From the Midlands with Love!*
A few Midlands indie bookshops I love (Part One)
The book industry is a funny old world – for the most part it has been centred around The South, or more specifically London, and all meaningful things in the world of publishing and books seemed to have to happen there. More recently, maybe under duress from gruff Northerners threatening them with gravy in chip shops, the industry has miraculously discovered The North, and a few of the big 5 have set up regional offices in Sheffield and Manchester. Weirdly, the bit in the middle seems to have been completely forgotten… that bit is The Midlands!
Imagine that! Surely this rich region deserves better than merely being the ‘/’ in the North / South divide?
So, I thought it was time to give our region a bit of love… starting with a few of the brilliant indie bookshops I’ve had the pleasure of visiting!
Dormouse Books (Instagram : @dormousebelper)
Market Place, Belper, Derbyshire.
It’s only right and proper I start with the bookshop nearest to where I live – and this couldn’t be much closer without me moving in; I can be browsing in less than 10 mins walk from my front door! Luckily for me, not only is it close, but it’s also a superb bookshop!
Dormouse is primarily the brainchild of Stephanie Limb and opened its doors as a CIC (Community Interest Company) just off the Market Place here in beautiful Belper a few short years ago. There are three rooms to the bookshop; the main fiction and non-fiction room as you walk in, a children’s room in the back room, and a spooky cellar with books to suit! What I love about Dormouse is that as well as stocking a superb range of books from indie presses, they also put on a great range of events in a local café (Reunion on Strutt Street) with some pretty stellar authors coming to town. For example, recently there’s been Vincenzo Latronico, Brian Dillon, Kate Morgan and Glen James Brown just to name a few… and the good news is that Dormouse have recently secured some ACE funding so these brilliant events can continue!
As an added bonus (which let’s be honest you don’t need, it’s a bookshop and has all you ever need in life - books), the shop is nestled between two pubs, The Cross Keys and The Black Swan… so you don’t have to walk far for a place to have a drink and read of your new purchase(s).
Scarthin Books (Instagram: @scarthinbooks)
The Promenade, Cromford, Derbyshire.
From Dormouse, if you take a pootle up the A6 for about 15 mins (or the train / bus), just before Matlock Bath you’ll come to a smallish village called Cromford, home to the mighty Scarthin Books. If you’re the bookish sort there’s a fair chance you’ll have come across Scarthin before as it often features in many Top 10 lists of bookshops, idyllic bookshops etc, and for good reason. It’s a superb bookshop and arguably could be categorised as a ‘destination bookshop’, with its location on the promenade, where they often host poetry events in summer, overlooking the village pond.
Stepping inside you are soon transported into another realm; several rooms over a couple of floors chock to the brim of beautiful books. Starting on the ground floor you’ll find mainly new fiction, poetry and some non-fiction, as well as one wall dedicated to reasonably priced quality used books. Moving up to the next floor finds the art room, which contains, yep mainly art books (new and used) and a great children’s room, along with some shelves at the top of the stairs containing history books. Behind a moving shelf you’ll find a great café with a good range of hot and cold drinks along with freshly cooked food, surrounded by cookery / foodie books!
Honestly, it’s a treasure of a shop, and the team that run it are all lovely too!
Five Leaves Bookshop (Instagram: @fiveleavesbookshop)
14a Long Row, Nottingham.
Making sure I’ve packed my passport and had all my jabs, I’ll often head over the border to Nottingham for a visit to this bookshop. Note: you could easily walk past Five Leaves and not know it’s there, and you’d really be missing out. Nestled in an alleyway off the main Market Square in Nottingham city centre, Five Leaves is owned by a bit of a legend in Ross Bradshaw and is well worth seeking out, having started life in 1996 and moving to its current location in 2013.
It is often referred to as a radical bookshop and it does stock a brilliant range of books from across the globe to fully deserve this moniker. You’ll find philosophy, social criticism, politics, history, along with a superb LGBTQ+ focus – it is such a brilliant and carefully considered range. Five Leaves are also a brilliant small press and as well as stocking their own books you’ll find an extensive range of books from across the whole indie / small press landscape. I never fail to find something new and unusual in this bookshop.
As if that isn’t enough, they also do a great range of quality magazines!
In summary - great bookshop, great owner, great booksellers - the Lawrence Ferlinghetti / City Lights of the Midlands.
Voce Books (Instagram: @vocebooks)
54-57 Allison Street, Birmingham.
Finally for this post, we’ll head back to where I’m from… Birmingham. Ok, strictly speaking I’m from the Black Country, but I did a lot of my growing up and going out in and around Brum, and I ended up marrying one of ‘em so I think that counts for something, right bab?
For a long time, the UK’s second city (behave, Manchester) didn’t have a quality indie bookshop, at least not in the city centre anyway… so step forward the quite magnificent Voce Books, nestled amongst the railway arches and repurposed factories in the up-and-coming area of Digbeth. Voce was founded by Maria and Clive Judd and to be frank has an awe-inspiring range of books from across the indie press network; they really are the foundation on which this bookshop is built, a philosophy of sorts. What I also love about Voce is the range of translated books on the shelves, displayed with pride and prominence rather than as an afterthought or tucked away somewhere as is often the case in some bookshops. As you’d expect with such an eclectic range of books, Maria and Clive really know their stuff as well – so don’t be afraid to ask for a recommendation.
As well as being a stellar indie bookshop, Voce also put on some top quality events, sometimes at Kilder, a great craft beer bar around the corner - the forthcoming line up has some great authors and is well worth checking out.
One of the things I was most proud of when I opened and ran Bearded Badger Books was when people said our range felt curated – I hope Voce get the same sort of compliments… because they couldn’t be more deserved. It’s quite brilliant.
So that’s Part 1 of my Midlands Bookshop odyssey done… where should I go next? Drop me a few suggestions and I’ll drag myself out (!) to go take a look.
*Note: a few words on the article title… it comes from a song of the same title.
“I don’t come from the North, I don’t come from the South… slap bang in the middle is what I’m talking about.”
– The Wonder Stuff, From the Midlands with Love
Lovely to read this post and I must check out the Belper one sometime. But as a Derby born gal (now in Sheffield) it is sad how Derby doesn’t have an independent bookshop :-(