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irst of all, Llydien’s absolutely most favourite book store in
the whole world! It is located in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in the
Northeast of England....city of Newcastle United FC,
Newcastle Brown Ale, some
excellent cinemas, the Tyneside Coffee Rooms and Keel Row Books
in North Shields, just half an hour by Metro
(Station: North Shields) from the City Centre.
Keel Row Books is...hard to describe really,
those of you - Gentle Readers - who have been there know what
it’s like....two stories overflowing with books! In shelves on the
walls reaching below the ceiling, going around doorframes,
in boxes, in big heaps and piles on every available surface and
the floor - absolute heaven. For some pictures of Keel Row Books,
click here.
Now, use your imagination and add the wonderful scent of old
books, yellowing pages and decaying covers to the photos
and there you go! This is how a bookshop, ANY
bookshop should be like, Llydien thinks.
Keel Row has books
on all subjects, a whole room full of Penguins and Puffin
paperbacks, a room devoted to Sci-Fi paperbacks (where Llydien,
one day, found the one missing Darkover novel she couldn’t find
ANYWHERE else) old children's and movie annuals, together with
several shelves of really antiquarian (read: expensive) tomes.
This is also where Llydien picked up a whole bunch of
American film magazines from the 1930's and 40's which are fairly
difficult to track down in Britain - to say the least.
nd the
books are reasonably priced, not to say CHEAP, which is always
commendable. None of this sissy wrapping-any-books-older-than-
fifty-years-in-plastic, carefully-shelved-and-individually-priced-
items here. Oh no.
Older stock, i.e. those books reposing on the shelves do have
prices inscribed, but most of them live without a label, so they
can be effectively bargained for. Truly a place to
get happily lost for hours on end. The address is:
11, Fenwick Terrace, Preston Road, North Shields
.
Opening hours are: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and
Saturday 10.30 am to 5 pm.
Llydien recommends that those who are in the region pay a visit.
et another Newcastle bookshop
which is rather nice (actually, any place where Llydien can buy
The Girl’s Own Annual of 1904/5 and 1911/12 and pay just
4 £ for each, deserves honorable mention) is the
Newcastle Bookshop, located at 1 Side
(yes, it is a
valid address).
Close to Guildhall, Quayside, and just a few minutes from
Newcastle Train Station, it is a bit
difficult to find at first but well worth it. They’ve got a large
and varied stock of antiquarian/secondhand books on most subjects,
with an emphasis on the arts and literature. Not quite as cheap as
Keel Row or as full of atmosphere, but ok for the size.
The entrance is hidden right next to a seafood restaurant, by the
way, so there are frequently crushed mussel shells lying outside
on the street. Open on Monday
to Saturday, 10 am to 5 pm.
