Some Bookshops of Norwich

There are some cities that have enough good bookshops to become a destination for book lovers and book collectors. Think of Bath, York, Edinburgh, Oxford and Cambridge, all of which we have visited regularly over the last forty or so years. We were relatively late in discovering Norwich but I think it can comfortably claim a place with the other cities on my list as a never failing source of chance discoveries in  a number of very pleasant shops, both new and secondhand.

Take the Tombland bookshop, situated in a historic part of the city near the impressive cathedral. A second hand and antiquarian shop with many fine books and a large general stock on two floors. It is a shop to spend time in and particularly enjoy the upstairs with its well stocked shelves.

The Dormouse Bookshop on the cobbled Elm Hill has a particularly good stock of second hand books, with a good chance of finding scarce crime titles and, in my case, older collections of ghost stories, as well as books in most other subjects. Elm Hill is a particularly attractive street leading down from the main shopping area to Tombland and has several interesting independent shops amongst the residential houses. It is one of the city’s many tourist attractions.

If you carry on down Elm Hill, a left turn will bring you to the bridge across the river Wensum, with its pleasant riverside walks. But it is worth crossing the bridge and continuing a short distance till you reach Loose’s Antiques Emporium. Not, at first sight, an obvious choice, but if you follow the signs to the back and climb the stairs there is the very large Undercover Books full of interesting stock, including many vintage paperbacks, magazines and also good second hand general stock. I usually find something here. 

Returning to the city centre, there is the excellent City Bookshop, with a large stock, both new and secondhand, with a large number of remainder books and paperback classics. In recent visits I have found the antiquarian stock reduced but it is still worth a visit.

Right in the heart of Norwich, near the impressive Guildhall is the superb Jarrolds Department Store, a fixture in Norwich for many years and the publisher also of many fine books. Its bookshop is as comprehensive as you would expect any good Waterstone’s to be, but it remains proudly independent. Again an excellent local selection and many signed editions. (Yes, there is a Waterstone’s in Norwich and a good one, but for once, that may be safely missed).

Finally, a short walk from Jarrold’s brings you to another new bookshop, The Book Hive, which has a really good stock of thoughtfully curated books, many of a political and ecological nature. It has its own publishing arm, Propolis, which produces very attractive original titles, mainly paperback, again with an emphasis on local authors and topics. It is easy to engage in conversation here and feel that there is not much wrong with a city that can support such a free-spirited shop.

We have returned to Norwich several times over the last 20 or so years and we never leave without a silent wish to return.