Indie bookshops 'thriving' as winners of Independent Bookshop of the Year unveiled

Brick Lane Bookshop, Book-ish and The Poetry Pharmacy are among the nine winning independent bookshops crowned ahead of The British Book Awards in May.

Selected from a record-breaking 77 finalists revealed last month, the award celebrates bookshops that support local communities. Sponsored by book wholesaler Gardners, the nine winners are now vying for the overall Independent Bookshop of the Year Award at the Nibbies on 24th May. 

Overall Winner for 2020, Book-ish, has been named Wales country winner and has recently opened a second shop in nearby Abergavenny following a successful crowdfunding campaign. 

Volunteer-led bookshop Kett’s Books has won for East England — nine years after its conception, it only opened in a high street store six months ago, which prize organisers said has already seen a “fantastic response, with footfall, sales and deep engagement from the community showing a deep success”. 

The Secret Bookshelf is the first bookshop in Northern Ireland to win the Island of Ireland region. Organisers said: “Hidden in the secret garden of The Courtyard in Carrickfergus, the shop prides itself on its diverse and quirky selection, and provides free books to local families for newborns.”  

London winner Brick Lane Bookshop is the oldest bookshop among the regional winners, opening in 1978 in the middle of Tower Hamlets. It now runs its own Small Story Prize and “continues to be a lynchpin of the local community, offering free delivery to Tower Hamlets residents of orders over £15”, organisers said. 

Midlands winner The Poetry Pharmacy prescribes poetry and other books to anyone who walks through its doors, reportedly the first in the world to do so. Focusing on enhancing mental health and wellbeing in the local community is at the core of the bookshop’s mission.  

The Book Nook is the Scotland winner, scooping the win for the first time after previously being a regional and country finalist. With book clubs for adults and children, with a Mini Book Festival and a Book Bank of donations for children in care, the store “remains at the heart of the Stewarton community”, according to organisers.  

Meanwhile, the North England crown goes to Wave of Nostalgia in Haworth which sells books on feminism, the lived LGBTQ+ experience and the environment alongside vintage clothing and hand-made toys.  

South-West England winner FOLDE Dorset is focused on nature-writing covering rewilding to regenerative farming, wild swimming to classic nature memoirs and “practicing what they preach, the bookshop has sustainability at its heart, with purposeful practice and meaningful conversations surrounding sustainability every day", organisers said.  

Pigeon Books in Southsea has won for the South-East England region. “Setting up shop just as the first lockdown arrived, Pigeon Books has emerged from the pandemic at the heart of its community, partnering with local charities, business and organisations that have helped it along the way,” organisers said.  

Tom Tivnan, The Bookseller’s managing editor, said: “This has been among the most competitive Independent Bookshop of the Year judging process since the award was conceived. Not just in the record number of overall submissions, but in the sheer unbelievable quality of every shop that entered. Getting down to these nine regional and country winners was a very difficult process.  

“Indie bookshops across the UK and Ireland are thriving and have met the very difficult recent trading conditions with creativity and cutting-edge innovation. What is truly cheering is that we see this in new shops that have popped up since the pandemic to venerable stores that have been trading for decades. In the last few years I have been calling this period an indie bookshop renaissance, but I think we have gone beyond that, we are in the golden age.” 

The nine regional and country winners are now in contention for the overall Independent Bookshop of the Year Award, announced at The British Book Awards ceremony at Grosvenor House London on 13th May 2024. The overall Independent Bookshop of the Year winner will also compete to be crowned Book Retailer of the Year.