After 19 years TheBookGuide has called it a day and ceased publication on March 31st

Readers comments

Sad news will be much missed. The site has provided very helpful information for many years. Many thanks. - JackT 29.02.20.
    Sad news for collectors like myself who have relied on this essential resource for many years. Good news for Mike, who can now enjoy his retirement; many thanks for all your excellent work. Is anyone willing and able to accept the baton? - Nicholas Sack 29.02.20.
    This will, of course, be a dreadful loss to those of us who travel around visiting bookshops. The work you have put into this site over the years has been very impressive. However, I can fully understand your reasons as the same scenario happened to me with a magazine of which I was the editor. Good luck for the future and thank you once again. - Chris 29.02.20.
    Sorry to see you are closing, and just a note to thank you for all the hard work that went into the book guide site - it's been a huge help in my various book browsing expeditions and it was generous of you to keep it going so long. I hope you enjoy your retirement activities - and a well-earned rest. Thanks again. - Mark V 29.02.20.
    Crapadoodle do! Now what do we do? Fully understand your reasons, Mike. Are you leaving the site 'up' as is, as a resource or taking it down? I know where most of the bookshops I habitually visit are, but when in a new town this guide has been invaluable. Could the PBFA or someone similar take it on? - Jon Morgan 01.03.20.
    Thank you for all the work you have done, guiding us to interesting bookshops and fairs in all parts of the country. Hoping you will enjoy your retirement. Miss you already. - Rosiegamgee 01.03.20.
    This is dreadful news. I've come to depend totally on the site to find out about shops I might otherwise never have come across, to avoid bootless errands to shops which have gone and (most importantly) to check opening times. I'm devastated, though of course I fully understand Mike's reasons and I'm extremely grateful to him for all he's done over the years. But, oh dear, what will we do when the age of darkness descends on us again after his departure? - Laurence Purcell 02.03.20.
    Enjoy your retirement, Mike - it's been an absolute pleasure reading other people's views about bookshops I've visited and have yet to chance upon. This has been an indispensable guide whenever I have gone to pastures new in the UK. I hope someone comes forward to relieve you of your burden - I know nothing about the black art of website creation and maintenance otherwise I might have been tempted myself. Thanks for all of your endeavours! - Graeme Rendall 03.03.20.
    Very sorry to learn of its demise, a very sad but fully understood loss but sadly changing times. Well done Mike for past Bookshop Guide, was invaluable for collectors and dealers alike. PS still looking for Driffs whereabouts... but bless him he was also a great character and a one off, much missed! - John Ritchie, Books Afloat 03.03.20.
    Mike - I have always found your site absolutely invaluable, and losing it will be like losing a good friend. With very best wishes for your retirement. - Steven Kelly 03.03.20.
    So sorry to hear that you've not well, hope you soon feel better. The loss of the website is very sad. I use it all the time when we go to different places. Thanks for all the work you've put into it. - Geoff 06.03.20.
    Very sorry to hear your sad news! Thank you for a wonderful 19 years of news and listings. We and all the customers we have recommended to your website shall miss you exceedingly more than we can find words to describe. Following on from Driffield its been a site more than good enough. Happy Days. - All at Archive Bookstore 06.03.20.
    Thank you very much, Mike. With this disappearing, I will have to go back to reading Cardenio and Byron's Memoirs. Gary 06.03.20.
    Very sad news indeed. This site is a godsend for people like me wanting to visit 2nd hand bookshops or fairs when on holidays or visiting new areas. I do hope someone at the PBFA or ABA comes forward to carry it forward. It would be a sad loss if the good work just dies. Many of the comments over the years have been amusing to read. All the best Mike. Laurence Batchelor 11.03.20.
    Very sorry to hear this sad news. Thank you so much for all that you have done over the years to make the TheBookGuide such a useful and friendly place to visit. All the best for your retirement and let's hope someone can take up the challenge. - Alex 11.03.20.
    Very sad news. This website has been first-rate over many years. Informative, very useful and curated with style, good-humour and panache. Best wishes to Mike and Joy in their future ventures. A happy retirement, and a very big 'Thank you'! - Simon Wheeler, Wheeler's Bookshop. 18.03.20.
    I only found the site today! Was impressed and had bookmarked it. Then I read about the closure. I don't use Facebook, so can't contact John to see if I can support his initiative in some way.- Andrew 18.03.20.
    Heartbroken. You have been my most important resource when visiting any part of the country. Even more sad now that Covid19 is closing shops, many of which will never re-open. Good Luck. - Peter M 18.03.20.
    Thanks mike, thanks to all the contributors and thanks to the many wonderful book shops, hope they stay open and survive. - Porlp 23.03.23.
    What a loss to serious readers. But hats off to Jon Morgan for keeping the flag flying. - Michael Ross 27.03.20.
     Mike, many thanks for all your hard work over the years. It's been a pleasure to contribute and to read others' comments on good, bad and indifferent secondhand bookshops. - Best wishes, SteveBrissle 28.03.20.
    Thank you for all your work over the years constructing and maintaining what, for some of us, was the most useful site on the internet and often the most entertaining. - John Allen 30.03.20.
    Just to add my voice to the chorus of good wishes and thanks for all the wonderful information and news you have provided to book-hunters and bibliophiles over many years ... more
    Very sorry indeed to see your wonderful site go down as I have found it extremely useful over the years, but I quite understand the reasons behind it. For what its worth, people can still access the site using the 'WayBack Machine' - this is an internet archive that makes automatic backups of websites. The link below will take you to their last backup. Its a bit slow to use when compared to the original site, and of course it won't be possible to make updates to it, but it does mean that the information it contained can still be accessed. - Neil Rennoldson 04.04.20.
    Sorry to see you 'go' so to speak, Mike. Many thanks for all your hard work & the service you've provided over the years. - Regards, David W Edmunds.04.04.20.
    Sorry to hear you are no longer running the Book Guide, but it's totally understandable and we all hope you have a long and fruitful retirement. Best wishes from all at Books At The Botanics 07.04.20.
    I was looking for your list and saw the message. Your website has been the foundation of many a long hour browsing bookshops around the country, wherever I happen to be. Thanks so much for all your work and all the pleasure it has brought me. All the best - Steve Dempsey 04.06.20.
    I recently logged onto your website after too long a gap and heard your devastating news. Not news I would want to read, but I have to sympathise with you. However, thank you very much indeed for coming up with the concept in the first place and developing it to the extent that you have - and for providing second hand bookshop addicts with such an invaluable resource. I first discovered the website shortly before my own retirement and it has been invaluable in our holiday trips throughout the UK, enabling me to find shops (some marvellous and some less marvellous!) which I would not otherwise have known about - my wife tends to say “I suppose we’ve come here because you have found out about a bookshop!” Anyway, here’s to a long and happy retirement - I’m now ten years ahead of you and never have a dull moment (though the last three months have been a bit of a test!), so I hope it will be the same with you. - Henry Middleton 23.06.20.
    I have just seen the sad news. Thank you so much for all your work and help. I trust you are OK. Sending warm wishes. - Neil McKeown (Oswestry Market Books) 30.06.20.
    Best wishes for your retirement. Your Guide was (is) greatly appreciated. - Bookbane. 15.08.20.
    I just read your closure notice on your website. I'm about to take my first UK trip since lockdown, hence why I've not seen it before. I'm very sorry that you are closing up shop but also very grateful for the free and valuable service that you have provided over the years. You have provided a brilliant continuation online of the Drif guides, minus all the epic moaning about British Rail. I hope you get to enjoy all the non-booky aspects of retirement just as soon as these strange global events reach some sort of conclusion. - Ian 04.09.20.