Barter Books, or: Does this Place Really Exist?

I was in Northumberland this past weekend, and one of the places I visited was Barter Books, a used bookshop in Alnwick village. Barter Books is a place quite a few of you might know at least by name, as it made the news a few years ago when its owner discovered the now famous “Keep Calm and Carry On” WW2 posters.

Barter Books is inside a disused Victorian train station and is one of the largest used bookshops in Europe. I knew this before my visit, and so I was expecting to be impressed – but let me tell you, not nearly as impressed as I was. I think Leakey’s Bookshop in Inverness (which is inside an old church) and Livraria Lello in Porto might have been displaced as the coolest bookshops I’ve ever been to.

Part of me can hardly believe Barter Books is even real. Not only is the place welcoming and wonderfully decorated, but the selection is nearly overwhelming: an entire train station full of used books, with everything from modern paperbacks to classic first editions. The prices are of course very variable, but there were some real bargains to be found (including lots of green Viragoes in lovely condition for under £2).

But enough talking – I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves:











How amazing is that?

And while I’m at it, here are a few general pictures from my trip:


Steampunk mall in Newcastle

Still Newcastle

The river Tyne seen from the Castle Keep

Alnwick Castle, where the Harry Potter movies were filmed


Almouth village


The amazing Seven Stories in Newcastle



The Sage, Gateshead

I hope you all had lovely weekends yourselves. I’m afraid that this trip means I’m behind on everything blog related yet again, but I think I’m starting to learn not to feel guilty and just hope that one of these days I’ll actually catch up.