THIS WEEK
Bookshop Spotlight The Margate Bookshop
The Margate Bookshop ? 2 Market Place, Margate, Kent CT9 1ER
Three years after the ink dried on the lease of a Georgian Grade II-listed building on the Kent coast, The Margate Bookshop is proving a hit in the area— and it’s looking to give back to the community
I
t may be a litle shop, but The Margate Bookshop has big plans to help its local communit. Having reached a milestone of £3,000 raised to get books into local primary schools, bookseller Francesca Wilkins (pictured above) is looking to broaden her communit outreach and fight low literacy rates in the area. Located in the vibrant seaside town—soon
Ruth Comerford @ruth_comerford
14 4th February 2022
to welcome Tracy Emin’s art school, and the home of drag queen Bimini Bon Boulash’s favourite spiced carrot dish—the bookshop occupies a Georgian Grade II-listed building. The former textile studio was taken over by fine art graduate Wilkins, who initially ran pop-up shops in the nearby Turner Gallery, partnering with the Margate Bookie Festival. She signed a five-year lease for the premises in 2019 and poured her savings into the busi- ness, throwing open the aquamarine doors in May of that year. Now, she is planning to continue raising money to get more books into local primary schools. “The area we’re in has extremely
Overheard in-store...
“I thought it was an old woman, named Aris Tottle!”
low levels of children’s literacy and high child povert rates. Schools that were already struggling have been hit even harder by the pandemic, and simply don’t have the money to buy new books,” Wilkins explains. The indie is now £2,000 shy of reaching its target, just three months aſter launching the crowdfund, but Wilkins plans to keep the scheme open should it surpass its £5,000 goal. “I’m working in close contact with local schools and looking to what the next step will be, which might be forming a [Communit Interest Company]. I would like the project
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