C K Broadhursts of Southport

C K Broadhursts is Merseyside’s answer to The Strand.
Admittedly, they don’t have cool tee-​shirts or tote bags boasting 18 Miles of Books. They do however, have over ten rooms of secondhand books spread over three floors. I’ve lost track of which books are kept in which rooms so let’s just say, they have a lot of stock covering everything from the arts and sciences to local history, geography and politics. There’s also a good children’s section, a promising literary fiction section — including everything from Jane Austin and Wuthering Heights to Tropic of Cancer — and an established collection of rare and antiquarian books.
To top it off, the whole place looks and feels like a distinguished reading room from another century with imposing wooden furniture, old arm chairs and a roaring fire. Put simply, if this was in Bloomsbury or Edinburgh, it would be packed with enchanted tourists!

This is one of those bookshops that makes you love literature again, not that you’d ever fall out with it. A labyrinthine warren of wonderment at every turn, I came here on the offchance when I started my Postmodernism module at university. I was seeking out a book by Jane Rogers called Mr Wroe’s Virgins, and I was quite excited to be studying a writer that I’d actually been compared to in my creative writing class the former semester. Oh yes, my head was feeling pretty huge.
Anyway I hadn’t found the thing anywhere, and my father suggested we pop in here and have a looksee. Well, they had the book, of course. There’s nothing this place can’t do. They had the book in hardback. Have you realised what a great condition hardbacks actually stay in? Mr Wroe’s Virgins has been thumbed, pencilled, dragged with me back and forth to the lectures of a certain Dr Rowland (the only reason I did so well in my final semester was because of my all-​consuming crush on that man), I’ve fallen asleep on it in the wee small hours while writing essays and drooled on its pages and the book still looks fresh as the driven snow. Gotta hand it to the hardbacks.
You could literally spend hours here. Not only is there a ‘new’ bookshop for the non-​second-​hand stuff, but there are no less than eight second-​hand book rooms, two rare book rooms, a book-​binding and restoration service and school supply as well as there being an open fire in the middle of all this. The only thing it’s missing is a café — get some hot drinks and brownies on the go and I’ll actually move in. No joke.
The place is incredibly atmospheric and beautiful. Your head swims with the scent of well-​thumbed, well-​loved tomes that carry the echo of the laughter, tears or comfort they might have caused. This is my favourite bookshop in the world. The staff are experts and you can tell they adore books, which is always reassuring to anyone browsing or seeking out something specific. It’s been going since 1926 and long may it continue.