Reading and good secondhand bookshops

[Time Waster]

I was in Sedbergh and there's books being sold all over the place. Craft shop there's books in the corner, clothing store has a room of books, another had books on travel/hiking/climbing. Then there's Westwood Books, 70,000 books new to very old. I came out with a Loeb classical library book, well when you see them it's rude not to!

That Westwood Books shop reminds me of how Carnforth Bookshop was pre-covid. That's not the same since with a lot fewer books.

Wigtown in Scotland has quite a few but i never really liked the ones I saw when I went that easy years ago. Might be better now though.

Alnwick has one in an old railway station, OK as it's big but I didn't really like it. Wasn't great for anything I was interested in.

So I was wondering if any of you have recommendations for bookshops? Big, small, new books, used books, generalist or specialist?

 

[vickster]

Hay on Wye is famous for its bookshops. There are some on Charing Cross Road in London too including Foyles

 

[Time Waster]

Isn't Foyles a chain?

 

[OldShep]

Close to you…Morecambe. I usually come away with something from there.

 

[a.twiddler]

We are lucky enough to have a decent Library in town. There were a couple of secondhand bookshops locally, gone now. Local market has a stall stacked with books, mostly paperback novels, old bestsellers. Charity shops with random assortments of books. Nearest big one I can think of is at Dagfields Craft Centre, Walgherton, near Nantwich. Several large industrial units with antiques and crafts on a farm site. In the Arcade there is a rambling bookshop full of nooks and crannies crammed with novels, technical books, all sorts of stuff some of which has probably been there for years. If you're into books you could probably spend a few hours in there.

 

[Time Waster]

London will have a few good ones including that excellent maps shop Stanfords.

So hay on wye is Welsh book town, Wigtown is Scottish book Town. Where is the English book town? I recall that Sedbergh once tried to claim that but I'm not so sure. What do you think?

 

[Sharky]

The Oxfam shop in Tonbridge stocks just mainly books and often there are bargains in there. Noticed one shelf, full of cycling books.

 

[Time Waster]

Close to you…Morecambe. I usually come away with something from there.

Yes, never been there, the Morecambe book shop that I'd, looked like plenty of stock too.

 

[Time Waster]

The Oxfam shop in Tonbridge stocks just mainly books and often there are bargains in there. Noticed one shelf, full of cycling books.

Kendal oxfam is not bad neither. Worth a visit if you're in Kendal I reckon.

Keswick has a big oxfam from memory, used to be very good for good secondhand outdoor kit. Once saw a high altitude / Arctic down romper suit in one expedition condition! Lots of ski kit too when I last went in about 15 years ago.

 

[geocycle]

Can anyone in York tell me if Spellman’s is still there? Wonderful smell and always wrapped your purchases in brown paper and string!

 

[Aescott]

Forum Books in Corbridge. It’s quite small, but I found myself spending quite a long time there just browsing when on holiday in Northumbria last year. The Waterstones in Morpeth is far larger, but feels less like a bookshop than Forum. And I found a new series of books about the Roman army, which I’m a sucker for.

 

[tom73]

Can anyone in York tell me if Spellman’s is still there? Wonderful smell and always wrapped your purchases in brown paper and string!

Sort of it went online only a few years ago though they also attend book fairs.

 

[Tenkaykev]

Visited Barter Books in Alnwick a couple of weeks ago. A whole disused Railway Station converted to a second hand bookshop. I could have stayed all day, cafe, toilets, reading room. Amazing place.

 

[annedonnelly]

Barter Books is a bit pricey for run of the mill second hand stuff. Things you can pick up for a pound or two in a charity shop. But the advantage is that they have so much stock there's a good chance they'll have what you're looking for. I do enjoy the challenge of finding books on my wanted list in charity shops.

St Oswald's hospice has a books only shop in Whitley Bay which is well organised and reasonably priced. I usually find something on my list in there.

Whitley Bay also has the Bound which is a branch of Forum Books at Corbridge. And Keel Row books have recently moved there. I think they used to be in North Shields.

 

[OldShep]

Visited Barter Books in Alnwick a couple of weeks ago. A whole disused Railway Station converted to a second hand bookshop. I could have stayed all day, cafe, toilets, reading room. Amazing place.

Yes, but did you buy any?
Few years since I’ve been but I thought it very dear and left empty handed.