Rare & second-hand books, maps, ephemera & photographs bought & sold. Established 1981. Tyneside's longest running rare & secondhand bookshop. Member of the ABA, ILAB and PBFA. Beautiful new premises in Whitley Bay crammed with 40,000 books on every conceivable subject. Parking easy
I counted six rooms but they also use the hallways and parts of the stairs, but no matter what the room count is the shop is big, relatively easy to park at, friendly (being more than happy to pull books from the window display for me to look at) and well worth the visit. The upstairs hall was being used for piles of books and boxes of comics and magazines when I was there but the shop is tidy and well laid out. Jeremy Briggs
Taken over by a new owner but the standard of books is still as good as always. Never leave Newcastle without a visit. Chris Harte 14.04.09
Good range of stock, very helpful staff. Paul Simpson 28.07.09
They now have a really splendid selection of Australian town and regional histories some of which are difficult to get even in Australia. Chris Harte 12.09.09
Like other big book shops in area (Alnwick & Carlisle) prices are generally too high, this one is not easy to get to or park by, there are some quality books here but if only there were the odd bargain it would be worth a visit. PaulP 02.08.11
The owner is very unpleasant indeed and I will not be recommending him to anyone and shall tell people of his impoliteness. E 19.04.12
The owner is very pleasant indeed and I will be recommending him to anyone and will always tell people of his politeness. He does have a low tolerance for pillocks, mind. Steve Liddle 23.04.13
Still the best s/h bookshop between Alnwick and York, I think. Went there on a fairly sunny PM. Plenty of stock to browse but some areas are too dark. Needs better lighting installed in the rooms with no windows. Bought 3 good books though. Chris K 16.10.13
Excellemt bookshop well worth a visit. Fair/reasonable prices. Dickl 05.11.15
Enjoyed a recent impromptu visit here with friends. Proprietor seemed pleasant & we were all pleased to find a decent selection of cheap but quality used stock & in my preferred area of science fiction. Made several purchases & would gladly visit to browse again. Darania45 24.09.16
What a great shop. Broad range of stock, most subjects covered. The place has real character with helpful staff. The general readers stock is fairly priced and the collectible books don't seem unreasonable. Andy 20.11.17
Completely transformed from the 1990s era shop that I still fondly remember. No tottering piles of paperbacks threatening to engulf you last you foolishly try to extract one to look at. Keel Row is a clean, tidy and welcoming establishment with room after room of neatly stacked, well organised titles, most if not all in very good condition. Prices are very reasonable and there are even bargains to be had if one looks hard enough. Parking is a problem, however, there is a free car park about five minutes walk away towards the town centre. Definitely worth a visit if you are in the area. Graeme Rendall 11.11.18
Probably one of the best bookshops I have ever been in. Better than any in London or Hay or Cambridge with a welcoming genre of staff who was most helpful. I fell instantly in love with this shop and want to have its babies. light. bright, clean and organised in a characterful end of terrace house. Room after room of books, the shelves are floor to ceiling and the ceilings are very high indeed. stop ladders are liberally scattered throughout I picked up two Terry Pratchett HB 1st Edns I have been seeking as well as other books. All at reasonable prices. There are controlled parking zones all around,. but there is parking available on the forecourt and outside the shop. It is such a pity this is so far from Cambridge but I will visit as often as I am able. A model for other bookshops to follow. Jonathan Morgan 31.07.19
This excellent shop seems to have survived the late panics and terrors in good shape though heaven knows how it prospers in a town like North Shields. You'll need to spend a bit of time here; there's a lot of stock and some of the categories (particularly fiction) seem to be arranged in rather an inscrutable way. There's a very big crime fiction section though (alas!) most of its occupants are paperbacks; many of the hardbacks are (alas and eheu!) mixed up with these. Though it looks out of the way on a map, the shop is only about five minutes' walk away from the North Shields Metro station. Laurence Purcell 10.12.21
Just visited Keel Row in their new premises in Whitley Bay and it’s a huge improvement on their old North Shields site. It is much roomier and everything is easier to find (you are not tripping up over piles of books on the floor any more). They are also still maintaining their excellent quality of stock and at very reasonable prices too. This is undoubtably the best bookshop in the north-east and I would put it in my top-ten for the country. Well worth the effort of making a special trip to visit. If you do go, remember that they have a second floor - the stairs to it are not immediately obvious.
Neil Rennoldson 19.08.23
Open at advertised times
Phone before travelling
Appointment necessary
Status unknown, update requested
