Booktowns International Press release 10.0605

The North Warwickshire market town of Atherstone, without an identity since the loss of its hatting and coalmining industries, is about to be reborn as Atherstone Booktown.

James Hanna, American book-dealer and founding father of Blaenafon Booktown in South Wales, has been drafted into Atherstone to help create a new identity for the town. North Warwickshire Mayor, Richard Meredith, approached Mr Hanna after reading an article in The Times newspaper celebrating the success of the Blaenafon Booktown Project in kick-starting the regeneration process in the Welsh valleys town.

Mr Meredith said: "Chances like this only pass by once in a lifetime so when they do, you have to grab them. I grabbed this one with both hands."

Now Atherstone is set to become a booklovers’ paradise and could eventually become known throughout the world as England’s National Booktown. "Atherstone is an ideal location," insists Mr Meredith. "It’s a lovely Georgian town right in the centre of England and has everything to offer both businesses and tourists. The area is rich in history and heritage with links to George Eliot, Michael Drayton, Boadicea and the Battle of Bosworth. There are also 11 or 12 universities within 20 miles of Atherstone which means a huge potential market for book-dealers. All the signs are good."

Atherstone’s first two bookshops will open on Saturday June 18^th and at least four more will follow. The Atherstone Book Shop and Throckmorton’s Book Shop, both located on the town’s attractive Market Square, will be officially opened by Richard Meredith at 10 a.m. on Saturday 18^th June.

Proprietor of Throckmorton’s, Peter Playdon, is hoping for a good turnout on their first day and pledged: "We’ll keep the doors open as long as book-buyers keep coming through them." Mr Playdon is giving up his job as a library assistant to tend the bookshop full-time and can’t wait to start building his own bookselling business. He plans to specialise in crime and literary fiction, art and photography, cinema and music, biography, history and politics. "That actually sounds like a general bookshop doesn’t it?" said Mr Playdon. "I guess I’m specialising in the general!"

The Atherstone Book Shop will be run by Jo Wyborn, one of the founding book-dealers of Blaenafon Booktown who was persuaded to move up to Atherstone as part of James Hanna’s Booktowns International team. Ms Wyborn said: "We’re thrilled to have secured premises on the Market Square which we feel sure will become the hub of the booktown. 18-20 Church Street is not only housing the BTI headquarters and the first Atherstone book shop but also plays host to the Atherstone Heritage Centre and will provide information for booktown visitors. We are also offering space to those book-dealers who want to be part of the project but are unable to commit to running an independent bookshop."

Books have already found their way into the town. The Red Lion Hotel has recently been renovated to a high standard by its new owners and has opened with an initial stock of around 1,000 second-hand books in its Kings Library. Other established local businesses are also being stocked with second-hand books: The Chapel House restaurant is stocking books on wines and spirits; Dolly Bears Place will have books on teddy bears and dolls’ houses; the computer shop will carry computing manuals. In his bid to turn Atherstone into England’s National Booktown, James Hanna plans to fill every available nook and cranny with books, books and more books.

Meanwhile, as Festivals Organiser for BTI, Jo Wyborn is planning a programme of book-related events and festivals for Atherstone Booktown. Ms Wyborn said: "We firmly believe that regular book-related events have a vital role to play in the development of Atherstone Booktown. This has been proven in Blaenafon where we have already staged two six-day literature festivals as well as a variety of book signings, magazine launches and poetry readings. Events such as these provide a rich source of ongoing publicity and bring visitors into the booktown for many weeks before and after the event, not simply for the event itself."

The booktown phenomenon has been responsible for the regeneration of towns and villages around the world since bookdealer Richard Booth first put Hay-on-Wye on the bibliophiles’ map some 40 years ago. The Welsh Town of Books currently has 39 bookshops as well as a wide range of book-related businesses; antique and gift shops; hotels, pubs and restaurants that thrive on the regular visits of book-loving tourists and the influx of around 60,000 visitors to the Hay Festival of Literature each year.

Since the founding of Blaenafon Booktown in June 2003, Wales now boasts two booktowns while Scotland has been successfully developing its own National Booktown in Wigtown for the past eight years. For some reason, England has been slow to pick up on the regenerative effect of booktowns and has only Sedburgh in Cumbria on its list of contenders but with more and more small towns languishing in the shadows of the large ‘clone towns’ created by multinational retail chains, James Hanna believes that Atherstone Booktown could provide a model for the future.

Mr Hanna said: "Although themed towns are nothing new they will be the salvation of many declining towns throughout the world. To survive and prosper in today’s marketplace small town businesses must find new ways to attract customers. I believe the best way to do that is to specialise and create a niche market that will attract local, national and international visitors."

In recognition of the potential benefits the booktown can offer to Atherstone and surrounding areas, the project has attracted start-up support from The Atherstone and Polesworth Market Towns Initiative, North Warwickshire Borough Council, Warwickshire County Council and Advantage West Midland. All those involved with the project are hopeful that Atherstone Booktown will become established in the hearts of bibliophiles around the world as England’s National Booktown.

For further information, interview or photo opportunities contact James Hanna:

18-20 Church Street, Atherstone, North Warwickshire CV9 1HA

Tel: 01827 722158 or 07814 891711 Fax: 01827 720659

E-mail: booktownsinternational@yahoo.co.uk