In me Liverpool home, waah

[rebness]

You know, as if it wasn't enough that Liverpool City Council plastered over Chavasse park (one of the few remaining green spaces in the city proper) to build yet another friggin' shopping centre, now I hear that they have forced Henry Bohn books to close.

This store was, hands down, the most awesome store in Liverpool. It was conveniently located right next to Lime Street, so that when waiting for a train you could always pop in and peruse the books. It was a secondhand bookstore that both helped me get rid of some dire university texts and also introduced me to crazy, crazy out-of-print stuff. I have 19th century copies of Hamlet and the sonnets from there. I bought Manon Lescaut for £2 from there, old French and German texts for my brother and myself and endless literature on the Spanish Civil War that you just can't find in clean-cut Waterstones. It provided jaffacakequeen  with a hardback copy of Tale of the Body Thief and patchworkgirl_  with several demented Hollywood biographies.

There was always classical music playing in there and you could always listen to the owner and his friends debating the political issue of the day. It was small and understated, a place where you could find all kinds of literate Scousers from all walks of life. Every time you bought a book, no matter how obscure, the owner had an opinion on the topic. He would always round down the prices of your purchases. It was the perfect place and I always looked forward to stocking up on obscure titles when in Liverpool.

BUT NO MORE. The city council (the most wasteful in terms of resources, according to the Government) has decided that, like Chavasse park, it needs to go for modernisation. And once again, they have it completely backwards. It is things like Henry Bohn books that make Liverpool what it is; an eccentric old city where you can find Socialists and academics in the oddest of places. It drives me up the wall; just when you begin to appreciate a place, they take away yet another of its awesome features. Places have to change, I know; just why Liverpool always gets it so wrong is beyond me.

Last time I was there, they were talking of protesting against it. Now it's shut, but Kel reports that the protest continues. I wish it would help. Hopefully, this store will open up somewhere else in the city, because I'll be damned if WHSmith get a penny out of me.

Comments

[rebness.livejournal.com]

It is a very ugly area -- but you know what offends me the most? That ugly, ugly 1960s-style office thing towering over that street - I think that's the one you're talking about? I hope that building above all is razed to the ground and quickly eroded from history.

[hobbitblue.livejournal.com]

That's the one, yep - used to have the area office for NACAB in it (National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux) when my mum worked for CAB and I used to hate going there, though it wasn't nearly as nasty inside as out, but just that whole area makes my skin crawl, no clue why..

[rebness.livejournal.com]

It's poorly-designed... I think also because it's cut off from St. Johns and all that because of that busy road. Oh, and perhaps the rough-n-ready people who congregate behind the Punch and Judy. Heehee.

I think Liverpool would be better focusing on green spaces and pedestrianising certain areas. Sometimes I wander down to the port in Barcelona (which was alarmingly similar to the uglier parts of Liverpool before the Olympics) and they've just got it so right -- opened up spaces, introduced traffic calming and focused on culture. It just seems every fabulous plan that Liverpool has (remember the trams?) goes the way of just lining corrupt city officials' pockets.

Hey, my dad worked for the CAB! The one in Kirkby, granted, but it was damned interesting.