Bookshop closing

[vicky whitworth]

Hello,
Drove through Crewkerne last night and saw that Greshams is closing down. Those who know the bookshop will know how sad this is. They have a 50% sale on so for once I might be able to afford something. A few years ago Crewkerne was described as 'the up and coming' place, at the time Waitrose opened. It doesn't look up and coming now but it does have some lovely Georgian ham stone town houses which haven't been trashed because there's no money fro trashing. Chard is the same.

 

[TheForge]

Crewkerne up and coming?! Who were they kidding, I used to work there years ago! It's the property cold spot of South Somerset! I hadn't heard about Gresham's closing, looks like I know where I'll be going tomorrow!

 

[DJH]

I've bought many books from Jim over the years although not as many as I used to after I moved away. I visited his house once and bough hundreds of pounds of books from him as his taste is very similar to mine, in fact I bought 3 copies of James Street's Mynster of the Isle from him over a period of time and there were only 400 printed! My son wanted to rent the flat above the shop when Gresham Books first bought the property, while he was moving between houses in Crewkerne but was unable to.

I tendered for renewing the lead roofs on St Bartholomews church but came second and then was consulted by the architect about why the new roof was leaking!! :lol:

A big loss to bibliophiles in the area but I understand that the late Chris Chapman's shop in Ilminster is still trading. His wife, who had the shop in Lyme Regis, used to carryout second hand book searches but I'm not sure if that shop is still open. It was one of the very few shops that kept it's old fashioned scenery which it was dressed in for filming the French Lieutenants Woman years ago. I remember they also thatched roof of the bus shelter as well.

Happy days!

Doug

 

[vicky whitworth]

Hi Doug, where was the book shop in Lyme? There are two good second hand ones. One at the bottom of the high street just before the loos!
Chap who runs it has an open fire roaring away - not sure this is a good idea with all the paper around, and the place is chaotic. Lots of stage theatricals lying round, strange masks, and clutter. Most of the time you will find my other half in there, but there's also the tiny place down by the Cobb. We like Lyme in Winter and hate it in Summer.

 

[DJH]

It's the one at the bottom of High Street on the right going downhill. A lot of the shops and pubs/hotels were decorated for the film but the bookshop kept theirs. I'm like you I prefer Lyme during the close season. We used to keep a boat and winch house on Church Cliff beach and I spent a lot of time out lobster potting and shrimping when the tide was out. This was about the time that the sea wall was built out from there towards Charmouth and it brought an end to the rubbish from the town tip falling onto the beach and the sea.

We used to scour the cliff top for stray golf balls from the golf course and when we had a good bag full sold them to a company near London who I think refurbished them somehow. I well remember the landslip at Cobb Hill that swept down along the parade and the amusement arcade and toilets were built there to help prevent it all falling down again.

Doug