HiddenGems PArAMount bookS

By Thomas Hankin

When you picture the ideal bookshop, what do you see? Maybe the elegant, sloping interior of Livaria Lello in Portugal that was the inspiration for the design of Hogwarts? Maybe it’s the expansive, enthralling nature of the converted theatre of Ateneo Grand Splendid in Argentina, reputed by National Geographic as ‘the most beautiful bookstore in the world’? Or Maybe it’s Manchester’s own enormous Deansgate Waterstones, the largest bookstore in the North?

Or, just maybe, it’s somewhat hidden down a flight of stairs, not far from Piccadilly Gardens, and packed from floor to ceiling with towering, precariously tottering mountains of books?

And a life-sized cardboard cutout of Philip Scholfield, of course, because is a bookshop truly a bookshop otherwise? Don’t take your eyes off him though; legend has it that if you so much as blink, he’ll take your place in the queue.

As lovers of books ourselves, we’re keenly aware of the fact that sometimes, it gets just a bit dull trudging to the same old bookshops time after time, perusing the same old shelves, and trying desperately to avoid the one cashier that definitely knows our name. In the spirit of adventure, and adding a dash of variety to the book commute, we’d like to turn your attention to the overlooked, omitted and overpassed. The hidden gems of the Manchester bookshop scene, if you will.

Opened in 1965, Paramount Books prides itself, first and foremost, on being a comic-book shop. Although it has long since expanded to virtually every genre of fiction and non-fiction imaginable, the selection of comic books and graphic novels on offer remains truly astounding. With a nascent leafing, you can very quickly strike gold. On our visit, we found original copies of Watchmen, Flash of Two Worlds, Civil War, V for Vendetta and many, many more.

For those who do not keep up with comics and believe we just dipped into a foreign language just then, imagine finding the original box set of Glee on VHS. We know. Take a second, it’s ok.

A delightfully vintage homage in a sea of modernity, the shop actually encourages all customers to turn off their phones before entering. This is a TikTok and Instagram-free zone and is a true breath of fresh air for it. Some may have to restrain their well-honed social posting, however, as Paramount is jam-packed with backrooms and comfy leather sofas. And a grand piano. Because…do you need a reason for a grand piano in a bookshop? How has nowhere else done this before?

Comic book gems aside, the selection of books on offer is astounding. Wall-to-wall books on every genre, sub-genre and sub-sub-genre you can possibly imagine. We know what you’re thinking. Every bookshop says they have an unbelievable store of books. How could they not? They’re a bookshop. If they didn’t, it’d be like Vue only showing re-runs of The Inbetweeners Movie

Well, according to the Manchester Evening News, in 2014, a customer was accidentally locked in for an hour and a half after they wandered into one of the backrooms, browsing the sci-fi collection. We think we speak for all you bibliophiles when we say; why can’t this ever happen to us? The only place we’ve ever been accidentally locked in was a Wetherspoons, and they definitely didn’t have a grand piano or Philip Scholfield.

Paramount Books is a wonderful choice for your next book sojourn, or for just a cheeky wander around, and we at Pastel can’t recommend it highly enough.