Barter Books is a second-hand bookshop in the historic English market town of Alnwick, Northumberland, owned and run by Stuart and Mary Manley. It has over 350,000 visitors a year, 40% of whom are from outside the area, and is one of the largest second-hand bookshops in Europe.[1] It is considered a local tourist attraction[2] and has been described as "the British Library of second-hand bookshops."[3]
The bookshop is in the Victorian Alnwick railway station, designed by William Bell and opened in 1887.[4] The station was in use until the closure of the Alnwick branch line in 1968;[5] Barter Books was opened in 1991. It is open every day including bank holidays except for Christmas Day.
The shop is notable for its use of a barter system, whereby customers can exchange their books for credit against future purchases; standard cash purchases are also available.
Barter Books has also been subject to crime on occasion. On 3 May 2007 a local newspaper, the Northumberland Gazette, reported that a book worth over £2,000 was returned to the book shop 5 years after it was stolen.[6]
Barter Books hit the headlines in 2000 when the owner discovered, in a box of old books bought at an auction,[7] a World War II poster from 1939. The slogan, "Keep Calm and Carry On", and the simple design have turned it into an international phenomenon; and it has been on the walls of places as diverse as Buckingham Palace, 10 Downing Street and the US Embassy in Belgium.[8]
The shop also houses a cafe called The Station Buffet which serves hot food all day to customers at tables in the original tiled waiting rooms of the railway station. [9]
