'Things are picking up': Independent bookshop numbers hit 10-year high
Video report by ITV Border
Independent booksellers have said they have seen a positive trend in the number of people buying books as the number of shops reached a 10-year high.
The Booksellers Association said its membership in the UK and Ireland has grown for the sixth consecutive year.
Numbers hit a 10-year high, following more than 20 years of decline, the association said.
Stephen Matthews the owner of Bookends, in Carlisle, said he thought more people wanted to read physical copies of books.
He said: “You would think with computers and so on we would lose readership.
"I think through that they have enhanced readership.
"I think that people are better educated and they read about things on computers and then they want to follow it up with detail.
"They want to read the book. It is happening more and more that the book is there."
The Booksellers Association said membership at the end of 2022 had risen to 1072 shops, up from 1027 in 2021.
The lowest number of recorded bookshops was in 2016 when there were just 867.
Shaun Bythell, owner at The Book Shop, in Wigtown said the news was a "pleasant surprise".
He said: "Since I bought the shop things have been in a steady decline, whether that is book prices or book sales.
"Now things seem to be picking up.
"We almost got to a point where things could not have gotten much worse.
"There has been a massive uplift and I think it has been partly down to lockdowns and the fact that people did not really have the opportunity to go out and buy books or go into real book shops.
"As soon as that was lifted people really felt the benefit of going into a real bookshop."
He added: "To use a much overused expression ‘books always decorate a room’, I think that they do and people will like them for that reason."
Meryl Halls, managing director at the Booksellers Association, which represents chain and independent bookshops, said: “We are clearly delighted at the continued increase in the number of indie bookshops on our high streets.
"Bookshops bring social and cultural capital to every town, village, suburb or city centre they are part of, and punch way about their weight in terms of impact and engagement locally, and nationally.
"We want the number of bookshops to keep rising."
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