The return of Henry Bohn

After my earlier lament for the disappearance of this valuable Liverpool institution, I'm pleased to be able to report that the shop has reopened around the corner in London Road (next to the Empire Theatre box office). It has actually been open for a few months now but I've only just been inside again today. There are lots of books stacked in chaotic order; many of them still in cardboard boxes awaiting pricing, so a persistent explorer may turn up all sorts of surprises. I was very pleased to discover a wartime edition of  Lancashire Pride by the Lancashire dialect writer Tommy Thompson for £3.50. This contains many of the wonderful articles he wrote for the Manchester Guardian in the 1930's and 1940's. Apparently the book sold well to American soldiers stationed in the North of England, so there must be some bemused children and grandchildren of those veterans who are struggling to understand the earthy humour in these tales. I'll add one of these tales in a later blog.

Matthew Edwards

Loss of a Liverpool bookshop

Henry Bohn Books, the second-hand and antiquarian bookshop in Lime Street, Liverpool has announced that it will close for business on the 27th January 2008. The shop premises will be demolished as part of the redevelopment of the Lime Street Station Gateway Project by English Partnerships. According to English Partnerships "The Gateway site currently consists mainly of low-grade retail shops and offices" and apparently a second-hand bookshop is of no value in our City of Culture.

It will be tremendously exciting to have the facade of Lime Street Station revealed once again in all its glory, and there will be few mourners at the loss of the hideous Centre Point tower. But I cannot understand why the powers behind Liverpool Vision couldn't have negotiated alternative sites for the few "low-grade shops" instead of bullying them out of business with a Compulsory Purchase Order. As it is these shops have been blamed for holding up progress while simply fighting for their rights to carry on trading. Liverpool Vision announced in September 2007 that their grandiose ideas had been affected by "the delays caused by a prolonged CPO process", resulting in "a thorough reappraisal of the Gateway project."

Henry Bohn Books is one of very few outposts of genuine culture and civilisation remaining in the so-called City of Culture. A really imaginative "Liverpool Vision" would incorporate the business as a vital part of the new Gateway; but sadly Henry Bohn has been consigned to a virtual internet existence, although there is a possibility of a physical reincarnation around the corner in the spring.

I have enjoyed visting Henry Bohn where there is almost always a good and interesting conversation going on about books, music or city politics. My wallet has often suffered after browsing the shelves, but I have always emerged feeling the richer for my visit.