This Independent Bookshop Week, we’re celebrating some of the incredible bookshops that make Bristol such a vibrant literary hub. Our city boasts a thriving network of independent bookshops, each contributing uniquely to our community.
From a publisher’s point of view, bookshops play a crucial role. Their insights help us understand what readers want, their events bring our books to life and their passion spreads the word to our audiences. We deeply value the support and collaboration of our local bookshops.
Independent bookshops are more than just places to buy books; they are vital community hubs, building connections, sparking conversations and cultivating a love for literature. To highlight their importance, we’ve gathered reflections from staff at three beloved Bristol bookshops. They share their unique perspectives on their shop’s role in the community and the vital part they play in making our city a better place.
“Heron Books opened its doors in October 2022. I wanted the shop to be a welcoming space for the local community and for those visiting from further afield, as well as being crammed with thousands of excellent titles full of possibility. Though the shop is undoubtedly on the small side – it is 16 metres squared – I do think it has a big impact. We run three book groups (and are adding two more) bringing together people who would not otherwise have met, and a regular poetry night, driven by no more than the joy of poetry, and we have become a place where people pop in simply to share what they or their children/parents/friends are reading, and indeed any gossip…
Stories and surveys about loneliness seem to feature in the news weekly, if not daily. I do hope that the shop, with Harry and I offering a warm greeting and an eagerness to chat about books, might help in some small way in combatting isolation. In Ali Smith’s book Public Library, she intersperses short stories with first-hand accounts from people about how libraries have changed their lives. Clifton has a wonderful library and a superb Friends group supporting it. But we all know about massive cuts to these services and the library cannot be open every day. Independent bookshops often find themselves filling the lacunae opened by these cuts while, of course, keeping books at the heart of everything we do.” Lizzie Moss, Heron Books.
“Last February a lady walked into our shop, supported by her son. With tears in her eyes, she thanked us for helping her husband choose the book he gave to her for Christmas. It was the first book he’d bought her in years. He’d passed away just after New Year. A month ago, an 8 year old came in to buy a book by Louie Stowell. It was the first time they were buying a book with their pocket money. They desperately wanted Louie’s book because they’d met her at the event we’d organised with their school days before. Independent bookshops build relationships with customers that chain stores simply can’t. We know our customers’ names and faces, what they bought recently, what they loved and what they hated. We curate our shelves to match and stretch their reading habits. We hold their memories, reflect on their idiosyncrasies, and share their experiences of the place we both call home. Chain stores offer more choices and cheaper prices. Independent bookshops offer long-term friendships.” Sam Taylor, Max Minerva’s.
“As the manager of an independent bookshop, I hope I can say without appearing to be narcissistic that independent bookshops fulfil a vital role in producing and reproducing ideas, art and community. Bookshops like New Beacon in Finsbury Park, the oldest surviving Black bookshop in the UK, have provided a central focus that has supported Black writing in this country, when publishers and bookstores weren’t interested in sharing it. A bookstore like Gay is the Word in Bloomsbury is a place that has supported and fostered Queer writing, and provided a safe haven for the Queer community before there was wider social acceptance and inclusion in the UK. We do our best to provide a community hub in which to share and discuss books, ideas, politics and art here. We run events with authors every week and reading groups on contemporary fiction, ‘weird’ fiction, Feminist literature and revolutionary literature to continue the long and proud tradition of the independent bookshop as an intellectual hub. This year, for Independent Bookshop Week, we will be partnering with an independent publisher, Prototype Publishing, as we partnered with Tilted Axis and Charco Press before, to celebrate the symbiotic relationship between independent bookshops and independent publishers.” Darran McLaughlin, Bookhaus.
We encourage you to visit and support your local bookshop not just this Independent Bookshop Week, but all year round. Many bookshops will be hosting special events this week, so follow them on social media to stay up to date and show your support. To find your local indie bookshop, visit the BooksAreMyBag website.
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