Bag'. I do love a good bookshop don't you? I worked in one for a couple of years when I was in my late teens. It was in the centre of Nottingham and called Sisson & Parker. I loved working there. I didn't work on the shop floor but in the offices above dealing with book orders. We were known as 'Q' department and each of us had a library or set of libraries we were responsible for. Mine was Leicestershire County Council's children's libraries. The number of times I typed out the titles of books featuring Pooh, Paddington, Biggles, The Borrowers, Professor Branestawm and the Moomins as well as many classics. Titles I remember are 'Stig of the Dump', 'The Eagle of the Ninth,' 'The Owl Service' and one that still amuses me 'Biggles Sweeps the Desert'.
I have favourite book shops mostly in Derbyshire. The High Peak Bookstore at Brierlow Bar near Buxton, Scriveners in Buxton and Scarthin Books at Cromford.
The High Peak Bookstore now has a cafe where it used just to have a couple of sofas and a coffee machine. Scarthin Books has a small cafe hidden behind moving book shelves and Scriveners also used to have a make your own coffee shelf with a few chairs. It may have changed now.
Here we have only a small Waterstones. When we first came to live in the city in the late 90s there was a huge bookshop in the centre called Webberleys. It was one of those glorious bookshops with many departments, on many floors, with sloping, squeaky floors, winding stairs and little picture hung walkways from one room to another. As well as books it sold maps and atlases, stationery, greetings cards, pens, pencils and inks, art materials, board games and jigsaw puzzles. The shop closed in 2016 after one hundred odd years following the retirement of the owners. It is much missed.
Do you have a favourite book shop? Or one you have special memories of?
Those book shops look very tempting Rosie. I've not been to an independent book shop for a long time but remember visiting one in Coventry a few years ago. It was a quaint second hand book shop with wooden freestanding shelves and I think I bought some postcards in there. The sort of shop where the owner appears from nowhere when you want to purchase! :)
ReplyDeleteThe shops are very tempting although in one of them the cafe (which I suppose was a good busines move for the owners)has taken over a bit which makes it busy and noisy, I still like it though because it has super cards to chose from for birthdays:)
DeleteI love bookstores.
ReplyDeleteMe too, William, libraries as well:)
DeleteYou are very lucky to have independent book shops in your corner. Just a Waterstones here. Oh The Eagle Of The Ninth….one of my favourite books. B x
ReplyDeleteThey are just far enough away to make a visit a real treat. Our Waterstones used to cover two floors but a few years ago was cut down to just one. At least there is still a bookshop in town:)
DeleteRosie, I loved the book shop in Nottingham you worked at. Do you remember the manager when you were there, he’s a friend of mine
ReplyDeleteHello, it was a great shop wasn't it? I don't remember the manager but the lady who interviewd me I think was the office manager and she was a Mrs Benson:)
DeleteI was wondering if you knew Howard Ketton, who I think was manager at Sissons and Parker’s. Some lovely shops in Nottingham have closed over the years
DeleteLove your blog, very interesting, like you I have been involved in the Museum buisness, and loved it
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The name doesn't ring a bell. I worked there around 1969/70/71 I had my 21st birthday whilst I was there. I remember Griffin and Spalding which became Debenhams and is now closed. Loved the shop on Bridlesmith Gate which is now round the corner near the church, sold cards and gifts it too had squeaky floor boards and stretched back with a side entrance into an alleyway. I haven't been into the centre since before lockdown but we do visit friends in Beeston a few times a year. Perhaps we met durng our years in Musuems, I worked in both Notts and Lincs in Museums and studied for the Museums Diploma in Leicester:)
DeleteOoh, what a lovely selection of bookshops & they have been my downfall I'm afraid. As a child, I always loved going to Dymocks in the middle of Sydney with it's 3 floors packed so many books, stationery & gifts. I even worked nearby as a teenager, then next door to one of their country branches in the 90s. My DD is a librarian, so books tend to be very much a family trait. Thanks for sharing, take care & hugs.
ReplyDeleteDymocks in the middle of Sydney sounds wonderful, just the description of its location. Great to be able to pop into their other shop when you worked nearby. I always wanted to work in a library but ended up in Museums instead, still love both libraries and museums and of course book shops:)
DeleteSadly the stores we have in my vacinity are chains, big stores, no personalty at all, so I stick with borrowing from the library. Your book stores look very inviting and interesting.
ReplyDeleteI too use the library and e-books because of my eyes. Here books are sold in supermarkets too at reduced prices which can't be helpful to either the chain book shops or the Independents. Also many charity or thrift shops sell books and particularly Oxfam have made a business of it:)
DeleteThey all look wonderful. Although Waterstonrs is a modern Bookshop, I still love wandering around their colourful shelves and always find something I hadn't heard about before. Daunts Bookshop in Marylebone is a beautiful building. 😊
ReplyDeleteI do like Waterstones and am glad there is still one locally even though it has been reduced in size over the last few years from two floors to one, this seems to have happened since supermarkets began to sell books, I thought they may have taken over when Webberley's closed but unfortunately not. Daunts sounds wonderful:)
DeleteA lovely idea for a post Rosie and your bookshops all look wonderful. My favourite independent book shop is Kenilworth Books. We do like browsing second hand bookshops too and our favourite is Books Revisited in Coleshill a charity bookshop. Books there are very reasonable. We did discover a good one too in Herefordshire called Aardvark Books and there is always Astley Farm Bookshop which is huge. I remember a Waterstones like yours in Birmingham City Centre. Solihull has a good Waterstones too although I haven't been in it since before the pandemic.
ReplyDeleteI thought you would know of lots of lovely book shops. I've seen them on your blog sometimes. Astley Farm sounds to me like the High Peak Bookstore used to be before it changed. The pandemic changed things a lot didn't it? I have moved to electronic books for ease but also because of my eyes but still love book shops and libraries. Nothing better than a morning spent mooching around a few book shops even if I only end up with a cup of coffee and a few greetings cards:)
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