1. What’s it like running a bookshop in Lincoln? How have you seen the town change over the years?

Running a bookshop anywhere is hard work, but Lincoln is a lovely place to have an independent bookshop.  We’re in the historic part of the city, close to the cathedral and castle, on a mini-high street of independent shops, cafes and restaurants.  In normal times we get a lovely mix of visitors and local residents in the shop and we’re right in the middle of all the exciting events hosted in the city – the Christmas Market, the steampunk festival, the farmers’ markets and craft markets.

I went to school in Lincoln and when I left to go to university, I didn’t think I would come back to live here.  At that point, 30 years ago, Lincoln was a very quiet provincial city, not much had happened since World War II and its historical manufacturing industries were in decline.  That all changed with the arrival of the University of Lincoln, which brought an influx of new people and investment and a new life to the area.

2. In normal times, what sort of books do you find your customers are most interested in?

Our biggest sellers are novels and children’s books but there’s also a huge appetite here for history.  Both locals and visitors buy books about the history of the city and county and local people of historical significance, and military aviation history is a real feature.  Lincolnshire was the home of the Dambusters and many bomber squadrons during World War II, as well as the Vulcan nuclear bombers during the Cold War.  Many visitors come especially for that history and locals often have family connections.

There’s also an ongoing interest in local medieval history and personages and the county was the home to Isaac Newton and Joseph Banks, so anything connected to them is popular.

3. What types of books have your customers been buying recently?

Since the pandemic started, novels have remained the top sellers, probably because they provide an escape.  We’ve also seen poetry become more popular, possibly as a form of comfort during this stressful time.  Children’s fiction and picture remain high sellers too, as parents and carers continue with home schooling.

4. Who would be your dream customer and why?

There’s no particular individual dream customer but the perfect customer is the one who comes in, has a little chat and then comes to the counter after a good browse with an armful of books!  And then comes back regularly to do the same thing…  In fact, many of my regular customers are dream customers in that respect!

5. And finally, do you have any exciting plans for the shop in the coming months that you’d like to share with us?

It’s far too hard to make any concrete plans at the moment but we’ve been holding author events and reading groups online over the last year or so, and we’re in the planning process for more of those over the spring months.

We’re also very keen to get back to in-person author events, once it’s safe to do so.

1. What was it that inspired you to set up The Feminist Bookshop and Café in Brighton?

The idea began when I first moved down here and started running a feminist book club in living rooms around Brighton and Hove. Initially I was just looking to make some new friends and talk about feminism, but it was such a lovely group and so inspiring, that I wanted to take it further. I realised that as the ground floor of my house used to be shop it could probably be converted back and it just seemed obvious – it had to be a feminist bookshop!

2. Under normal circumstances, The Feminist Bookshop encourages people to come together in a fun, open space for dialogue, discussion and debate. However, 2020 has been a landmark and challenging year for independent bookshops around the world. How have you been able to maintain your connection and commitment to the local community?

It has most certainly been a tricky time for bringing people together and engaging with the community. We feel really lucky though to have kept in contact with our incredibly supportive customers, especially in and around Brighton. One of the first initiatives we introduced when the country locked down was local deliveries, which meant I was out and about on my bike most days. We also continued to hold events,  moving to online hosting, with things like creative writing workshops, life drawing, poetry nights and book launches. We’ve also done what we can to support our local community, opening a library service for those unable to access books at the moment and fundraising for local women’s charities.

3. Stocking an entire bookshop from the ground up must have been a daunting and exciting task. How do you choose the books that line your shelves?

Yes, it was absolutely daunting and we had a really tight timeline to get the shop fitted, decorated and stocked so looking back it was all something of a whirlwind. We choose them in a combination of ways, from experience, personal favourites, contact with publishers (especially indies), direct submissions, recommendations from magazines, podcasts, blogs and from our customers. We’re still learning every day and definitely enjoying the challenge.

4. If you could pick one book on your shelves that everyone should read, what would it be and why?

There are so many books I would recommend everyone to read, that’s a really tricky question to answer. There is one book that we purchase through Yale that I recommend time and time again, called Revolting Prostitutes by Juno Mac and Molly Smith. It brilliantly sets out the ways in which our current approach to sex work is harmful both to sex workers themselves and to society at large. Speaking from their experience in the industry the authors explain how our system violates basic human rights and why we need to have a wider conversation about feminism, immigration, workers’ rights and institutional racism in order to determine the way forward. I think it’s a really important read as so many of us have preconceived notions about the industry and what sex workers need without listening to what they have to say themselves.

5. And finally, do you have any exciting plans for the shop in the coming months that you’d like to share with us?

While it’s a little bit tricky to plan ahead for in-person activities at the moment we’ve got some exciting plans for online events in the next few months especially for LGBTQ+ History Month and International Women’s Day so watch this space!

1. What’s it like running an independent bookshop in Stockton on Tees? What do you hope your shop brings to the local area – both now as well as when it is business as usual?

Stockton is a funny place really! It’s a small industrial town set in the Borough of Stockton where quaint market towns rub shoulders with economically challenged industrial areas; where some of the poorest wards on the Government charts are literally a short walk from some of the most affluent. That said, there is a really strong sense of community and since day one Stocktonians have let us know how proud they are to have a real bookshop in their town.

Drake the Bookshop started out with the aim of making our shop a community hub, where people could meet in a safe, friendly space for book events, reading groups, writing classes, knit and natter groups, or just to meet up over a coffee. This sense of community was really brought home to us during this past year. We have been overwhelmed by the support our customers have shown us and also by the number of new customers who have found us and are really keen to support local their businesses – we lost our freedom but found our community.

2. How do you go about choosing the wide range of titles that you stock in your shop?

Like all independent booksellers, we are keenly aware that we cannot compete on price with online bookselling giants, or discount high street retailers. So we come at it from a different angle. We focus on offering a wider range of more unusual titles, often promoting smaller independent publishers, and showcasing local authors or books that won’t be stocked on the supermarket shelves. Drake the Bookshop aims for a broad range of interesting and beautiful books, side by side with more popular titles and our ‘Pocket Money’ books for younger readers.

3. What is a Lockdown Pharmacy Prescription and how did you come up with this exciting personalised shopping idea?

A lot of people found themselves ‘cut adrift’ during lockdown; they wanted to read but didn’t know what, and the lack of a bookshop to browse made the problem worse. So we hit upon the idea of ‘prescribing’ books to relieve those reading doldrums. We asked people to let us know what sort of books they liked, or what were their most recent reads, and then we chose a book on their behalf, gift-wrapped it and hand delivered it to their door during lock-down. It proved so popular we still offer the service on our website!

4. If you could recommend one book published in the past year, what would it be and why?

Should We Fall Behind by Sharon Duggal. I love books that share the same story through several protagonists’ different experiences. This book is set in one urban street and describes how different residents deal with the appearance of a homeless man who makes his home in an abandoned car. It’s a wonderfully uplifting story about the small changes people can bring to each other’s lives, and how connectivity and community can help people get unstuck and move forward. It’s published by small independent publisher Blue Moose who have only published books by women this year, and they have all been brilliant and well worth a read.

5. And finally, do you have any exciting plans for the shop in the coming months that you’d like to share with us?

We have some school events lined up for January and February, live via Zoom, and we are looking forward to building on our excellent World Book Day Events last March when 1000 children enjoyed meeting 6 authors live in collaboration with the National Literacy Trust.

Were also in the early planning stages of supporting some new local businesses. We’ve managed to weather 2020 relatively intact but aware that lots of businesses have not been so lucky. We want to give some shelf space to local people who have had to change careers during 2020 and are now trying to get a small business going. We’re thinking of small scale crafters and artists who would appreciate a leg up on the high street. Our first Makers’ Space will be a young man who’s started a paper crafting business making cards, bookmarks and bunting.

1. The Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA) is such a vibrant space for showcasing today’s art! What do you most enjoy about your shop being located there? How have you found running an independent bookshop based within a larger arts centre?

CCA plays host to so many different things, exhibitions, film festivals, music and performance of all kinds, there’s a whole ecosystem grown up around this building and the folk who work here, which also stretches out across the city, and indeed the globe. It’s good to be close to the centre of that.

Being independent means we are not directly answerable to anyone and don’t have the bureaucratic and marketing pressures you might get as an in-house bookshop. Of course, if CCA thought we weren’t fitting in things might change, but the Director is a regular customer, and usually seems very pleased with the books he finds here, so that’s good enough feedback for us.

There are frustrations of course, the main one recently being that because we don’t have our own entrance, when the building is closed due to lockdown it’s not straightforward to our access our stock.

2. How does the CCA’s on-going open source programming inform your book buying?

It allows us to be open source in our book buying. We pursue our own interests, and sometimes they align closely with what else is going on in the building, and we can get input into what we should be getting in, which can be very useful.

3. In normal times, what sort of books do you find your customers are most interested in? Do they generally correlate with the CCA’s featured exhibitions and performances or are your readers interested in a range of genres?

It’s interesting how audiences for different events behave. For example, there’s a documentary film festival where we always sell many books relating to social issues. On the other hand there are occasionally events that attract lots people who barely buy books at all, which is very puzzling.

Our readers are interested in our areas of specialisation, which are, broadly, the arts and changing the world!

4. What types of books have your customers been buying this past year? Have you noticed any interesting trends of late?

This year we’ve been selling a lot of books addressing racism, looking at the legacies of colonialism, and black history. Books about different economic systems, books about gender issues. Our children’s section is dedicated to diversity and that’s been very popular.

It feels like people are trying to make sense of a troubled world.

5. And finally, do you have any exciting plans for the shop in the coming months that you’d like to share with us?

Staying open would be pretty exciting! We’re finding creative ways to deal with the continued uncertainty – doing some local deliveries by hand, getting books out of the shop and into the world in any way we can, while we can.

We’ve got a new website coming online soon. We’re also signed up to bookshop.org, and it will be interesting to see how that changes the landscape of bookselling. For its somewhere we can tell people about all the books we’d like to stock if the shop was bigger.

1. In 2018, we interviewed your sister shop West End Lane Books in West Hampstead. What was it that inspired a second shop, particularly in Queen’s Park? What do you hope your bookshop brings to the local area here?

I think they were always keen to open more stores. The Fergiani family have a long and interesting history in bookselling, as well as the two that are here in London opened by Ghassan, there are three more in Tripoli and another in Egypt operated by his brothers. They very much see these stores as part of their father’s legacy. Mohammed Fergiani believed strongly in the transformative power of books and credited much of his own success to his introduction to books at a young age. He was encouraged to push for an education so that he would have access to the school library and he believed it changed the course of his life.

Honestly, I think we will open more in the future if we find the right location. We got extremely lucky with Queen’s Park. Not just because the area is beautiful but because we have a community that really appreciates us and champions our store. Also, their collective tastes are really broad and interesting and, as the buyer, I have to say it’s a real treat to be able to choose an excellent range of diverse and contemporary books and know that your patrons will want them.

2. Do you find that being family-owned sets you apart from other bookshops? If so, how?

I think the difference is displayed in our values and especially reflected in how we treat our staff. I’d like to think you can then feel that when you are in the store – that everyone is more invested because they feel we’ve invested in them. This year was horrifying and I was so pleased to work for a family that 100% backed our staff, topped up the furlough money for as long as possible and have done everything possible to make sure everyone had a job to return to.

3. Under normal circumstances, Queen’s Park Books partners with the celebrated Queen’s Park Book Festival which takes place in the summer at the park. Does the shop ordinarily do anything special around this exciting event?

The festival itself is the exciting event! We are kept quite busy running both our store and the pop up shop in the park that sells the speaker’s books. We did make sure the 2nd year we scheduled time for each staff member to get to see an event because the first year everyone was too busy to actually see any of the authors talk!

4. How do you go about choosing the books that line your shelves?

That’s such a tough one. I try to make sure the range is as broad as possible. It’s really important to me to try and make sure I choose books that our community feels interest them and also reflect them and their identities. Especially the children’s books. All little people deserve to see themselves in what they read because it makes the book more meaningful for them. Right now our shelves are heaving because we there have been so many excellent releases, all at once!

5. And finally, do you have any exciting plans for the shop in the coming months that you’d like to share with us?

Well, we have our yearly Christmas sale that will happen in November as soon as we work out how to run it whilst adhering to social distancing rules. And we are also launching a Children’s Subscription which should hopefully be a super exciting present option that will create new passionate readers – www.qpbooks.co.uk/childrens-subscription.

1. What was it that inspired you to set up an independent bookshop on Nottingham’s High Street?

I’d worked in a previous radical bookshop in Nottingham, Mushroom Bookshop, from 1979-1995. When it closed a few years after I left, the time was not right for me, but I always thought I’d like another go. It took me until 2013 to get round to it! In the meantime, I’d published 150 or so books under the Five Leaves imprint, so I’d never left the booktrade. But bookselling was my main love rather than publishing.

Now we – a bigger team – do both. Five Leaves operates in the same way as most independents, but we have lots of specialist areas and interests and we plan and run events – mostly literature and politics. Until the time of the lockdown, we were holding about 100 events a year, running a radical bookfair and had a lively monthly open book group. Oh, and had started running evening classes. So we offered a sort of bookish community centre cum adult education centre. Our spread was quite wide – hence happily hosting an event on Yale’s Cursed Britain book on witchcraft was not unusual for us. I think it was our third event on witchcraft!

2. What are some of the unique ways that Five Leaves Bookshop practises radical independent bookselling?

Perhaps through organising the Nottingham Radical Bookfair. Normally we have 25 stalls from publishers and second-hand booksellers. We were also involved in setting up the London Radical Bookfair too… and States of Independence in Leicester.

We are not unique in having a publishing division, but we publish some radical books too. And postcards, T-shirts and a mug. Anything, really… But events are – were – our strongest point. Mostly they are in the shop – we can hold fifty people, but we have had up to 350 at other venues (that was for a Verso George Monbiot event) and our radical bookfair has a full programme of events over the day. We might have had 400 for an Owen Jones event back in the heyday of Chavs, as the venue we were using had an overflow in its garden and lobby!

3. Under normal circumstances, Five Leaves Bookshop works hard to involve and be involved with many different groups in Nottingham. However, 2020 has been a challenging year for bookshops around the world. Have you been able to maintain your connection and commitment to the local community?

During the severe lockdown, we turned to mail order, ending up with two of us working more than full time so we could still supply our customers. The shop has always had an interest in Black writing and anti-racism, and a very high proportion of our children’s books feature Black children, so we were well placed to help people wanting to learn about Black history and anti-racism over the summer, our many white parents turned to us to diversify their bookshelves. That continues of course.

We started putting on on-line events, some in conjunction with Nottingham City of Literature, and now have a YouTube channel. Our stock is now all online to better support our customers who are shielding or just not ready to hit town yet. Every week we interview a writer for our YouTube channel, mostly people from the East Midlands, and have regional writers doing the sort of poetry readings and launches we would have had in the shop. It’s not the same, but we try. In the autumn we’ll also return to our Night School idea with a course on Irish politics and literature.

4. If you could recommend one book published in the past year, what would it be and why?

Two please. One short, one huge. The first is A Month in Siena by Hisham Matar (Penguin) – a book about art, community and grief. The second is the Pevsner Guide to the Buildings of Nottinghamshire, which is published this week. It’s almost 900 pages. I thought I knew my county, but there are interesting buildings in whole parts of Nottinghamshire that I didn’t even know existed, let alone the buildings in them. I’ll be getting out a bit more next year I hope. It’s published by Yale, but I would have mentioned it regardless of who was doing the interview. We’ve got an on-line launch for this and expect to sell a lot over the rest of the year.

5. And finally, do you have any exciting plans for the shop in the coming months that you’d like to share with us?

Nothing particularly new on the bookselling front other than what I have already mentioned, but we’ve got some unusual publications coming out from the publishing side including a Yiddish version of Michael Rosen’s We’re Going on a Bear Hunt and a special anniversary edition of the long-departed feminist magazine Time & Tide, which ran mostly in the first half of last century. Polly Toynbee has written the introduction. It will look and feel like the old magazine and include articles from its best period.

1. Tell us about the history of Pritchard’s Bookshop. How did you come to run this celebrated independent bookstore in the heart of Crosby?

My mother and brother opened the first branch in 1974 in Ormskirk. When I left university, I opened a branch in Crosby after four months searching for a site in the Merseyside area. I chose Crosby as it had excellent schools and a population that I thought could support an independent bookshop. I always had a passion for books even though my degree was in Nuclear Physics and Maths, and I thought I could make the business pay. My brother left the business in 1977 and the Ormskirk branch closed, but the Crosby shop thrived with strong links to the local schools.

2. Under normal circumstances, Pritchard’s Bookshop has a bustling events schedule boasting frequent author visits and book launches. What has been your favourite (or most memorable) event since opening this store?

Crosby is blessed with an abundance of talent – authors and musicians. Pritchard’s Bookshop has held countless events over the years. From politicians to sporting stars, we must’ve hosted nearly all the Liverpool and Everton greats from 60’s onwards!

My most memorable event was with Ian McNabb of the legendary band the Icicle works – he did an impromtu acoustic set in our small shop. Many years ago, Edwina Currie popped in just before I was closing to buy something. Fortunately, we had some of her novels so I got her to sign them.

The events list is endless really: mammoth Jaqueline Wilson events where the queues stretched for miles! – she spent 3 hours signing everything she was presented with – a true star! We used to do literary lunches from Gerald Durrell to Lord Hailsham – you’re too young. Liverpool greats Beryl Bainbridge, Willy Russell, Roger McGough and George Melly, too.

3. Pritchard’s Bookshop was established over forty-five years ago. How has bookselling changed over this time?

Bookselling was very different in the 70’s. Publishers Representatives were thick on the ground before the amalgamations and take overs, which made buying new books fun and interesting, they also helped with stock orders. Customer orders were sent by post and took a couple of weeks to arrive! Small regional wholesalers’ van service helped with basic stock.

The rise of Bookshop Chains brought bookshops onto the main high streets, making general city independent bookselling difficult, but out in the suburbs we continued to thrive, winning Independent Bookshop of the year in 1990.

The end of the Net Book Agreement, competition from supermarkets, internet selling, e-books, relocation due to a failed redevelopment and several recessions have provided bumps along the road but customers keep coming through my door!

4. Since reopening this summer, what types of books are your customers buying? Have you noticed a shift in the books people are interested in lately?

Our hats go off to a long list of local saga novelists – Elizabeth Elgin, Maureen Lee, Joan Jonker and Lyn Andrews. And to those who are greatly missed – Katie Flynn and Crosby’s adopted daughter Ruth Hamilton. In some ways, it’s sad when you add authors to a shelf and remember what was once there. Whole rows of backlist that are now gone! Its just like the end of Goodbye, Mr Chips. But that’s the beauty of bookselling. It’s mutable. Always a constant flow of the exciting and new. And always suprising.

Customers seem to be staying away from the city and staying with us. We’ve stayed very busy.

Girl, Woman, Other is still doing very well, but I feel there is a real hankering for uplifting lighter fiction too. Beth O’Leary – The Switch, and Crosby’s own Debbie Johnson – Maybe One Day. Children’s and crime fiction, as always, is very strong.

5. And finally, do you have any exciting plans for the shop in the coming months that you’d like to share with us?

Hopefully by Christmas we’ll be able to host our annual book reps Christmas party. We held a magnificent one when the shop was 40 years old (above). There were reps past and present, some of whom are sadly no longer with us.

We’re planning a push on our Instagram account this year. The fantastic Frank Cottrell Boyce is also a customer and we’re liaising to promote his online readings and bookclub.

After 46 years in the book trade, I am also looking forward to handing the shop on – when I find the right person to take it forward.

1. What’s it like running an independent bookshop in Kirkby Stephen? What do you hope your shop brings to the local area – both now as well as when it is business as usual?

Kirkby Stephen is the Northern Gateway to the Yorkshire Dales National Park, the heart of the Upper Eden Valley and halfway on the Coast to Coast Walk made famous, of course, by Wainwright.

My shop is a world in miniature – I think I can say that any book lover will find a title in my shop which is just to his or her taste. It is a haven of peace and excitement for annual visitors and residents alike.

2. The Bookshop was established in 1980. Would you say that the store has changed much over forty years?

Owning, stocking and personally running my own bookshop in this small market town is a joy. Over 40 years, I have watched, served and learned the histories of grandparents, parents and children. I have seen the children first as toddlers, then students and finally as parents buying for their own young children. It is the love of books which binds us together.

I have been lucky to meet some fascinating authors and bibliophiles and to organise book launches and to run a book club. My support for local authors is important. I can showcase titles from scholarly research of the history and customs of the Upper Eden Valley to biscuits of Tuscany and a personal view of the life and protection of the River Eden and its environment.

3. How do you go about choosing the wide range of titles that you stock in your shop?

My selection is made from books I have researched with a knowledge of my customers’ tastes and interests. Customers frequently ask “Can you recommend something I would enjoy?” and have come back with enthusiasm for more of that author or that genre and customers recommend titles, authors, genres they particularly like and so the variety of my stock grows from a dialogue between my customers and myself.

4. If you could pick one book on your shelves that everyone should read, what would it be and why?

To take from the shelf and handle a beautiful new book is a sensual pleasure which book lovers (and I) enjoy. It is a great satisfaction to me to contemplate my shelves filled with these delights anticipating the pleasure they will bring to others.

One book that everyone should read? That’s difficult. Personally I would choose Half of a Yellow Sun but I want every one of my customers to find on my shelves the one book they think everyone should read.

5. And finally, do you have any exciting plans for the shop in the coming months that you’d like to share with us?

My plans for the future as far as day-to-day business in the shop is concerned will continue as before. I have loyal and regular customers who is it is a joy to look after. I am not a technophile but I do understand the need to have a presence on the Internet; that is my plan for the future.

Finally, I would like to thank Yale University Press for the beauty of their books and Sally Sharp for the close personal service she provides to me and through me to my customers.

1. As a famous historical seaside resort, Saltburn-by-the-Sea has retained plenty of its Victorian charm. What’s it like running a bookshop in a town that has such a fascinating history?

Saltburn is a lovely place to be. Its Victorian history and architecture is one of its attractions for visitors. Books about local history tend to do very well, and the town seems to be a great source of inspiration for writers and artists. But the history is just one part of that, I think. We’re also surrounded by beautiful countryside, and not at all far from the North York Moors.

2. What was it that inspired you to open up an independent bookshop, particularly in Saltburn? What do you hope your bookshop brings to the area?

Saltburn was my hometown for many years and I’ve always been very fond of it. While the town had a secondhand bookshop for decades, there was never a shop specializing in new books. Saltburn has always felt like a very creative place to me, with lots of creative people, so I thought it was a bit strange that there was no new bookshop. I’ve always loved books, and I write myself. It felt like a niche I could fill. I hope the shop provides a friendly space for book lovers, and also for writers. I like to think that my shop helps provide a platform for local writers.

3. It says on your website that you specialize in contemporary fiction, children’s books and non-fiction. If you could recommend one book published in the past year, what would it be?

Shadowplay by Joseph O’Connor. It’s about Bram Stoker, author of Dracula, and the many years he spent as manager of the Lyceum Theatre when it was under the directorship of actor Henry Irving. It’s a fabulous book. It has a mysterious, Gothic atmosphere, but it’s also funny, with elements of pastiche. The characters are wonderful, and the novel is very deep and humane. It made me cry, quite unexpectedly.

4. What types of books have your customers been buying recently through the ordering service? Have you seen any trends of late?

People seem to want escapism. I’ve mainly sold novels, including cosy crime, fantasy, and commercial fiction. High profile books, such as The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel, have also sold well. I’ve also sold a lot of nature writing.

5. And finally, do you have any exciting plans for the shop in the coming months that you’d like to share with us?

Before the current crisis, I had a thriving events programme featuring author visits and writing workshops. I’m looking forward to a time when it’s safe to resume these activities. But in the meantime, I’m planning to launch an e-commerce website, so I can start selling books online. I’m going to carefully curate the online stock, and include book reviews. The site will have a blog, and I hope to feature guest posts from customers and writers. I’d like it to be a space to promote and discuss books, as well as sell them.

1. When you took over Ledbury Books and Maps in 2010, what was your bookselling vision? How has the shop developed and grown over the past decade?

I’m not sure I had a vision as such – I just wanted to share my love of books. The previous owner had put about half the shop over to classical CDs. Over the next few years, I whittled that away to make room for more books! I also do a few events and run a very successful book group from the shop.

2. What has been your experience of selling maps in the GoogleMaps age? What types of maps do you find your customers are most interested in? Do you yourself have a favourite map?

Amazingly, I do sell a huge number of Ordnance Survey maps. People still like the idea of a physical map and the undiscovered places they offer. We’re very close to the Malvern Hills and the walks in the Wye Valley and the Forest of Dean are fairly close so maps of those areas are very popular. I love all kinds of maps – geological, socio-economic, landuse – I have a degree in Geography so that might be where that comes from!

3. Under normal circumstances, Ledbury itself is renown for hosting the UK’s biggest Poetry Festival – the Ledbury poetry festival. Does Ledbury Books and Maps ordinarily do anything special around this exciting event?

Ledbury has a real buzz when the Poetry Festival is on and usually the weather is glorious. I have held a few Festival events in my shop over the past few years but last year I was lucky enough to be the bookseller at all the events. We had three Poet Laureates in town as well as Margaret Atwood, which was amazing (she bought some books from me!). The shop is also the venue for various talks the Festival organises throughout the year.

4. What do you hope your shop brings to the local area – both during this period of lockdown as well as when it is business as usual?

Ledbury is a lovely little town, full of interesting independent shops so I hope I add to that mix. During lockdown, I have been out delivering books within the local area and posting further afield. Customers are still phoning up for recommendations which I love doing!

5. And finally, do you have any exciting plans for the shops in the coming months that you’d like to share with us?

Every year I say I’m going to do more events – but I mean it this time! Also, lockdown has made me rethink the types of books I buy in – and the quantities!