The Wallingford Bookshop

I am giving free publicity to a local business today. Usually it is a restaurant or a pub, this time it is something far rarer, in fact something that is becoming extinct in many places. Last Saturday, my wife and I went to Wallingford, a small town in Oxfordshire one of these little hidden treasures kinds of towns England has. Wallingford is so hidden that even its website has been abandoned for a while. The town is lovely in itself and contains many treasures within its treasure: an independent bookshop, simply named The Wallingford Bookshop. I mentioned it before. They do not have any website, but they have a Twitter account. I do not visit the place often enough, as I do not go very often to Wallingford and the bookshop is closed on Sundays, which seriously reduces the visiting opportunities for me.

Apart from the already commendable courage to maintain a local, independent business in a small town, especially a bookshop, this business is also one that actually knows about its business. It is small, but there are a wide variety of titles and every time I went there I found far more interesting titles than in chains, old classics, hidden gems (I am using the treasure metaphor abundantly). The staff is knowledgeable without being pretentious and is warm and friendly. Helpful, chatty when you feel like chatting (and I always feel like chatting in a good bookshop), spending time there is what book hunting is all about. Oh and the complimentary bookmarks look quite nice, with the logo you can see on their ensign. I will even say that since I came to this country, this has been so far my favourite bookshop.