SPONSOR


DESCRIPTION


Gardners has been involved as an integral link in the book supply chain for over 


INDEPENDENT BOOKSHOP OF THE YEAR SEVENOAKS BOOKSHOP


THE SHORTLIST


Burley Fisher Books LONDON


Cogito Books NORTH OF ENGLAND


  SCOTLAND


Five Leaves Bookshop MIDLANDS


 WALES


 of Reading Delights SOUTH-WEST ENGLAND


Red Lion Books EAST ENGLAND


Tertulia ISLE OF IRELAND


A


ll nine bookshops shortlisted in this category have been recognised for their extraordinary work in 2020, as champions in the regional and


country round of the award. As the judges noted: “Every one of these businesses has done great things in the face of challenges most of us can’t comprehend… they are all worthy winners.” From an exceptional field, Kent’s Sevenoaks


Bookshop, the South-east England category winner, takes the overall prize. The store is now well into its eighth decade, but it won’t have faced a year as tough as 2020. Its small but indefatigable team responded to the challenges of lockdowns, moving to web, phone and e-mail orders during months of closure and dispatching around 3,500 books to loyal customers—many of them person- ally delivered by foot and bike. Click-and-collect and Bookshop.org added more sales channels. Events moved online too, including book clubs


09


on Facebook and author events on Zoom. The tumultuous year showed how this and


other independent bookshops sit at the heart of their communities’ cultural and social lives. Somehow, Sevenoaks Bookshop ended 2020 in sales growth, having not furloughed a single bookseller. It also emerged into 2021 twice the size it was before the pandemic, having taken over adjacent premises and launched a dedicated children’s area—a sign of great confi- dence for the future. “I’m full of praise and wonder for Sevenoaks’


team,” said one British Book Awards judge. “It’s easy to forget how scary things were at the start of the pandemic, and the creativity and fortitude they have shown is amazing,” said another. “To expand at a time when the high street is hunkering down is astounding… the love and enthusiasm for books shines through and inspires us all.”


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