Big Green Bookshop

An Independent bookshop with enough personality to out perform ten chain stores. A fantastic and varied events programme and a range of books chosen by booksellers that know their job. And they’ll even make you a cup of tea and have a chat and not force you to buy a book that you don’t really want just because it’s on a promotion. Everything that a tiny green bookshop should be. And has comfy seats too.

I love Big Green Bookshop. I think I’m turning in to a Big Green-aholic. I keep trying to think of new reasons to pop in – but then they give me plenty of good excuses.

So, I needed a book for a reading group I’m in. I tweeted Big Green Books, and they responded saying they would put one aside for me – how fab is that?

They keep a good range of new and interesting books in store: bestsellers, old favourites, hidden gems, kids books, non-fiction, local interest, and even a rather decent second hand section. And if they don’t have the book you want/need? Give them a day or two and they’ll get it in for you. The guys who run this shop are friendly and engaging – free with advice and suggestions should you need.

Then there’s the events. A monthy Farmer’s Market, a regular Quiz, knitting group, reading groups (including a graphic novels one), writing group, board games day. Add to this story & song times for under 5s, school visits, and an incredible range of author talks and events, I don’t think you need me to urge you to pop in. Come on folks – it’s only just off Wood Green High Road. Take a peek!

Our last surviving indie bookshop and a hidden gem. Friendly staff who know everything there is to know about books. If BGBS doesn't stock it, they're more than happy to hunt it down for you.

Anyone familiar with the depiction of the small independent bookshop in the (excellent) comedy series Black Books will find the Big Green Bookshop a bit of a shock to the system. For the uninitiated, the main character of the TV show, Bernard Black, spends most of the time slouched behind his book-strewn desk, clutching a fag and bottle of cheap wine, and shouting at customers.

I was delighted to discover that this is far from the case here. The owners of the Big Green Bookshop are chatty, friendly, polite and helpful and the shop is clean and extremely well ordered. There’s also a coffee machine and some water on the side provided for browsers

Their inventory, whilst limited by the size of their premises, is packed with interesting books that you might actually want to read. The co-owner I spoke to last time I was there also said they can order most things in in a day or so.

What clinches the 5 star rating for me is that the same co-owner managed to guess the name of a book I had seen reviewed but had forgotten, from the two things I did remember: the word “frog” and the fact that I vaguely remembered that the author was sort of Hungarian.

Not only this, but he pointed me in the direction of another book by the same author, and ordered the one I’d asked for in because he wanted to read it himself. What a legend.