It takes courage to open a new bookshop today: there is only a Waterstones left in Leicester (though we still have a Waterstones and an independent bookshop here in Market Harborough). So when I heard that the Five Leaves Publications had opened a shop in Nottingham, I determined to visit the next time I was in the city.
I was there today and was not disappointed. The Five Leaves Bookshop is in an alley near the Council House and well worth a visit.
Like the Five Leaves Publications list, the shop has a left-wing feel, but it is widely interpreted. One of the best things the Five Leaves Press has done is keep alive the voices of distinctive figures like Richard Boston and Ray Gosling, who would otherwise have been forgotten.
It has also played a central part in the revival of interest in Ian Nairn by publishing the study of his career by Gillian Darley and David McKie - Ian Nairn: Words in Place.
Incidentally, Left Lion tells us that when the head of Five Leaves, Ross Bradshaw, came to Nottingham in 1979 it had five radical bookshops.
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