A Northumberland bookshop has been named one of the most beautiful in Europe.
Barter Books in Alnwick inhabits what was once Alnwick's Railway Station, and is one of the most unique bookshops there is. It is said to attract around 350,000 visitors each year, and while many come to pick up a book or four, others come to soak up the relaxed atmosphere of the café in the building's former waiting room.
It also has an ice cream parlour and open fireplaces, while model trains run overhead on a railway which has a mural of famous literary characters as a backdrop. Barter Books' uniqueness means that it's popular on social media too - a survey by The Knowledge Academy using Instagram data put the shop as the sixth most picturesque in Europe with 17,359 hashtags.
It is alongside the likes of a bookshop in Venice where the books are stored in boats with cats sleeping on top of them, to neo-Gothic store in Porto with grand staircases and a stained glass ceiling. The study was carried out as the number of independent bookshops hit a ten-year high in 2022, alongside a reported rise in children reading to the popularity of 'Booktok' on TikTok.
The top 10 most beautiful bookshops in Europe
- Shakespeare & Company, Paris, France
- Livraria Lello, Porto, Portugal
- Libreria Acqua Alta, Venice, Italy
- Daunt Books, London, UK
- Bouquinistes, Paris, France
- Barter Books, Alnwick, UK
- Ler Devagar, Lisbon, Portugal
- Dussman, Berlin, Germany
Cărturești Carusel, Bucharest, Romania
Hatchard's, London, UK
Barter Books is open from 9am - 7pm every day, including Sundays. For more information, visit the website.
