Local history: Littleborough bookshop

LITTLEBOROUGH – 40; WIDE SOUTH AMERICAN RIVER - 21!

A lot of talk these days is about the future of the high street, the damage of the internet on local shops and, in particular, how a big online retailer has destroyed independent bookshops.

In Rochdale, or more precisely, Littleborough, the local bookshop is celebrating its 40th birthday. The writer had better declare an interest here; I have been a customer and supporter of George and Ben Kelsall's shop for about a third of a century, long before the name of a wide South American river appeared as an online bookshop.

George and Ben Kelsall

George Kelsall's interest in local history and love of books led to a change of career for him from working as an architect in Manchester. George opened the bookshop in the old Martins/Barclays Bank premises on Church Street in Littleborough in December 1979. It is now one of the longest established shops in the village. George's aim was - and still is - to provide as wide a range of books as possible to all comers with a friendly and helpful service for second-hand and collectable books.

Business gradually grew, with not only local customers, but others from all over Lancashire and the North West. Some people call into the shop as part of their annual holidays in the Pennines.

George tells me that young couples in the early days who later brought in their children, now appear with their grandchildren! Twenty-one years ago, George was joined by his son, Ben, who now runs the business full time. George still helps out on a part time basis; clearly George's love of books is lifelong and incurable!

The shop has a wide range of stock of over 20,000 second-hand and collectable books, as well as new ones. It sells both fiction - including modern authors and the classics - and non-fiction with a particular focus on local history, industrial history, transport and natural history. The shop also offers a search service for hard to obtain books and a new books ordering service.

The Kelsalls also exhibit at book fairs, including the annual event in York and have published about twenty new books on local history as well as books on music hall comedians and Yorkshire clockmakers. The bookshop can still supply local history classics such as originals of Tim Bobbin's (200 years old) and Robertsons books on Rochdale (over 125 years old). The shop is always interested in hearing from people with books to sell and provides a valuation service from a few books to a whole collection.

The set up in the shop has not changed much over the years; downstairs are children's books, contemporary and popular fiction, local history, travel guides, collectors books, natural history and transport. At the back of the shop is more fiction and, upstairs, pretty much everything else. The more one visits the shop, the more one can find forgotten gems or books on entirely unfamiliar subjects. I particularly like the “middle“ room upstairs with its mix of Penguin classics, travel writing and children's classics.

George and Ben are used to unusual requests; from a man who wanted 500 books to fill some enormous bookshelves to the Waterloo Road TV series when it was filmed in Rochdale who were loaned books by the shop; they have done the same for theatre productions.

Most of the towns and boroughs of Greater Manchester simply do not have their own bookshop, let alone an independent, family-run enterprise where the staff know not only what they have in stock, but also have a keen interest in the whole world of old and new books.

Conveniently situated in the centre of the Pennine village of Littleborough, the bookshop is as much a part of the local landscape as the railway station, the Co-op, the war memorial and the parish church. Perhaps some of us take it for granted, but we must not. If local shops are going to survive, we need to use them regularly and spend our money locally.

The importance of books in a person's life has never been greater. Basically - and I write here as a former teacher of English and school librarian - one of the greatest things a person can do is encourage children to have a lifelong love of books and reading. Forget about the tablet, the laptop, the phone and computer games; reading to and with a child cannot be beaten as a way of helping literacy and developing imagination. Ask any teacher, psychologist or health expert, the habit of reading is good for you. This goes right through one's life. Books are now “prescribed” for depression and, once older people's eyesight has deteriorated, many of them love hearing books read aloud. Try it when you visit an older relative or friend, especially if they are confined to their home or hospital bed.

So, congratulations George and Ben on your shop's 40th birthday! Littleborough is blessed with a real village centre, historic buildings, decent public transport, an excellent library, Harehill Park, beautiful countryside and a community hub at the Coach House – and its own bookshop! If you live elsewhere in the borough, treat yourself to a visit to the Kelsalls' shop.

Richard Lysons

With thanks to George and Ben Kelsall

George & Ben Kelsall Littleborough Bookshop

22 Church Street, Littleborough, OL15 9AA.

Tel: 01706 370244

www.kelsallsbookshop.co.uk