Newham Bookshop looks to auction for relocation

The Newham Bookshop in East London has been inundated with donations since the indie retailer announced that it needed to raise £25,000 for a move to a different location.

The shop is holding an auction on 21st October, and has asked for signed books from authors, and drawings from artists. But it has also already received donations, including £500 from one customer, and another £100 from a second. A charity football game between Clapton Community FC and Walthamstow FC also raised close to £700 for the bookshop.

Authors who have donated books include Ken Follett, Nigella Lawson, Hanif Kureishi, Sarah Perry, Alan Garner, Mary Beard, Adam Dant, Jonathan Coe, and Benjamin Zephaniah. Local authors Vaseem Khan and Bobby Seagull will be at the auction on the 21st to meet bidders.

Publishers have also got in on the act, with signed editions. Penguin is to send a signed copy of Michelle Obama’s Belonging when published next month.

Bookshop manager Vivian Archer told The Bookseller: “It is so great that so many people obviously support the shop and the work we do in the community and feel that independent bookshops must take centre place.”

The bookshop plans to relocate from 747 Barking Road to 743 Barking Road, next to the children's bookshop, after its current landlord told the tenant that it wanted to renovate the current shop, resulting in much less space for the bookshop and its temporary closure while the worked was carried out. Archer told The Bookseller. "The premises we want to move to are not in a good condition. We would have to rewire, and put heating in. We would have to do everything."

Newham Bookshop was originally founded in 1978 as part of the service of the fledgling Newham Parents’ Centre.