A Brief History of The Friar Street Bookshop.

William Smith's single floored The Friar Street Bookshop opened it's doors to Reading's reading public in mid 1984. The bookshop was the town centre branch of The London Street Bookshop the current name of a shop which had opened over one hundred years earlier.

Initially The Friar Street Bookshop sold a wide range of general interest books. The shop had a strong fiction section with Science Fiction and Fantasy being one of the most popular subjects.

In the late 1980s Blackwell took over all of William Smith's bookshops (these being, London Street, University of Reading, Bulmershe and Friar Street.) The London Street Bookshop closed in September 1989, in the same month Blackwell's on King's Road replaced it.

As time went by The Friar Street Bookshop began to specialise more and more with Science Fiction and Fantasy, branching out into selling comics and related toys and games. This specialism took over the shop.

The store held many signings with big names from the world of Science Fiction and Fantasy, including people such as Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, Tom Baker, Leonard Nimoy to name but a few.

Around 2002 the staff at The Friar Street Bookshop suggested re-naming the shop as A Brave New World so that it would be recognisably a Sci-Fi shop and something that wouldn't be confused with a typical Blackwell academic store.

However Blackwell had other ideas for it's sole surviving Reading shop. In 2003, with the name changed from The Friar Street Bookshop to Blackwell's, the shop re-opened on two floors. The ground floor specialising in Maps and Travel whilst Science Fiction and Fantasy was relocated upstairs on the smaller, newly opened first floor.

Many customers thought Blackwell had closed down their Science Fiction shop.

However, the first floor performed far better than the ground. To an extent that, by 2006, Science Fiction and Fantasy was back on the ground floor, bigger and better than before, with the addition of an extensive anime and manga department. What's more, the first floor now housed a new role playing games department.

With Blackwell's Friar Street Bookshop back on track, restored as a Science Fiction and Fantasy specialist, the shop fell victim to Reading's high property rents. The store closed it's doors to the public on September 8th 2007 after almost 25 years of trading.

The end of an era for many.

The end of The Friar Street Bookshop in September 2007.