xvi. London Diaries: Not your usual bookshop

Guest post from Tom Fish, writer of Not That You Asked

The Saturday Brunch: a figurative flat white or fizzy to start your weekend

Photo by Tomas Fish, 2022

Today we have a guest post about a London bookshop that’s much more than a bookshop. What do you want your bookshop to be?

Not That You Asked is a Substack newsletter by Tom Fish that started this past February. He shares themes of internationalism, travel, culture, and flâneuristic observations through this newsletter. Tom’s writing has a witty edge as well as practical advice about cool places to check out.

Tom writes on the About Page: “You didn’t ask, but here’s my travel diary. Think less navel-gazing and more awkward encounters at urinals and disappointing celebrity sightings.”

Here’s another one of his posts I really liked that also connects to our discussion of border walls:

Berlin Diaries: Cold War Disneyland

Tom is a writer, worker in the charity sector, and fitness instructor. He lives in London and spends most of his time in parks, restaurants, and the tube.

You can find him on Twitter @Tomas_Fish, or you can email him at tomasfish3@gmail.com about his writing or collaborations.

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London Diaries: Not your usual bookshop

Dancefloors, DJ's and red wine mean the BookBar isn't your typical bookshop

Someone in front of me orders a red wine. This wouldn’t be unusual were we in a pub or a bar, but we’re in a bookshop. Not your ordinary bookshop, though. Forget dusty shelves and a grumpy proprietor, forget an overly manicured selection of celebrity autobiographies, this is the BookBar.

Big pink capital letters announce the BookBar’s presence on Finsbury Park’s Blackstock Road, helping it stand out from the cafes, the charity shops, the odd off-licence. Inside the shelves are packed with books, but there’s also plenty of room for a table for people to chat about their latest read and enjoy their drink, alcoholic or otherwise.

Inside you’ll find Chrissy, the owner, chatting books and serving drinks. Chrissy and the BookBar want to change your perception of bookshops, just not the way you might think. The alcohol isn’t the defining feature, no one is drunk on the Saturday afternoon I visit. Alongside the red wine there are oat lattes and Earl Greys being served.

“BookBar was started to show that bookshops, and reading, are a community,” Chrissy tells me as I wait for my drink. Readers like talking to other readers about books. “Reading isn’t a solitary experience, it would be like watching a tv show and not talking to anyone about it,” she points out.

Reading certainly isn’t solitary at the BookBar. All around me are people chatting about their new favourite book. A customer asks Chrissy for recommendations and is promptly shown a copy of Pachinko, a recent novel by Min Jin Lee.

There’s a regular book-club, bespoke prescription bundles to suit any mood (fantastically named Shelf Medicate), and events. Last month, Books and Bangers, an evening with cocktails, dancing and a DJ set. How many Waterstones’ do you know that host DJ’s?

It’s somewhat ironic that such a strong community was formed in the middle of a crisis that threw out the very concept. BookBar was started during the first lockdown, which Chrissy states she thought would make “a good planning period.”

When lockdown continued interminably, the BookBar had to “get creative. We knew a lot of customers before we’d even opened because of having to adapt. We had customers doing things like click and collect.”

The community is now visibly strong. A customer approaches Chrissy with a book and is promptly met with, “you’ve read this before, right?”

Chrissy says the idea was to show people that bookshops can be exciting, a community, and to provide an alternative to shopping for books online, or in a big chain. The alcohol and DJ sets may get the headlines, but it’s not just these that bring people back.

The fact that the staff can pick customers out by name, recommend their own favourites, bring everybody to the shop for events, real life in-person events, is why the BookBar is now a staple of best London bookshop lists.

The wine certainly doesn’t hurt, though.

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Thank you, Tom, for the refreshing guest post this week! I can’t wait to get back to London and check out BookBar. Remember that you can check out more of Tom’s writing on the Substack newsletter: Not That You Asked.