Free
from the constraints of government money and the guiding hand of quanqos, Atherstone
could pip Sedburgh to the post and become England's first functioning Booktown.
James Hanna, the driving force behind Blaenavon, is hoping that the magic will
work again in this attractive Warwickshire market town. The formula is the same:
£21,000 will buy you a shop lease, shelving, stock, training and ongoing support.
A Booktown HQ should open in the town shortly and the hope is to have six shops
trading by the spring of 2005. Further details from Booktown International, 01495
793093.
Comments: 01.10.04.
Our experience ( as specialists in Children's and Illustrated Books) was anything
but magical. Shops shut - poor stock and even poorer subject knowledge. J & D
Jones 01.10.04.
If one accepts that the primary objective of a Booktown initiative
should be to aid the urban regeneration of benighted small towns, then Blaenavon
has already enjoyed considerable success.
Anyone familiar
with the town center two or three years ago, couldn't help but be impressed. Having
spent many years trying to stem the decay of my own adopted town, I find the speed
at which this was achieved in Blaenavon impressive.
I''ve
visited the bookshops twice and have bought as well, or badly, as I would expect
to in the hundreds of similar shops I visit in the UK. Perhaps this is because
I'm a generalist who specialises in other peoples mistakes, rather than a specialist
in a clearly defined field.
Anyway, whilst Blaenavon
will never be a silk purse, and will probably never have the books that we grumpy
old bookdealers would like to buy, I think that encouraging individuals to invest
their own money in the town they live and work in, should be commended. TBG.
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