Bluecoat Books

After two years of living in the Liverpool area I finally realized where this shop was and popped in! It’s fabulous. :)
What Henry Bohn lacks in the must-​have classic paperbacks, Bluecoat Books makes up for. Here at last you will find your paperback Jane Austen and your soft cover Bronte. And though not super cheap, they are reasonably priced and certainly less than you would pay at Waterstones.
At last, at last, walls and walls of delightful artsy, classic, must-​have books in soft cover and hardcover, and … I just love it. I want to live in this shop.

For its size the Blucoat Books and Arts store crams a hell of a lot into its small store which is basically a space under the stairs leading to the rest of the stores in the Gostins Building. Their selection of books is really very good especially in the arts, films and music sections. Taking an interest in the cinema section I was pleased to see many titles that you would struggle to find even in the new Waterstones — which for all its size isn’t as extensive as you would expect, maybe they should concentrate on the books instead of the coffee to go with them.
Added to this they only have an arts and crafts space that would give Rennie’s a run for their money. It is not a one stop kind of place for all your artistic needs — that would be a bit too much to ask considering the lack of floor space — but with an extensive range of paints, cards and paper the enthusiast will find enough to keep them busy.

When I think of the bookshops in Liverpool, this one never seems to spring to mind first, but it really should.
Tucked away in a little cluster of shops off Hanover Street, Bluecoat Books is a good little store for the budding artist, crammed with Art and Design books on specific artists and architecture as well as the usual A-​Z of fiction.
They have an art materials workshop with a rainbow of paints, brushes and canvases on sale and also a surprising amount of childrens books which took me back to the days when I was much happier reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar than Austen!
I also noticed there was a whole section on travel guide to…‘s and they had some out-​of-​date ones out at 50p each!
Also it was £5 for 3 of the second-​hand hardback books so I’m stock up for a while now! I won’t be forgetting this place in a hurry!