Twelve Bookshops, Twelve Excuses: A Boz-Style Pilgrimage Round Britain
Charles Dickens did not invent the pen name Boz to sit still. He used it to wander London, poke his nose into corners, and write about the people he met. We have taken that spirit literally: a railcard, a notebook, and a rule that every trip must end with at least one book we did not know we needed. What follows is not a definitive list. It is a love letter to browsing, chatting, and buying yet another tote bag you do not need. Each shop comes with a reason to visit and a book-club read to justify the journey.
1. Topping & Company, Ely
A former chapel with ladders, galleries, and the distinct feeling that you have wandered into a very civilised dream. The staff will press books into your hands with terrifying accuracy. Book-club read: 'The Dig' by John Preston—quiet, haunted, and perfect for a group that likes arguing about what is buried.
2. Book-ish, Crickhowell, Powys
A community bookshop with a proper heart and a view of the Black Mountains. It is the kind of place where someone will overhear your book-club dilemma and solve it before you have finished explaining. Book-club read: 'The Salt Path' by Raynor Winn—walking, weather, and the question of what home means.
3. Barter Books, Alnwick, Northumberland
A second-hand bookshop in a former railway station, complete with armchairs, a model railway, and the smell of old paper and hot coffee. You will lose an afternoon. You will not mind. Book-club read: 'The Railway Man' by Eric Lomax—memoir, history, and a reminder that books can be bridges.
4. Mr B's Emporium of Reading Delights, Bath
Yes, the name is a mouthful. Yes, it earns it. Independent, passionate, and built for people who like being recommended things by other people who have actually read them. Book-club read: 'Persuasion' by Jane Austen—Bath, second chances, and the best letter in English fiction.
5. The Book Hive, Norwich
A bright, friendly indie with a strong poetry shelf and a habit of making you buy three things when you came for one. Norwich is a city that reads, and this shop is the proof. Book-club read: 'The Go-Between' by L.P. Hartley—class, memory, and the past as a foreign country.
6. The Bookshop, Wigtown, Scotland
Scotland's national book town is a pilgrimage in itself, and this shop is the warm centre of it. Books stacked to the ceiling, a fire in winter, and a general sense that time is a flexible concept. Book-club read: 'The Diary of a Bookseller' by Shaun Bythell—funny, grumpy, and perfect for anyone who has ever worked in retail.
7. The Edge of the World Bookshop, Penzance
Small, salty, and stocked with books about the sea. You can feel the Atlantic in the air and the Cornish coast in the shelves. Book-club read: 'The Lighthouse' by Alison Moore—spare, unsettling, and a masterclass in what is left unsaid.
8. The Chapel Bookshop, Hay-on-Wye, Powys
A former chapel given over to books, which feels theologically appropriate. Hay is crowded with bookshops, but this one has the hush and the light. Book-club read: 'The Bookshop' by Penelope Fitzgerald—a small masterpiece about ambition, spite, and the cost of opening a shop.
9. The Salt House Bookshop & Café, Seahouses, Northumberland
A bookshop-café on the Northumberland coast, with sea views, strong tea, and shelves that lean towards nature writing and local history. Bring a coat. Stay for lunch. Book-club read: 'The Outrun' by Amy Liptrot—island life, recovery, and the pull of the coast.
10. The Wilding Bookshop, Lewes, East Sussex
A town of radical thinkers and good pubs, and a bookshop that fits right in. The nature table is dangerously good. Book-club read: 'The Old Ways' by Robert Macfarlane—paths, footprints, and the stories we tell about landscape.
11. The Book Corner, Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire
A proper northern bookshop in a proper northern town, with a café next door and a canal down the road. It is the kind of place where you go in for a card and come out with a novel. Book-club read: 'The Gallows Pole' by Benjamin Myers—Yorkshire, myth, and a very old kind of crime.
12. The Gilded Flea, Edinburgh
A curious, crowded, slightly chaotic shop in the shadow of the castle. The stock is opinionated, the shelves are alphabetical-ish, and the owner will tell you exactly what they think. Book-club read: 'The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie' by Muriel Spark—Edinburgh, charisma, and the danger of a good story.
There is no proper end to a bookshop pilgrimage. You will buy the tote bag. You will swear you are not buying another book. You will buy another book. And on the train home, you will start planning the next one. That is the Boz way: keep wandering, keep chatting, keep reading.
