Alnwick Lions Bookshop
(Next to The White Swan Hotel)
Bondgate Within
ALNWICK  Northumberland  NE66 1TD
tel: No phone
Open: Monday, Tuesday & Thursday 10.00 - 4.00, Saturday 8.00 - 4.00.
    Shut but it looks quite interesting from looking in the window. - Jeremy Briggs 12.03.09.
    Not quite as interesting as it appears from looking in the window! Having finally visited Alnwick on a day that this shop was open it proves to be a medium sized charity bookshop with a well laid out general stock of mainly fiction. It will be aimed at the locals and Alnwick's busy tourist trade but, for the book collector, it has little of interest. - Jeremy Briggs 29.06.09.

Alphabet Soup
13 Bowes Street
BLYTH  Northumberland  NE24 1BD
tel: 01670 797804  map
Open: Monday - Saturday 9.30 - 4.00.
Mostly fiction.
    A coffee shop with a small selection of books, this shop suffers the same problem as most similar establishments in that you cannot see the bookcases when people are at the tables. Worth a visit if you are in Blyth but not worth travelling any distance to. - Jeremy Briggs.

Barter Books
Alnwick Station
ALNWICK  Northumberland  NE66 2NP
tel: 01665 604888  fax: 01665 604444  e-mail   website  map
Open: 9.00 - 5.00 everyday (April to September 9.00 - 7.00).
All categories of books. One of the largest secondhand bookshops in Britain. ''The British Library of Secondhand Bookshops' - The New Statesman.
    It really is in an old railway station and it really is BIG. Calling it a shop does not do Barter Books justice, it is more of a day out. For the dedicated collector it could easily take several hours to peruse. Alnwick is a pretty market town and Barter Books is located in its old railway station, easily found from the A1. The platforms have been filled in and the now enclosed main concourse has become the main retail area, but the various rooms and waiting areas are used as well. The main children's section for instance has it own room with soft toys and seats to sit on whilst the children peruse the titles, if they are not distracted by the toy train that runs around the tops of the bookcases in the next room. There are coffee and biscuits to be bought and consumed in the reading room or the in the comfy chairs beside the fire. The main stock ranges from collectable books in glass cases on the walls to row upon row of paperbacks, from LPs to CDs & DVDs. They have a large selection of paperback and hardback fiction but there really can be few subjects that they do not cover. On a winters day the main concourse area can be cold and while the shop never feels full the car park is tight to manoeuvre in and out of when busy. Their pricing, oddly, rarely seems to end in a round pound or 50p but that is all part of the charm. Really not to be missed. - Jeremy Briggs.
    Lovely shop, but grotesquely expensive, at least for anyone used to London bookshops. Which may be why one can recognise books one glanced at and put back after shuddering at the price years earlier.- Geoff Hatherick 22.07.08.
    Twee, self-satisfied and over priced, but wonderful if like gimmicks and are prepared to pay prices that are clearly set to fund the extras and the large staff. I really didn't feel that it was worth the diversion off the A1 and that I would have been better off looking elsewhere. - Steven Pedlar. - 17.11.08.
    This bookshop should really change it's name. It claims to barter books but has twice now refused to barter books having previously agreed to do so. It doesn't do what it says on the tin! Pretentious and expensive. Not worth a detour. - Stuart Tucker 02.12.08.
    This place makes my blood boil. They have worthless titles at inflated prices yet refuse to be told of their misrepresentations both on the internet and across the counter. As an example one £84 priced book has half its pages missing and is worth about £3. I have yet to purchase a quality title from this organisation. - Chris Harte 14.04.09.
    What a pleasant surprise. Instead of the 'old' ways which used to annoy me, I found an organisation which had helpful, knowledgeable people; prices which reflected books' correct value and a bartering system which was being used all during my three hour visit. I purchased four expensive books and came away feeling that both sides were satisfied. The sea-change here is to be welcomed. - Chris Harte 29.05.09.
    While I rarely review prices, since one man's bargain can be another's nightmare depending on what you are used too, I do agree that Barter Books can have some laughably high prices on their collectable titles (particularly given the condition) but there are still bargains to be had amidst the massive stock. Whatever is said here, the sheer number of people in the shop at weekends and the queues that can form at the tills shows that they are obviously doing something right. - Jeremy Briggs. 29.06.09.

Berrydyn Books
18a Castlegate
BERWICK-UPON-TWEED  Northumberland  TD15 1JT
tel: 01289 309000  map
Open: Monday - Saturday 10.30 - 6.00.
Excessively cheap general stock and in particular books on the arts and local interest.
    Bright, well laid out and with a wonderful smell of pine from their new bookcases, this medium sized shop is a short walk out from the city walls and a big car park and only a few minutes drive from the main A1. Well stocked and friendly, with toys to amuse the children, it is well worth stopping off at if you are crossing the Scottish/English border at Berwick. - Jeremy Briggs.

Bookend
53 Newgate Street
MORPETH  Northumberland  NE61 1AT
tel: 01670 511343  fax: 01670 511343  e-mail  map
Open: Monday - Saturday 10.00 - 5.00.
1000s of secondhand books in all genres, fiction and non-fiction. Three floors of books also small cafe area.

Hamish Dunn Antiques and Books
17 High Street
WOOLER  Northumberland  NE71 6BU
tel: 01668 281341  map
Open: ?
    Medium stock, of mostly older books. There is a back passage and room, but sadly they are rather damp-affected ... - Richard 29.07.09.

John Marrin Rare Books
18 Ford Village  Ford
BERWICK UPON TWEED  Northumberland  TD15 2QG tel: 01890 820500  e-mail   website  map
Open: Monday - Saturday 10.30 - 4.30.
A medium stock, particularly, WW1 history and literature, local history, gardening and angling.

Newcastle Bookshop @ Haltwhistle
Market Square
HALTWHISTLE  Northumberland  NE49 0BL
tel: 01434 320103  e-mail   website  map
Open: Monday - Saturday 11.00 - 4.00 (but you will probably need to ring the door bell.)
The Newcastle Bookshop is a bindery with a limited stock of prints, antiquarian, illustrated, art, architecture, local history books etc.
    This is a treaure trove, particularly for those who appreciate fine bindings, Val ,the owner, does custom bindings of high quality and searches the country for unusual and beautiful books, She has been known to supply coffee as well. I thoroughly recommend a visit (ring ahead as she may be working in the Bindery). Rosemary - 28.01.09.

Oxfam Bookshop
2 Battle Hill
HEXHAM  Northumberland  NE46 1BB
tel: 01434 608923  map
    A small shop ideally placed and easy to find in the main shopping street, but hardly a substitute for losing Hencotes bookshop. - Jeremy Briggs.