For our first Books and Brews review it is local favourite, House of Books & Friends. If you’re in the centre of Manchester we’d highly recommend a quick parallel side-step from the pains of Market Street to the safe haven that is the House of Books & Friends.
Established at the end of 2022 as a Community Interest Company (a company that must satisfy the community it serves as opposed to shareholders), House of Books & Friends’ main aim is to combat loneliness. The bookshop was founded and funded through gunnercooke LLP, which states one purpose is “to leave a better world than we found”, so it’s quite clear that this is a worthy venture to treat a serious community problem. How nice, to lessen loneliness through books! Aside from the selling of books, there’s a variety of events to really solidify their MO and provide for the community. Recent examples include several book clubs, as well as mates and dates evenings and designated chatty tables for people happy and open to speak to others. The staff, understandably, are very friendly and open, and so alongside the shop’s ethos this brings an informal and relaxed feel to the ground floor of this historic Manchester Club building.
The bookshop has a warm feel as soon as you enter: they have cultivated the perfect combination of books shelves, space to browse and a place for coffee. As you enter, there’s a generous four-sided central pillar of new and signed books, with a sofa section on the right surrounded by two sides of fiction, classics and poetry; whilst on the left, there is a childrens’ book section. Between the cafe counter and fiction is a small doorway leading to non-fiction and an extra space for cafe seating. Further still, beyond the rows of bookshelves, is a third room sometimes used for seating but now more commonly dedicated to afternoon teas. For us, we felt that the choice of freshly published books and general fiction, covering a wide diversity, was great; the booksellers really seem to have a nice balance of books to hand.
Sometimes, with bookshops, you can feel as though you’ve entered a library or some such site of literary reverence where speaking is not permitted and it can feel austere. This is certainly not the case for the wonderful and friendly House of Books & Friends, where you can find a low level hum of book enthusiasm and friendly discussion as café meets book-browsing.
The cafe is well stocked with various cakes, including gluten free and vegan, as well as offering several sandwich choices. We enjoyed our coffees, have been here loads and will continue to return many more times in the future!