'Keep Calm and Read a Book'. Books. Second Hand Books. Calm. Barter Books. Alnwick. Northumberland.
A short visit to Alnwick in Northumberland, and many thousands of books later, and I'm a bit snow blinded; a bit like visiting an art gallery containing wall after wall, and room after room, of paintings.
Alnwick does has more than it's fair share of books, from the many charity shops in the town, including a Lions bookshop, to the new and impressive 'Accidental Bookshop' which sells new and up to the minute books. But the second hand bookstore, Barter Books, dubbed 'British Library of secondhand bookshops' by the New Statesman, takes the biscuit with its 350,000 books.
Located in the old Alnwick railway station, a map is provided to help visitors find what they're looking for. It has the comfortable feel of an old library, and the convenience of a station buffet and ice cream parlour. I must confess that after journeying by train to the area, rather than having to connect by bus, it would have been a tad more convenient had the store still been a railway station! Ah progress! But it's an interesting place, and definitely one to tick off on one's bucket list.
It has a separate claim to fame. In 2000, owner Stuart Manley discovered a rare original of a long forgotten WW11 poster in a box of old books sold at auction. His wife Mary, thought it was interesting, framed it and hung it in the shop. With its uncluttered design and positive slogan, it became a hit with customers, who wanted their own copies. And so they had made and sold facsimile copies, which soon became copied and parodied by the millions. Today its advice to a beleaguered wartime population 'Keep Calm and Carry On', can be read on everything from mugs to chocolate boxes to biscuit tins.
Travelling back home, this was indeed a suitable text to stiffen the sinews, as we waited for the long overdue bus to connect us to the nearest railway station!
Alnwick does has more than it's fair share of books, from the many charity shops in the town, including a Lions bookshop, to the new and impressive 'Accidental Bookshop' which sells new and up to the minute books. But the second hand bookstore, Barter Books, dubbed 'British Library of secondhand bookshops' by the New Statesman, takes the biscuit with its 350,000 books.
Located in the old Alnwick railway station, a map is provided to help visitors find what they're looking for. It has the comfortable feel of an old library, and the convenience of a station buffet and ice cream parlour. I must confess that after journeying by train to the area, rather than having to connect by bus, it would have been a tad more convenient had the store still been a railway station! Ah progress! But it's an interesting place, and definitely one to tick off on one's bucket list.
It has a separate claim to fame. In 2000, owner Stuart Manley discovered a rare original of a long forgotten WW11 poster in a box of old books sold at auction. His wife Mary, thought it was interesting, framed it and hung it in the shop. With its uncluttered design and positive slogan, it became a hit with customers, who wanted their own copies. And so they had made and sold facsimile copies, which soon became copied and parodied by the millions. Today its advice to a beleaguered wartime population 'Keep Calm and Carry On', can be read on everything from mugs to chocolate boxes to biscuit tins.
Travelling back home, this was indeed a suitable text to stiffen the sinews, as we waited for the long overdue bus to connect us to the nearest railway station!
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