There's something special on Silver Street

When I re-started this blog I promised I'd share bookshop adventures new and old, so here's a visit from 2019, to a bookshop that makes the word "thrive" sound like an understatement.

One of the most common questions I'm asked when on my bookshopping adventures is along the lines of "where is your bookshop?" or "when will you be opening your own bookshop?" and my answer is always the same: I'm a bookshopper, not a bookseller.

I love bookshops and admit I share the dream of having a bookshop of my own, a bookshop filled with books, sunlight, tea, and the community spirit generated by a mass of friendly customers. The dream is perfect. The reality is something a little less idyllic as it involves all of the above and a lot of hard work. It also requires that certain something – what I definitely think of as a secret ingredient. 

There's no way to describe that something, it's not a secret booksellers are keeping from us, but – now I'm aware of it – I realise it's there in every successful independent bookshop I've ever met. The first time I realised there was such a mysterious secret ingredient was when I visited Drake the Bookshop in fledgling form, sometime around its seven monthiversary.

At the time Drake was located in a corner space of part of a sort of upmarket indoor market. The bookshop lacked two walls a door and the all-important bookshop window, but even without those things it was clear to see something special had been created. I didn't know Drake would go on to become a success, but what was written all over the bookshop space was that here is a bookshop that cares about its customers AND knows how to make sure they know it. Richard and Mel knew how to balance fun with books and business (as I've previously mentioned, we've all got to eat), and their determination to serve the readers of Stockton was – and still is – there for all to see.

Fast forward four years and, in 2019, I returned to Stockton to see how things had changed. Drake the bookshop had moved and become a 'proper' bookshop with windows and a door (who am I kidding, it was *always* a proper bookshop, it had simply expanded into a more traditional physical space). The bookshop had (I'd guess) at least three times the space of its original unit and as a result the variety and volume of stock significantly increased. I write in the past tense, because since that visit I hear they've expanded again.

During that visit in 2019 and so I assume today, there was a lovely seating area that could accommodate any number of popular reading and literary groups (I lost track of all the options but having been following their progress online, I really, really want to join in their silent book club, or any silent book club – please take that as a hint local-to-me cafes and pubs).

Back in 2016, Drake had just arranged its first author event. At the time of my last visit the bookshop was in the final throes of arranging another ambitious author road trip, affectionately known as GNAT. Jump to 2026 and I see that a few days ago the latest Great Northern Author Tour (yes, GNAT) took place, and having read their write-up of the day I'm pleased to see the event – like the bookshop – has gone from strength to strength. 

These are some of the changes over the years but other things I've experienced at Drake remain the same: a carefully chosen selection of books; a warm welcome for every visitor (including for one young family that was simply passing by in the street, the enthusiasm of Drake is definitely not contained within its four walls); and a reassuring confidence in all things bookshop. This confidence was best demonstrated in conversation with Richard and Mel, when I paused from my browsing to catch up on book and bookshop news and Richard handed me Leonard and Hungry Paul by Ronan Hession, saying "read this". I love it when people make recommendations so the book became my purchase of the visit and later turned out to be exactly the book I needed to read – it recently also became exactly the TV adaptation I needed to watch. I love it when adaptations do justice to the original, but please do read the book first.

During the 2019 visit we also bought No one is too small to make a difference, by Greta Thunberg; Out of the Wreckage, A new politics for an age of crisis, by George Monbiot; How to be invisible, by Kate Bush; and Memoirs of a book thief by A Tota and P Van Hove. I say we, the majority of these were actually chosen by The Boy, who clearly enjoyed browsing while I caught up.

We travelled around 300 miles to visit Drake the Bookshop, which is why it's been a few years since our previous visit but we also know we will be back. The people of Stockton need only walk down the street to get there, I hope they know how lucky they are. 

Drake the Bookshop
26-27 Silver Street,
Stockton-on-Tees,
TS18 1SX