Alas for the independent bookshop

Another closure -the Amwell Book Company is one of at least six bookshops closing this month. These include The Harbour Bookshop in Dartmouth after 60 years, The Travel Bookshop in Notting Hill and The Derwent Bookshop in Cumbria after 50 years. It also follows the closure of another independent shop in Amwell Street , L’Epicerie at the end of August.

The shop is at 53 Amwell  Street, London EC1R 1UR, tel. 020 7837 4891, opening hours 11 – 6 Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday until 1^st October. There will be a sale from 10 September until the end of the month, and after that books will be available only online at www.amwellbookcompany.co.uk or visiting by appointment.


Owner Charlotte Robinson  says ‘I have had a second hand bookshop off and on since 1979.  I closed my previous shop in Soho during the recession in the early 90’s.  Then it was rising costs and falling incomes.  As a second hand bookshop we have had a slight advantage over the independent new bookseller as we have an online business alongside a bricks and mortar store.  However what we are experiencing now is quite different.  The sheer speed of change in peoples’ reading and knowledge acquisition habits is incredible.’