Over the last decade, we have been chip, chip, chipping away at our business carbon footprint.

It’s been a positive and interesting journey. With consistent effort, our carbon emissions have reduced from modest to dainty.

Our business model is based on reuse and is inherently low carbon. In the last year, we’ve sold over 25000 books, all bought second-hand from book collectors, readers and auctions in the North East and beyond, then streamed back to market through our business. In 2023 we relocated to a low carbon premises on Park View in Whitley Bay. During the renovation of the derelict property, we invested in carbon saving features including an air to water heat pump, insulation, salvaged and reused fixtures and furniture, and new double glazed windows and shopfront. Other business carbon reduction policies include a renewable energy contract, biodegradable and reused packaging, and no flying for business purposes.

We’re pleased with our carbon cutting achievements. And we’re equally thrilled our work on the environment has been recognised by North Tyneside Business Forum, who awarded Keel Row Books the Action on Climate Change business award 2024.

What a great evening, it was lovely to celebrate local business achievements in our wonderful community.

We are sprucing ourselves up...

The bookshop will be closed for essential maintenance from Monday 14th October until Thursday 17th October. We will reopen on Friday 18th October at 10am. During the short closure we will continue to dispatch web orders and answer phone calls/emails.

Bookseller & Cataloguer at Keel Row Books

Join the team at Keel Row Books, the North East’s leading bookshop for rare, collectable and second-hand books. Established in 1981, the business relocated to Whitley Bay in 2023. We seek a full time bookseller to replace a retiring member of staff.

You’ll be working with our small team, cataloguing and selling rare, collectable and second-hand books. We trade through the bookshop, online and at UK book fairs. Our long established bookshop is busy, with a popular second-hand department. We exhibit at book fairs around the UK, alongside a steady trade with private customers and online.

You will have the opportunity to work on all aspects of the business, with scope to bring your own knowledge, ideas and skills to the job.

Full time: You must be available to work two Saturdays each month.
Hours: 35 hours a week. Mon to Fri 9.45-5.15pm. Any week you work a Saturday (twice a month, or more if desired) you will get one weekday off in lieu.
Contract: Permanent
Salary: £24,500, with the possibility of more for an experienced candidate.
Holidays: 5.6 weeks a year

As well as meeting our statutory obligations for pensions, maternity/paternity leave and holidays, we also provide these additional benefits: staff discount, charitable donation on your behalf at Christmas, staff Christmas get together, holiday purchase/unpaid leave scheme, life insurance. Keel Row Books is part of the local community, and we aim to preserve the local history of the region by promoting and preserving its unique culture and heritage. We are a low carbon business that is striving to be carbon neutral.

Closing date: Friday 20th September 2024
To apply: Please email a CV and covering letter to mail@keelrowbooks.com, with ‘Job Application’ as the subject.

Responsibilities
Researching, cataloguing and selling rare books
Customer service in-store, and handling sales enquiries/correspondence by phone & email
Book photography
Maintaining a visually attractive shop including displays, book shelving and stock organising
Some business admin & logistics, including postage and packing

Essential qualities, skills and experience
Pro-active, confident, and self motivated, and able to work quickly towards deadlines
Friendly with great customer service skills
Excellent written and spoken English
Very organised with an eye for detail
You can demonstrate knowledge of literature/books, history/culture
The role can be quite physical so you must be able to carry and shelve books, climb library ladders etc.
Computer skills are essential

Desirable qualities, skills and experience
Experience working in the rare book trade or with rare books
Experience using Bookseller software
Business administration within a small business
Social media for a business
Sales experience in a retail environment or online
Confidence to purchase goods from the public

We seek a strong all-round staff member, who is easy going but also hard working and focussed. Our business is labour intensive, and requires the ability to work at a pace whilst also keeping an eye on the finer details. You must be a people person who is friendly and able to talk to dozens of customers every day. Like many small businesses, we cover lots of bases and the ability to multi-task a variety of activities is essential.

Start date: October to November 2024

Are you ready for another helping of the magnificent York Book Fair?

Join us on Friday 13th and Saturday 14th September for the UK's largest bookfair. With almost 200 dealers, the fair has everything from great and glorious first editions to beautiful antiquarian books to unique manuscript material. There are also maps, prints, ephemera, postcards, photographs, and plenty of book chat.

We are at Stand 39, close to the front door on the ground floor.

Friday 13th Sept 12 noon - 7pm. Saturday 14th Sept 10am - 5pm, at the Knavesmire Suite, York Racecourse, YO23 1EX. A shuttle bus will be running to and from York train station. For complimentary tickets and more, visit yorkbookfair.com or drop into our bookshop.

Apply for the ABA Founders' Scholarship to attend YABS 2024 for free, with full course fees paid, and five nights accommodation included.

The Founders' Scholarship was created in recognition of our work establishing and event managing the York Antiquarian Book Seminar, which has been running since 2014.

Find out how to apply (and see details of other YABS scholarships) here

Application deadline Friday 31st May 2024

We founded YABS in 2014. Some 300 students have now attended the annual four day course, which is a early career springboard into the rare book trade.

Would you like to know more about the course? Your questions about YABS, answered by former YABS students!

Anthony will be hosting the panel discussion at Firsts London on Friday 18th at 6pm.

Register to join the discussion.

Join us at Firsts, London's specialist bookfair for rare books.

The event is a highlight of the rare book trade calendar, with over 100 leading UK and international booksellers showcasing the finest rare and antiquarian books, manuscripts, ephemera, maps and more at The Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea.

From Thursday 16th May to Sunday 19th May.
Complimentary tickets available here

We also have a limited number of Thursday evening preview tickets available, please contact us direct on 0191 2960664 or mail@keelrowbooks.com for further details.

Follow the event... #firstslondon @firstslondon

We close on Bank Holidays and Sundays, so we'll be shut on Good Friday (Friday 29th), Sunday 31st and Easter Monday (Mon 1st) for a well deserved rest.

Open as usual on Saturday 30th March, 10-5. Have lovely break everyone, hope the weather holds up!

We talked to Living North Magazine journalist Neave Herridge about relocating our bookshop, interior design, and why helping future generations of booksellers get into the rare book trade through York Antiquarian Book Seminar has been our big project of the decade.

As featured in the Feb 2024 North East print edition, the March 2024 Yorkshire print edition and Living North's online edition

November saw 42 would be booksellers gather in York for the annual rare book trade educational training programme YABS. It was our last seminar for the foreseeable future, as we're stepping aside to concentrate on family commitments and our new high street premises in Whitley Bay.

Anthony and I founded YABS in 2013 (with a colleague Jonathan Kearns), and ran the first seminar in 2014. We were touched to receive a heart felt thank you for our work on the programme from the ABA President, Deborah Coltham.

"I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that the creation of YABS has been the single most influential and ground-breaking book trade initiative to have started in the last 50 years! Drawing inspiration from CABS, it took incredible drive, determination, not to mention hard work and graft to turn what was a seed of an idea into reality. Watching how YABS has grown and expanded from 2014, when together with Jonathan Kearns you all conceived the idea, to what is now an internationally recognised seminar, is a testament to your active leadership, passion and dedication.

The success of YABS was made abundantly clear to me at the recent ILAB President's meeting. The ABA, and indeed the whole of the UK trade, is in the enviable position of having a wealth of new dealers entering the book trade, many now PBFA members, and several who are knocking on the door of joining the ABA... many [international trade associations] are seriously considering setting up similar programmes. YABS is the envy of many, and an inspiration to all, and we have you both to thank for being in this healthy and vibrant position"

We're honoured to have helped so many people get a start in the rare book trade.

We're here for rare, collectable and curious books right up until Christmas Eve. Here are our festive opening hours 2023

Sat 23rd 10 - 5pm
Sun 24th (Christmas Eve) 10 - 2pm
Mon 25th (Christmas Day) Closed
Tues 26th (Boxing Day) Closed
Wed 27th Closed
Thurs 28th 10 - 5pm
Fri 29th 10 - 5pm
Sat 30th 10 - 5pm
Sun 31st (New Year's Eve) Closed
Mon 1st (New Year's Day) Closed

Normal opening hours resume on Tues 2nd Jan: Mon to Sat 10-5
Wishing you a merry Christmas and a happy & prosperous New Year.
From all at Keel Row Books- Anthony, Alice, Caroline, Averil, Stacey and Ame.

Come and join us on Thurs 30th Nov & Fri 1st Dec for late night Christmas shopping on Park View. It's a lovely festive evening with lots of independent shops, bars and cafes open late. There's sustainable shopping, craft makers, delicious food & drinks and handpicked gifts along the street- not to mention books & more from us and our friends at the indie new bookshop The Bound.

We'll be open til 8pm each evening. See you there.

We chatted to Chronicle journalist Daniel Hall about our move to Park View, Whitley Bay.


Read the full article here

What a month.

We've spent five weeks working day and night to finish our shop fit and get our books transferred from North Shields to the beautiful new Park View bookshop.

Thank you to everyone who's helped- family, friends, staff, customers, neighbours and friends of friends. You know who you are! Not mention all the tradespeople & professionals who have worked on the project since October 2022.

We are NOW OPEN at out new Whitley Bay premises. Anthony & Alice

So, it's taking a little longer than anticipated to complete our new premises and move 40,000 books into the new bookshop...who knew??!!

We're working as fast as we can- pop back here for updates. It'll not be too much longer. Alice & Anthony

Keel Row Books is relocating.

We've set sail from North Shields to Whitley Bay. Our North Shields shop is now closed- we'll reopen in Whitley Bay on the 24th July.

Business move timetable:
Sat 1st July: Last trading day in North Shields
Sun 2nd to Sun 23rd July: Business relocation, both premises closed (Book orders will be dispatched, and contact by email/phone will continue as usual during the business relocation)
Mon 24th July: Open for business at 93-97 Park View, Whitley Bay, NE26 3RJ.

PS Read all about it in Cultured North East...

Friends, family and our regular customers will know that we have been working on a BIG project since the start of 2021.

We had walked past the old Boots the Chemist on Park View (Whitley Bay) for many years and saw how much potential the property had. We had no idea quite how amazing it was until we had a chance to inspect it with a view to rent. We contacted the previous owner, asking if they might consider selling instead.

Anthony and I couldn't have imagined that short letter would lead to the opportunity to purchase one of the loveliest old commercial properties in Whitley Bay. The building has oodles of interesting period features, and during the building renovation we uncovered some fascinating old curios from its long history as a pharmacy.

This summer, the building will become a new home for Keel Row Books. We open on Monday 24th July, fingers crossed!

Our new Park View location is in the heart of Whitley Bay, home to lots of great independent shops, cafes and bars. Not to mention the award winning bookshop The Bound, which is just across the street. Keel Row Whitley Bay will keep all the best bits of Keel Row Books North Shields: rooms to explore, lovely period features, library ladders to climb plus heaps of books, maps, prints and ephemera. And our new premises will be carbon neutral, part of our business journey towards net zero.

Our customers have been excited about the new Park View bookshop, but many have asked whether we will keep our North Shields shop open too.

When we embarked on this project two and half years ago, it was with the intention of running two bookshops, one in North Shields and one in Whitley Bay. The economic climate has changed greatly over that time. Interest rate hikes, rising energy costs & staff wages (not to mention rates bills) mean that running two bookshops is not viable. The last trading day in our North Shields bookshop will be Saturday 1st July. Thereafter, our North Shields building will be staff only behind-the-scenes storage and office. This hasn’t been an easy decision to make and we’re genuinely sad to be closing our doors in North Shields. We thank all our local North Shields customers for their support and custom over the years, and we hope you’ll come and see us in our new home on Park View.

Business move timetable:
Saturday 1st July: Last trading day in North Shields
2nd to 23rd July: Business relocation, both premises closed (Book orders will be dispatched, and contact by email/phone will continue as usual during the business relocation)
Monday 24th July: Open for business at 93-97 Park View, Whitley Bay, NE26 3RJ.

We’ll put more updates on here over the coming weeks. Thank you to Jacqui Martin Design and Joanna from Envision Design for their design input on the new premises.

It's Independent Bookshop Week, and what better to mark the event than take the first step to running your own bookshop?

YABS is a 3.5 day course aimed at people who'd like to start (or develop) their own rare (or second-hand) book business/career/bookshop. Taught by leading members of the UK and international book trade, the course is aimed at both complete beginners and more experienced book dealers continuing their professional development.

Find out about YABS and book a place here

And find out more about our involvement here

There's a flurry of Bank Holidays this May. We'll be closed on each of the three Bank Holidays so we can have a few days off with family and friends.

Monday 1st May, closed
Monday 8th May (King's Coronation), closed
Monday 29th May, closed

We're taking a well deserved break over the Easter weekend. The bookshop will be closed on Easter Sunday, and both the Bank Holidays, Good Friday and Easter Monday.
Thursday 6th April 10 - 5
Good Friday 7th April closed
Easter Saturday 8th 10 - 5
Easter Sunday 9th April closed
Easter Monday 10th April closed
Tuesday 11th April 10 - 5
Have lovely break everyone, hope the weather holds up!

It's bookfair season, and that means booksellers on tour. There are bookfair events nationwide, bringing first editions, rare & fine books, out-of-print titles plus maps, prints, and ephemera to towns and cities all over the UK.

We're going to exhibiting at a number of events over the coming weeks.

Harrogate PBFA Bookfair
Friday 17th March 12 noon - 6pm
Saturday 18th March 10am - 4pm
Pavilions of Harrogate

Edinburgh ABA Bookfair
Friday 24th March 12 noon - 7pm
Saturday 25th March 10am - 4pm
Radisson Blu, High Street, Edinburgh (off the Royal Mile)

Oxford PBFA Bookfair
Saturday 22nd April 12 noon - 6pm
Sunday 23rd April 10am - 4pm
Oxford Brookes University

For a full list of the bookfairs we'll be attending, visit our book events page

Yesterday was World Book Day 2023. We almost missed this great shout out in the Chronicle, listing the North East's best independent bookshops. There are all the well known favourites (including us!) plus a few newbies that are now on our 'to visit' list...

Eight independent bookshops in the North East to visit on World Book Day

We'd like to say a big thank you for supporting Keel Row Books in 2022.

Whether you've bought, sold, browsed or clicked, we appreciate your valued support. We just couldn't do it without you!

What does 2023 hold? As well as keeping collectors and readers supplied with books, we continue to focus on positive changes for our business. We have audited our carbon footprint, with a little help from Eugene Bryce, the Booksellers' Association, and the Business Factory. We are ready to go with our NetZero ambitions.

We also continue to direct and teach at YABS, the not-for-profit course we founded in back 2014 to help would-be booksellers get a foothold in the rare book trade. 38 students attended the YABS in 2023, which is now organised by the ABA.

We also have another important business project underway, more on this in the spring!

Wishing you all a peaceful, healthy and prosperous New Year. Here's to more downtime too. Pictures from one of our annual jaunts to the north coast of Northern Ireland. They show Sheep Island from the beach below Larrybane Quarry, at Carrick-a-Rede.

We're here for rare, collectable and curious book gifts right up until Christmas Eve.
Festive opening hours 2022.
Sat 24th (Christmas Eve) 10-1.30pm
Sun 25th (Christmas Day) Closed
Mon 26th (Boxing Day) Closed
Tues 27th (Christmas Day bank holiday) Closed
Wed 28th Closed
Thurs 29th 10-5pm
Fri 30th 10-5pm
Sat 31st (New Year's Eve) Closed
Sun 1st Closed
Mon 2nd (New Year's Eve bank holiday) Closed
Tues 3rd Normal opening hours resume: Mon to Sat 10-5

Our bookshop has a lovely new traditional style shopfront. Many thanks to local joinery firm Hastie Burtons for the perfect finish, and also to North Tyneside Council for financial support through the Retail & Town Centres Shopfront Grant scheme.

The debate on whether to leave the shutter box red, or paint it green to match continues...

If you buy online this autumn, order delivery is likely to take longer than usual. Both Royal Mail & Parcelforce are on strike on multiple days over the busy months of October and November.

During the strike, we'll continue to dispatch daily, and will bring our parcels to the Post Office ourselves on strike days. If you live in the north east, consider coming to visit us in person to avoid postage delays. Give plenty of time for order delivery (from any company, not just us!) and if you need an order dispatched urgently, give us a call on 0191 2960664 and we'll do our best to get it to you quickly.

Slow delivery is likely to affect many UK businesses. With Royal Mail alone accounting for over 50% of the UK delivery market, alternative courier companies may well struggle to keep up with demand, as businesses seek other ways to deliver their orders over the strike period.

The CWU are striking over a 2% imposed pay deal, at a time when RPI inflation is currently running at 11.8 per cent. Royal Mail has announced Group profits of £758 million.

It has been our pleasure to deliver 15 large boxes of manuscript (handwritten) material to the Northumberland County Archives at Woodhorn Museum this week.

The material came from the firm of Dickson, Archer and Thorp, solicitors of Alnwick, Northumberland. There were some 230 manuscript volumes, dated from 1768 through to 1904. The archive is an incredibly detailed record of the inner workings of probably the most important legal practice in Northumberland during the 19th century, and consists of Letterbooks, Daybooks, Ledgers, Stamp Ledgers, Account Summaries, Cash Books, Bill Books, Solicitor's Summaries, Case Books, Diaries and numerous other legal volumes, Deed books, Notes From the Quarter Sessions Records and County Rate Valuations.

It covers everything from the daily minutiae of a country lawyer's office, through to the decades long business dealings of some of the most important people in the County. It is highly unusual for such a comprehensive archive to survive and will be of great interest to local, legal, social, and economic historians.

There were also 28 volumes of County Rate Valuations, dated 1830 - 1869. These provide a fascinating glimpse into the condition and ownership of property in the county of Northumberland in the mid 19th century. The five Wards covered are Bamburgh & Glendale, Coquetdale, Morpeth, Castle (covering Newcastle upon Tyne and Tynemouth) and Tynedale, with each ward split into Divisions, and further subdivided into Parishes.

When we acquired this large archive a number of years ago, we made a decision there and then not to advertise it on the open market. It was important to us that it remained where it belonged, in Northumberland. When the Head of Archives in Northumberland expressed her interest in acquiring the material, we agreed to hold it in reserve whilst funding was secured.

There is a wealth of fascinating material within the archive, from an early form of pre-nuptial agreement making provision for the prospective bride in the event of her widowhood, to a mother who spent her children's share of her late husband's estate when she should have been safeguarding it for them, to a disturbance in Silver Street in Durham which led to four men falsely imprisoning another, telling him “he was their prisoner and if he strived they would blow his brains out”. Deeper study will reveal the lives of many people who lived and worked in Northumberland in the 18th, 19th and early 20th century, from farmers, landowners, business owners, law-abiding rate payers to ne'er-do-wells and criminals.

We hope the archive will be an important resource for the people of Northumberland. Please contact the Northumberland Archives at Woodhorn if you're interested in viewing the recently acquired material.

We've found all sorts of stuff in books, from family photos to shopping lists to a single crisp £50 note hidden inside a dustjacket.

A few months back we had a rather special find- a 200 year old handwritten receipt tucked inside a book from an auction lot we had purchased some time ago. Dated 21st September 1822, it had been written by acclaimed Newcastle wood engraver, artist and illustrator Thomas Bewick, to a Mr Robert Donkin.

A little bit of digging in Tattersfield's Bewick bibliography turned up a mention of the very same receipt in the archives at Cherryburn, Bewick's birthplace, now managed by the National Trust. We established the receipt had featured in a Cherryburn Times article over 30 years ago. It was then tucked inside a Bewick reference book, where it remained until we bought the book in an auction lot.

Anthony was delighted to be able to return the manuscript receipt to Cherryburn when he attended the recent Bewick Society AGM. Manuscript items handwritten by Bewick are quite valuable, not to say scarce. It's now back in the archive where it belongs.

It's been measured, cut, sprayed and glazed. Our new shop front is being installed this week. We'll be partially closed for installation Mon 12th - Fri 16th Sept. We'll be accepting and dispatching online & phone orders as usual. If you've travelled a distance to visit, we can allow access to upstairs only, if you're local please hang on 'til next week. Ring us on 0191 2960664 to arrange access. It's gonna be messy...

It turns out many of the best bookshops in Newcastle Upon Tyne aren't in Newcastle at all. Here's a good round up by John Tomaney for the London School of Economics. And yes, we are in it!

Best Bookshops in Newcastle upon Tyne

Monday 29th August is the last Bank Holiday of 2022. Here's hoping the sun shines! We'll be closed on the Bank Holiday Monday for a well deserved day off. The bookshop will reopen on Tuesday 30th at 10am. Our usual opening hours are Mon to Sat, 10-5.

Are you ready for another helping of the magnificent York Book Fair?

Better save the date- this year's event is on Friday 9th and Saturday 10th September. All the usual suspects will be there, with 200+ dealers, floors of books, with everything from great and glorious first editions, beautiful antiquarian books to unique manuscript material. There are also maps, prints, ephemera, postcards, photographs, and plenty of book chat...

Friday 9th Sept 10am - 7pm. Saturday 10th Sept 10am - 5pm, at the Knavesmire Suite, York Racecourse, YO23 1EX. A shuttle bus will be running to and from York train station. For complimentary tickets and more, visit yorkbookfair.com

We're getting a lovely new traditional hardwood shopfront installed. Our current uPVC one was installed by a previous bookshop owner in the 1990's, and it's always looked out of place on an 1840's building. The new one will be more appropriate for our location on the edge of the Camp Terrace Conservation Zone, opposite historic Christchurch.

The shopfront installation is scheduled for Mon 8th, Tues 9th and Wed 10th August. The main room of the bookshop will be closed, the rest of the bookshop will be open. Access by the side door on the lane.

No Metro trains will run through our nearest station, North Shields, between 16th and 29th July. The line is closed from St. James to Tynemouth for a bridge replacement. If you're visiting by Metro, travel from Newcastle and north towards the coast, then jump off at Tynemouth Station. It's a pleasant 15 minute walk to the bookshop through Northumberland Park and then on along Tynemouth Road. Apparently there isn't a bus replacement service during the fortnight closure, but local services are accepting Metro tickets.

YABS teaches would-be booksellers the nuts and bolts of the rare and second-hand booktrade. It’s a popular educational programme that teaches aspiring booksellers the basics of the rare book trade. Bookselling procedures and techniques are discussed through a series of lectures, discussions, and practical hands-on workshops. The focus is on successful post-pandemic cataloguing, pricing and bookselling.

Find out more about our involvement in launching YABS here. And there’s information on the scholarships, and how to apply for them here.