Sod Notting Hill’s Travel Bookshop It’s the Libraries That Want Saving
THE Travel Bookshop, on Blenheim Crescent, Notting Hill, London, which featured in the film Notting Hill, is for sale. But can it be saved?
The shop’s current owner, Simon Gaul, now lives not all that locally in France (more nominative determinism). The Telegraph says his shop made a loss of £18,000 last year.
The Bookseller reports:
European Estates Plc has not responded to recent press enquiries from The Bookseller about the closure.
In May, a spokeswoman for the company said: “His [the owner’s] adult children have indicated that they would rather not follow him into the business and so he feels that the continuance of the trade would be best served by selling it on for a new generation to look after one of London’s iconic and special bookshops.”
The shop is becoming a cause. Volunteers have offered to work for free for any new owner.
“Poet and journalist” Olivia Cole, 30, says:
“There is a real chance to save it but we can’t get in touch with the agent or owner to get a price. It’s like a Richard Curtis plot in itself. The shop is well loved, that is why we have offered to work there free.”
The Standard says two “mystery buyers from the art and film worlds” are looking over the place.
Does the place need saving? It’s a shop – when one goes another comes to fill its place. People who love books will be dismayed. But they should look elsewhere for the true horror story – libraries are closing. You know, those places you can sit in for free. Those places you can just sit and explore worlds and lives in books. You can even borrow music. And videos. And surf the web. Those places are being closed down. That is a tragedy for a country where education is a failed experiment.
How many films have these libraries been in..?
Posted: 25th, August 2011 | In: The Consumer Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
