Bookshops in North East/Tyne And Wear

Back Page/NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE/56 St Andrews Street

The Back Page Open at advertised times

56 St Andrews Street NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE NE1 5SF

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tel: 0191 261 5005 e-mail web

Open: Monday - Friday 10.00 - 5.00, Saturday 9.00 - 5.30, Sunday 11.00 - 5.00, and also before kick-off and at least one hour after all Newcastle United FC home games

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Large specialist shop on two floors, selling a vast range of football-related items. Mainly new stock, but some second-hand books and memorabilia such as football programmes. The shop is very close to Newcastle United FC's ground and St James Metro station.

Although this shop, which opened in 2003, has always prioritised football, this is soon to become its exclusive focus. The second-hand offerings are only a small part of the stock, but hard-to-obtain items are sometimes available. The Back Page has another shop, at the Metrocentre in Gateshead, but that sells only new stock. Booker T 28.06.24

Books For Amnesty/NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE/92 Westgate Road

Books For Amnesty Open at advertised times

92 Westgate Road NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE NE1 4AE

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tel: 0191 2220920 e-mail web

Open: Monday - Saturday 10.00 - 5.00, Sunday 11.00 - 3.00

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City-centre shop with wide range of fiction and non-fiction.

A small to medium sized shop close to the mainline railway station, very tidy and well laid out. Probably leaning more to non-fiction books than fiction, it also has a small children's section which, when I was there at least, was a true elephants' graveyard of Blue Peter titles - annuals, paperbacks and small hardbacks. I have never seen so many Blue Peter books in one shop before. Jeremy Briggs

Good varied stock, prices seem to be creeping up so turnover doesn't seem as good as when first opened. PaulP 02.08.11

"Large stock of donated books with plenty of volunteer staff. However all books over £10 in value are unavailable as they are upstairs and on-line. This is unfair to the customers and loses money for Amnesty. Mary C 23.08.11

See review from their Bristol shop. Here too the best books must be downstairs, as there's now little of interest to browse. Lots of more expensive academic titles are now online with both Abe and Amazon, I think. Last time I visited in October I managed to spend a whole £2. Won't go into the current unhappiness of UK Amnesty staff over their re-organisation. Chris K 30.11.12

Back again on 28 January. Couldn't find anything to buy. There are currently 7,495 items on Amazon (a few may be dvds and cds) and only 823 on Abe Books. Been on Abe since 2011; has a mere 2/5 rating. Chris K 30.01.16

Donated some more older p/back fiction items from my deceased brother's collection. Managed to find a good ex-Northumberland Council Library item about 'Fife - The Buildings of Scotland' for just £4. Chris K 09.09.16

Nice little bookshop, close to the railway station and well worth a look! Lots of older literature and non fiction, including collectibles; not many modern academic titles. Had one or two gems here. Meg 08.04.17

Back on Monday the 17th PM. Bought a good £4 item about Paris. Chris K 22.07.17

On first glance, it is a tiny shop however it is home to a surprising amount and range of non-fiction. Some gems to be found although after a few visits I realised that the stock didn't appear to change too much. Only a few minutes walk from the Central Station and the nearby Settle Down Cafe is definitely worth a visit! Graeme Rendall 11.11.18

Not a bad little shop, but little of interest for me. Well organised and some quality stock in a nice accessible area. Prices average for the chain. Jonathan Morgan 31.07.19

The shop is quite compact, but the stock here is good. Better, in fact, than at any of the other charity bookshops on Tyneside. There is high-quality fiction in abundance and a distinctly intellectual tenor to much of the non-fiction. Prices are generally reasonable, and there is a 10% discount for students. An additional plus point is that the shop is in the heart of the city centre, a five-minute walk from Newcastle railway station.

Eighteen shelves of general fiction, with plenty of literary novels and not much dross: paperbacks mostly £3, but range from £2 to £3.50; hardbacks mostly £3, some £3.50. Six small shelves of crime fiction, one shelf of sci-fi and three of fantasy novels: paperbacks £2-£3.50 in each. A small stock of manga. Two shelves of older Penguins: 75p-£2. Six small shelves of classics in paperback, including vintage Penguins: £2-£3. Also a few dozen hardback classic novels: mostly £2-£3.50, but some nice Bodley Head editions of Henry James novels are £10. Two shelves of drama and three of poetry, both high-quality and reasonably priced. One shelf of foreign-language fiction: paperbacks £2-£3. Not untypically for a city-centre charity shop, the children’s section is on the small side: five shelves of paperback fiction (£1-£3), including a few good older titles.

The non-fiction here is of a generally high standard. Some sections are on the small side, but in almost all the quality is at a minimum quite good and in most cases considerably above that level. Philosophy, politics, philosophy, psychology, the social sciences, religion, health and social history are all good, and the stock for science (five shelves) is outstanding. The five shelves of art books are quite good, and reasonably priced. British and world history take up three and five shelves respectively, and the quality is fairly high. Four shelves of travel: varied and quite good. OS maps are £1 each or three for £2.50. Four shelves of Pelicans, reasonably priced. A large local interest section (five shelves), with some interesting titles. A substantial selection of good-quality literary criticism and literary biographies/memoirs.

Smaller sections with some decent titles include film/media, myths and the esoteric, transport, and true crime. Good angling books in the sports section. Just about the only subjects here with a really below-par selection are those typical charity shop mainstays cookery and gardening: head to the nearby Oxfam at Percy Street if those are your main interests.

The five shelves of ‘old and interesting’ books are mostly nothing too special, but there is the odd good find among them, and the prices are sensible. The rare books and documents in the glass case by the till are genuinely rare, and in some instances also of considerable antiquity; the prices (well into three figures for some of the stock) reflect this. Booker T 10.05.26

Farplace Animal Rescue/WHITLEY BAY/21-31 Park View

Farplace Animal Rescue Open at advertised times

21-31 Park View WHITLEY BAY NE26 2TP

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tel: 0191 359 2380 e-mail web

Open: Monday - Saturday 9.00 - 5.00, Sunday 10.00 - 4.00

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Large charity shop, with a substantial stock of books at very low prices. Dog-friendly premises.

The quantity of books here – more than 4,000 – is more notable than the quality. The prices, though, are rock-bottom: the vast majority of paperbacks are 50p and hardbacks £1. Bringing them still lower, there is currently a ‘buy one, get one free’ offer. More than 30 shelves of general fiction (including crime), mostly lowbrow/middlebrow paperbacks. Three shelves of classics. Two small shelves of sci-fi, and the same for foreign-language fiction. A few graphic novels: £1. Neither drama nor poetry features strongly. A good selection of children’s books, all recent: exceptionally cheap at ten for £1.

A fair-sized stock of non-fiction, but the standard is generally undistinguished. A few subjects – gardening, sport, crafts, health, pets and UK topography – have reasonably good stock. But most are very ordinary, with only the odd good title. Travel, politics, history, transport, science, true crime and natural history could be worth a quick look, although the music, art and religion sections are poor. But not everything here is dross and anything you may find of interest will be very cheap indeed. Surprisingly for a shop of this kind, the food and drink section is small, with a notable dearth of cookery books. The five shelves of biographies are almost all lightweight. A few dozen OS and other maps: 50p each. Booker T 07.05.26

Good Books/SUNDERLAND/Unit 6, Avon Street

Good Books Phone before travelling

Unit 6, Avon Street SUNDERLAND SR1 2NG

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tel: 07999 087999 e-mail

Open: Monday - Friday 10.00 - 4.00, Saturday 10.00 -2.00. All times approximate.

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Small retail outlet at a second-hand book wholesaler's industrial unit.

Good Books is primarily a second-hand wholesaler, selling pallets of books, or smaller bundles, to the trade. It does, however, sell books individually, predominantly online. And it recently opened a bookshop at its new premises, to the east of the city centre. This is welcome news, as although Sunderland has a population of 280,000, the city is otherwise a desert as far as second-hand bookshops are concerned. However, enthusiasm should perhaps be tempered by the fact that the shop is small, has rather unreliable opening hours and places a strong emphasis on books that are likely to sell swiftly. So, there is quite a lot of popular fiction by well-known authors, along with children's books, mass-market biographies and a generally mainstream selection of non-fiction. Prices start at just £1. But there are some better books here too, including vintage titles, although most of the higher-value books seem to be set aside for online sale, rather than sold in the shop.

The opening hours vary, as sometimes the staff are busy in the warehouse. The most reliable times to find the shop open are in the middle of the working day. The first and last hour of the stated times, in particular, may be problematic. If travelling a significant distance, it would be prudent to telephone in advance.

Good Books is situated on an unprepossessing industrial street, just over a mile from Sunderland railway station and the bus station. From the city centre, it is served by bus route 11, towards Grangetown. Get on at the Stockton Road/Mary Street stop, near the bus station, and alight at the D'Arcy Court tower block on Hendon Road, which is only a very short walk from the shop. Booker T 12.11.25

Jimmy_s/TYNEMOUTH/Tynemouth Station, Station Terrace

Jimmy's

Tynemouth Station, Station Terrace TYNEMOUTH NE30 4RE

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Open: Wednesday - Friday 7.00 - 1.00, Saturday - Sunday 7.00 - 3.00

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Second-hand bookshop with quite a varied stock, and with a coffee shop as part of the premises.

Jimmy's is a coffee shop and second-hand bookshop at Tynemouth station on the Tyne & Wear Metro. Access is near the Station Terrace entrance. The station is also the site of the weekend Tynemouth Market (see separate TBG entry), which has a bookstall and several other sellers with smaller selections of books. Jimmy's, however, which opened here in 2023, is a larger-scale operation, with permanent premises and a stock of about 1,800 volumes. There are shelves of books in the front room (where the coffee is served) and also a back room filled with books, as well as racks of books outside the premises.

Jimmy's has a good stock of novels, with a decent choice of both popular and literary titles, including classics and a few shelves of older and vintage hardbacks. Quite a lot of crime fiction, but the sci-fi section is on the small side. The non-fiction includes some good titles on popular music, history, true crime, travel and sport, although some of these sections are quite small. A fair number of biographies: some good, some not so good. Also quite a decent selection of children's books. Some books by the same author are sold in bundles. Prices are very reasonable.

Obviously, the best way to get here is to take the Tyne & Wear Metro, which has stations at Newcastle, Wallsend, Sunderland, Gateshead, North Shields, South Shields, Whitley Bay and Jarrow. For Tynemouth, a change of train may be required from some stations (or, although not essential, may speed up your journey). Booker T 17.03.26

The premises may be somewhat cramped, but they hold far more books than are to be found on all the market stalls put together, and the quality is better too. Prices are low. The stock is well categorised, but some shelves have double banking, so a visit here may take longer than you might expect.

Quite good for fiction, in particular. A few reasonably priced first editions. Four shelves of modern literary fiction: paperbacks £1-£2; hardbacks £2-£3. Five small shelves (all double banked) of modern editions of paperback classics: £1-£2. Also about 100 older paperbacks, including vintage Penguins: £2. Four shelves of older hardbacks, rather unexciting, but reasonably priced, most at £3. Half a dozen shelves of romances/family sagas and the same of crime/thrillers: paperbacks from £1. A few small shelves of modern and vintage sci-fi: paperbacks mostly £2/£2.50, some just £1; hardbacks mostly £3. A couple of shelves of dull poetry.

A few shelves of children’s books, including one shelf of classic fiction: mostly £1. A few hundred vintage comics (£1.20 each): mainly DC and Marvel publications, for example ‘Deadmen’ and ‘Next Gen’, but also titles such as ‘Storm Dogs’, ‘Q-Unit’ and ‘Painkiller Jane’ from other publishers; these are worth checking out if comics are your thing.

For non-fiction, the stock is generally of reasonable quality and cheaply priced (£3 or less for almost everything), but no subject takes up more than three shelves. History and war/military have the largest selections, with some quite good stock. A few half-decent titles among the art and travel books, and also some quality among the music, literary and sports biographies. Smaller selections for theatre/film, photography, true crime, religion/spirituality, psychology, philosophy and sociology, with the odd good volume in each. Some nice modern cookbooks at just £2-£3. The LGBTQIA+ shelf was devoid of any books at all, so perhaps some serious selling had been going on in this category. Outside are a few boxes of almost valueless “clearance” books, at 40p each, also some lowbrow paperback fiction (£1) and a random selection of better titles, mostly fiction (£1-£3).

The stock is not large enough to really warrant a visit from any great distance, but if in the area it would be a mistake to pass Jimmy’s by. Nice staff and great coffee too. Booker T 06.05.26

Keel Row Books/WHITLEY BAY/93-97 Park View

Keel Row Books Open at advertised times

93-97 Park View WHITLEY BAY NE26 3RJ

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tel: 0191 296 0664 e-mail web

Open: Tuesday - Saturday 10.00 - 5.00

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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

Fantastic bookshop. I visited with my daughter, who lives in Newcastle, and we both enjoyed our visit and bought books. A great mix of antiquarian and secondhand, all reasonably priced (I don't mean cheap, but appropriately priced). It's a long way from my home but I hope to visit again soon. madbear 10.08.25

The new premises are bigger and better than the old shop at North Shields. One large room downstairs and two rooms upstairs. A large antiquarian stock. This is one of the finest bookshops in the north of England and is WWAD.

The fiction (most of which is upstairs) is very good indeed. A large stock of contemporary novels: paperbacks £1.50-£3; hardbacks mostly reasonably priced. An impressive array of older and vintage Penguins: modest prices, mostly £2-£4. Also a sizeable stock of classic literature in hardback (‘classic’ a fairly loose term): mixed prices, some a bit steep. Plenty of sci-fi paperbacks, including many older titles: £1-£4.

A large selection of crime/thrillers: paperbacks (including a few dozen vintage green Penguins) mostly around the £3 mark; recent hardbacks £4-£6; older hardbacks mixed pricing, but reasonable. A decent selection of horror, fantasy and historical novels too. Some decent drama at quite cheap prices. An excellent selection of poetry. Many first edition novels: some prices a shade high. Twenty shelves of Folio Society, mostly £15-£35; some higher.

Lots of ‘young adult’ fiction and modern children’s fiction at reasonable prices. An excellent selection of vintage and collectable children’s books, in very good condition, but the prices for these are generally steep, very much so in some cases. Annuals from the 1970s onwards (’Tiger’, ‘The Beano’, ‘The Topper’ etc): mostly £3-£5, but up to £8.

Some high-quality non-fiction here, with a very large stock in many subjects. A huge stock for history (all periods, British and foreign): many volumes reasonably priced. Also very good for military, with a large and good selection, although I spotted little that is genuinely rare. Excellent for local history: northern England - especially Northumberland and the northern parts of Co. Durham - but some good Scottish books too. Also excellent for natural history: a large selection, including some uncommon titles. Very good for travel/exploration: varied, with many obscure older volumes. Good for railways and maritime. A few interesting older titles for food/drink and gardening.

A large and impressive stock of art books, many rather overpriced. Some nice architecture, design and photography volumes. Interesting stock for religion, myths/legends and ‘esoteric’. Quite good also for politics, philosophy, psychology, women’s history, science/ecology and film/TV. Also some good true crime, including moderately priced volumes in the ‘Notable British Trials’ series (£12-£25). Excellent biographies, notably the ten shelves on literary figures.

The quality and depth of the stock at this shop make it quite difficult to identify any subject category as sub-standard, but I would say that music and sport are probably the chinks in the armour. Some musical genres have decent stock ((pop, jazz, blues), but classical music and opera are not especially good. Sport is relatively weak, but there are a few unusual older titles, and motor racing and country pursuits at least are well represented. Booker T 07.05.26

Olivers Bookshop/WHITLEYBAY/48a Whitley Road

Olivers Bookshop Open at advertised times

48a Whitley Road WHITLEY BAY NE26 2NF

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tel: 0191 2513552, mob: 07718 392830

Open: Monday & Thursday - Saturday 11.00 - about 4.00

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A large, diverse and good-quality stock of fiction and non-fiction. Payment by cash or cheque.

Easy to park at and only a short walk from the main shopping area of Whitley Bay, this bright, friendly, medium sized shop has a remarkable amount of books for it size. Many are in piles rather than on the shelves leaving you wary of removing any but the topmost ones, but it can be worth the risk as it has turned up a few surprises in its time. It has had some comics and magazines in the past and has a good comics related section. Jeremy Briggs

This shop really is a treasure trove with an owner who is one of the most helpful and co-operative I have met. There are titles ranging from the very rare to good Victoriana. Allow at least three hours for a detailed browse through the selection on offer. Chris Harte 12.09.09

In an area which has some massive second hand bookshops this shop shows that smaller is often much better, it's far easier to buy from and far nicer to visit. PaulP 05.11.11

There are a lot of charity shops in better sites in the centre of this town. However the calibre of their books combined doesn't get anywhere near Olivers' stock. Just a shame that the owner couldn't/wouldn't afford larger premises so that you can easily view everything of interest. Shelves still doubled and high neat piles in front of them. He also attends the Tynemouth fairs but has next to nothing online - not a fan of computers, packing nor posting. Chris K 13.04.13

An old school bookdealer in the best sense: has been in business here for almost 40 years. The stock is deceptively deep for a small shop, which consists of a couple of rooms lined with shelves. Lots of unusual and uncommon titles, owner has a discerning eye so will be of interest to collectors as much as to readers. Well organised, some overspill but easy to browse through. Strong on art, design, photography and graphics, plus local history especially industrial and commercial history, including coal mining and shipbuilding. Good selection on the history of ideas, literary fiction, graphic novels and some Folio Society titles. Selection of ephemera and trade catalogues. Stock in VG or better condition. Prices seem average for condition and rarity, running from £5 to £100. Handy for the Metro, and on-street parking nearby is much easier than for Keel Row Books at the opposite end of Whitley Bay. Definitely worth visiting both shops if in town. Mr Wolf 04.09.25

This underrated and old-fashioned establishment rather has its thunder stolen by the larger, flashier Keel Row Books (also TBG-listed), which has relocated here. But the two shops are within a mile of one another and it would be madness to visit Whitley Bay without checking out both. As others have mentioned, there are a surprising number of books packed in here at Oliver’s, with double banking and large stacks on the floor. Allow plenty of time. Prices are generally reasonable. The self-effacing but helpful owner may give a discount if your purchases are substantial. The shop was very busy on the Saturday I visited, with serious sums being spent, which was heartening to see.

A vast array of fiction, in both paperback and hardback. A huge selection of literary fiction in paperback (£1.50-£3; mostly £2.50), with plenty of classics (£2.50-£3). Vintage Penguins up to £5. A large stock of sci-fi, including vintage paperbacks (mostly £3, some £5). Also lots of crime fiction, with plenty of Golden Age titles: paperbacks mostly £1.50-£2.50; green Penguins £2-£4. Some good drama and a large and high-quality poetry section. Lots of hardback fiction in all genres, carefully priced (a bit steep in some cases). A fair-sized stock of Folio Society, in very good condition, mostly £12-£20. An excellent selection of vintage children’s fiction; also good modern children’s books. A few dozen Ladybirds: £5-£12. Annuals, 1960s-80s (‘Rupert’, ‘Magpie’ etc): £5-£6. Vintage comics (‘Spider-Man’ etc): £3.

Much to be praised among the non-fiction too. Large transport, art, history and military sections, with some real quality. Railways and shipping are very good; aviation and motoring slightly less so. History and military include a fair proportion of stodgy old stuff, but also some excellent stock. Rather high prices for the best art, military and railway books.

Other subjects with very good quality include natural history (some overpricing), local history (Northumberland and Co. Durham), mining/engineering, literary criticism, and food/drink (unusual older titles). The politics section has interesting volumes, including ‘Left Book Club’ titles in good condition at £3 each. Some good biographies, many elusive. A large selection for travel/exploration, but some rather fusty stock; the religion section is similarly lacklustre. A large stock of OS maps: mostly £2.50. A few good music titles. Also some decent cricket books in a generally underwhelming sports section.

Oliver’s is a short walk from the town centre, but within five minutes of Whitley Bay Metro station, which is the quickest and easiest way to get here by public transport. The shop is also served by the 301 bus from Gateshead, Newcastle and Tynemouth, which stops almost directly outside; alight at Grafton Road. Booker T 06.05.26

Oxfam Books and Music/NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE/57 St George_s TerraceJesmond

Oxfam Books and Music Open at advertised times

57 St George's Terrace Jesmond NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE NE2 2SX

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tel: 0191 2818383 e-mail web

Open: Monday - Saturday 10.00 - 5.00, Sunday 11.00 - 3.00

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Opposite Tesco Metro store. Paid my first visit today. More impressive than the Newcastle City Centre Hood Street shop. Larger and better stocked, with good history section. Fair number of coffee table and academic titles too. Expensive hammered metal finish dark brown shelving. [The shop was previously an off-licence.] Nearest Metro train station is West Jesmond Chris K 19.08.10

Not easy to park by but an elegant and well laid out shop, usual oxfam prices. If only Oxfam would realise that they would make a lot more money for their charity if they charged charity shop prices! PaulP 02.08.11

Thank you Paul P for the wonderful comments about our shop. We are a relatively new shop and are always keen to hear feedback. Oxfam do feel that we have a duty to our donors to achieve the best price we can for our books whilst also giving good value for money. Everything we make goes a long way - supporting Oxfam's work worldwide to end poverty and inequality. Katie Liddle, Jesmond Oxfam Bookshop 17.11.11

Went back to check whether I'd been unfair to this shop .. I have, most of the books are priced very reasonably and they have a lot of interesting nearly new books, also nice places for coffee nearby. PaulP 06.03.13

Popped in there today, fairly large selection of books available, good selection too. Like the fact that that have a classic authors section. Will definitely be going back. Michael 05.04.14

Back here on a nice sunny day - 7th March. Found an even better hardback version when I already had the p/b. Cost me £19.99 though. Nice chat with the middle-aged lady. Still the best charity bookshop in the Newcastle area. Chris K. 10.03.17

Not open on Monday the 17th PM. Shame. Chris K 22.07.17

Back again on Friday the 24th of November. Did give some well sorted s/h non-fiction items to them. And found a nice book for me at just £2.49. Chris K 28.11.17

Remains the best of the charity book shops on Tyneside. Typical Oxfam prices but decent selection of subjects and titles . Always seem to find something here that I'm prepared to buy. Some of the better newly donated titles appear to be put on a shelf at front of shop before being sorted properly. Always worth a return visit each month. Graeme Rendall 09.08.18

Bought one book here. Nowhere near as good as the Durham Oxfam with lots of wasted space and not a hugely varied or interesting stock. Bog standard Oxfam bookshop really. Parking is not problem outside. Jonathan Morgan 31.07.19

The shop is currently closed for refurbishment. The scheduled reopening date is Friday 24th April. Check the shop's Instagram page if planning a visit soon after that date. Booker T 19.04.26

The refit is complete and the shop has reopened. Thousands of pounds have been spent on new wooden shelves and flooring and a freshened-up exterior, but the shop was perfectly adequate in its previous incarnation, and the improvement, if indeed there is any at all, is marginal. Rather more space than before seems to be given over to fair-trade tat and DVDs/CDs. While I was there, two customers opined that the changes had made the shop worse, and the volunteers reacted with petulant outrage. Why Oxfam is so eager to keep spaffing donors’ money on endless refurbishments and refits when it could so obviously be put to much better use is quite beyond comprehension.

But what is the stock like here? The answer is, to be fair, not at all bad. Ten shelves of general fiction of mostly reasonable quality: £2.49-£2.99 for both paperbacks and hardbacks. Also a couple of boxes of recent hardbacks (mostly lowbrow) at 99p. Eleven shelves of crime fiction: paperbacks £1.99-£2.99; hardbacks £2.49-£3.99. Four shelves of sci-fi/fantasy, good quality and very varied: paperbacks 50p-£2.99, hardbacks £2.99-£9.99. Two shelves of classics: paperbacks 99p-£2.99. One shelf of poetry, quite good, but the plays are mostly mundane. A small stock of anime/manga and graphic novels, modestly priced. Also a smattering of foreign-language fiction (mainly French): paperbacks mostly £1.99.

A dozen shelves of children’s books, quite good: paperback fiction 60p-£2.99, including older titles. Four shelves of ‘young adult’ fiction: £2.49-£2.99. Also a small amount of decent non-fiction. About 20 annuals, 1970s onwards (‘Beezer’, ‘Tom and Jerry’ etc): £2.49-£2.99.

For non-fiction, the natural history stock is very good indeed, and reasonably priced. Few other sections are at all exceptional, but there is decent quality in travel, transport, science, health, cookery, religion, military and British history (only average for other branches of history). The art books (three shelves) are generally good, but the better ones are steeply priced. Smaller sections with a few good titles include philosophy, politics, the esoteric, true crime, local interest, LGBT, sport, film and music. Plenty of good sheet music, cheaply priced. A few dozen OS maps: 49p-£2.99. The gardening books are disappointing. Six shelves of biographies (£2.49-£3.99) include quite a few good literary, political and historical titles, although these are outnumbered by the usual celebrity tosh. The glass cabinets contain little of interest, except perhaps for one, which has some high-end modern sci-fi hardbacks, at ambitious prices.

West Jesmond station on the Tyne & Wear Metro is within a five-minute walk. The Q3 bus route from Wallsend, Newcastle and Gosforth runs along Osborne Road, very close to the shop; the nearest stops are Sanderson Road and Lindisfarne Road. Booker T 10.05.26

Oxfam Shop/NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE/99 Percy Street

Oxfam Shop Open at advertised times

99 Percy Street NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE NE1 7RT

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tel: 0191 2220358 e-mail web

Open: Monday - Saturday 9.00 - 5.00

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General Oxfam shop with a sizeable book section.

About half of the kind of stock which was at the former Hood Street is now installed in this general charity shop. Has been there for about 2 weeks, I was told. Books, CDs and DVDs. Not a bad selection - bought 2 cheap books and a map today. The building is not that wonderful. A single storey flat-roofed affair, which needs some re-painting. Worth a visit - on the corner of Percy St and St Thomas's St; opposite the main bus station and the west side of Marks & Spencer. Nearer Newcastle University which could boost sales. Chris K 09.02.14

It has now been repainted outside in a very light grey colour. Moderately good book stock to browse; as usual. Chris K 14.06.14

Nice selection of books but they need to check DVDs before sale. Both box sets I bought had 2 discs missing! Unacceptable. Meg 05.11.15

Did manage to find a good art book for only £2.49. The amount of books is somewhat less than it started with, but at least the bookshelves are now better sorted than more recently. Chris K 09.09.16

Now this area has 53 bits in the large glass cases for more expensive items. So the normal non-fiction ones seem less than they used to have. However, I bought 2 good, fairly cheap books: only cost me £6.48. Chris K 10.06.17

Back in here on the 16th of February. Bought a nice item for only £0.99. The number of bits of the special items is much less than it used to be. Also, the other non-fiction items are much less too - need to be added. Still a good number of fiction p-b ones though. Chris K 22.02.18

Not an Oxfam bookshop per se but more like one long shelf of fiction and four much smaller and lower shelves of non-fiction, together with a glass case of "collectables" at the rear of an Oxfam shop. Well sorted out but completely average stock with big gaps on the shelves in places, never seem to find anything worth pulling my wallet out for. The Jesmond Oxfam bookshop is far better and worth the two-stop journey from the nearby Haymarket Metro station. Graeme Rendall 09.08.18

This large general Oxfam has about 2,500 books and, although the quality is not in any way outstanding, the prices are reasonable. It would be worth a quick look if in the centre of Newcastle. The stock of general fiction is of disappointing calibre: 20 shelves of paperbacks (£1.99-£2.99), mostly mid/mass-market, quite heavy on romances, with only a little literary fiction. About 60 recently published hardback novels, mostly middlebrow/crime: £2.49-£2.99. The crime fiction, almost all recent, takes up 14 shelves: paperbacks £1.99-£3.49. A single shelf of sci-fi: paperbacks £2.49-£2.99; a few sci-fi hardbacks at £1.99-£4.99. Two shelves of classic fiction: paperbacks £1.99-£2.49. Quite a small stock of poetry and plays, but the poetry is good-quality. Five shelves of children's books, almost all recent fiction: 99p-£2.49.

The shop is stronger for non-fiction, some of which is of an academic nature, reflecting the presence nearby of the city's universities. No subject has a large stock (most just a shelf or two). The best sections are history, politics, social sciences, religion, literary criticism and music. The history includes some high-quality and elusive volumes, especially for British history. The military books are mostly nothing special, but a few unusual titles.

The biographies are evenly divided between mass-market froth and serious, heavyweight works, with good literary and political titles at low prices (£2.49-£2.99). Charity-shop mainstays cookery, gardening and health have some decent stock. The art, travel and sports books are fairly average. Run-of-the mill stock in the small natural history section, but a few distinctly niche volumes too: anyone interested in the 575-page large-format 'Wildflowers of the United Arab Emirates', with hundreds of photographs, should hurry on down here - it's a snip at £2.49. A couple of shelves of 'collectable' books: unexciting, but modestly priced. Three glass cabinets with mildly interesting stock - mostly unusual non-fiction - at mixed prices, some quite optimistic.

The shop is very close to Haymarket Metro station and Eldon Square bus station. Newcastle Central railway station is about a ten-minute walk away. Booker T 18.01.26

Renwick_s Reading Room/GATESHEAD/Gibside

Renwick's Reading Room Open at advertised times

Gibside Rowlands Gill GATESHEAD NE16 6BG

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Open: Daily 11.00 - 4.00.

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Fundraising bookroom selling donated books at National Trust property.

Nice way to end a woodland walk on the estate, in the courtyard of the Stable block along with a small cafe, not bad charity shop stock, suggested donation 50p a book, very nice little room complete with comfy sofa. PaulP 11.04.16

Salvation Army/WHITLEYBAY/243 Whitley Road

The Salvation Army Open at advertised times

243 Whitley Road WHITLEY BAY NE26 2SY

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tel: 01912 530849 web

Open: Monday 9.00 - 5.00, Tuesday 9.45 - 5.00, Wednesday - Saturday 9.00 - 5.00

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Upstairs bookroom in general charity shop.

The whole first floor of this charity shop is given over to secondhand books. Graeme Rendall 13.11.18

Second time in here but both the quality and quantity of books appears to have reduced. Not as good as the St Oswald's Hospice Bookshop in the town and really not worth the effort. Graeme Rendall 09.04.19

The bookroom on the first floor is on the small side and the stock is rather ordinary, but the prices are low: paperbacks are £1 and hardbacks £2 unless otherwise priced (very few are). Paperbacks dominate the fiction. Most of the titles on the 18 shelves of general fiction are mass/mid-market, but there is a fair proportion of literary novels too. A single shelf of classics. Eleven shelves of crime/thrillers, almost all recent. A small selection of run-of-the-mill drama, but very little poetry. One shelf of vintage books, mainly older hardback fiction, seriously overpriced. A decent-sized and good stock of recently published children’s books. Also annuals (‘The Broons’, ‘Oor Wullie’, ‘The Dandy’ etc): £1 each. Hundreds of copies of ‘The Beano’, mainly recent, but some from the 1990s: £2 each.

The non-fiction is patchy. The health and cookery sections are quite large and the quality is very decent (especially the cookbooks), but that’s as good as it gets. The four shelves of biographies include a minority of better volumes, but are mainly lowbrow. Small and generally mundane selections for sport, history, military, travel and music, with a smattering of decent titles among them. A small stock of sheet music. Also a few dozen railway magazines (50p each) and recent Newcastle United FC matchday programmes (£3).

Across the street are two other charity shops. Scope has only a tiny stock of books and is not worth bothering with. RSPCA (186 Whitley Road, Monday-Saturday, 9.30am-4.30pm) has about 800, but the quality is not high. Popular paperback fiction (50p) and children’s books (25p each; five for £1) are the two mainstays. Hardbacks are £1.50 each and children’s annuals £2. Booker T 06.05.26

St Oswald_s Hospice Bookshop/NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE/181-183 High StreetGosforth

St Oswald's Hospice Bookshop Open at advertised times

181-183 High Street Gosforth NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE NE3 1HE

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tel: 0191 284 7298 web

Open: Monday - Saturday 9.00 - 4.30

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Charity bookshop selling donated books.

Went back there while in the town. Sorry but my both times not very good. Don't think I'll bother there again. Chris K 28.11.17

A charity bookshop but a cut above the norm with a good general stock, not huge and with the usual donated mass market fiction. Parking on street nearby and other charity shops in the area. Jonathan Morgan 31.07.19

Quite similar to the St Oswald’s bookshop at Whitley Bay (also TBG-listed). The 72 shelves of general fiction (60 shelves of paperbacks, 12 of hardbacks), include crime novels and paperback romances in abundance, but also a significant proportion of literary fiction. Ten shelves of historical fiction and fantasy novels, but not much sci-fi. Two shelves of classics. Almost all novels are £2. One shelf of plays, one of poetry, both dull. Twenty Folio Society volumes: mostly £5-£6, but up to £15. An impressive selection of children’s books: 28 shelves, mainly modern paperback fiction (£1-£2).

For non-fiction, the prices are generally low (typically £2), but some quite steep mark-ups for anything unusual. The best sections are cookery (five shelves) and health (three). Some good ornithology books on the three natural history shelves, which also contain a few unusual titles, such as ‘Ladybirds of North East England’ (a snip at £3). In many sections, however - gardening, transport, travel, history, military, local interest, religion, sport and art - the stock is of only average quality. A few decent books on photography, also crafts. The small music section includes interesting biographies, but the main biography section (five shelves) is heavy on celebrity titles, with only a few good volumes. Some quite good sheet music (£1).

Oxfam at 118 High Street, NE3 1HB (Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm; Saturday 9am-4.30pm) very nearby, across the road, is worth checking out. It has 1,300 books; the quality is quite good and the prices very reasonable. A dozen shelves of paperback fiction (mostly £2.49-£2.99, a few £1.99), including two shelves of classics. Some good drama and poetry at quite low prices. A shelf of good-quality French paperback novels (£2.49). A few graphic novels. Six shelves of good-quality children’s books. Seven shelves of non-fiction, including decent stock for both history and natural history. About 60 OS maps: £1.99. One shelf of vintage books: nothing spiffing, but reasonably priced.

Gosforth is an affluent suburb, only a couple of miles north of the centre of Newcastle. South Gosforth station on the Tyne & Wear Metro is a ten-minute walk from the High Street. Numerous bus routes from Newcastle city centre serve the High Street stops; some also serve Morpeth (X14, X15, 43), Alnwick (X15, X18, X20), Berwick-on-Tweed (X15, X18), Blyth (X9, X10, X11, X30) and North Shields (354). Booker T 09.05.26

St Oswald_s Hospice Bookshop/WHITLEYBAY/37-39 Park View

St Oswald's Hospice Bookshop Open at advertised times

37-39 Park View WHITLEY BAY NE26 2TP

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tel: 0191 251 3528 web

Open: Monday - Saturday 10.00 - 4.30

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Dedicated charity bookshop for this local hospice. Not to be confused with the same charity's general store in the same street in Whitley Bay at 72-76 Park View.

Small but very reasonably priced collection of charity-shop level books, with equal sized non-fiction and paperback fiction sections. Better than the Salvation Army shop down the road but still probably only worth a look if you're in the vicinity. Only five minutes' walk from Whitley Bay Metro Station. Graeme Rendall 09.04.19

The second-hand books occupy the ground floor here; St Oswald’s has the first floor too, but that’s filled with posh frocks and wedding dresses. This is a fairly decent charity bookshop, although not an exceptional one. Sixty shelves of general fiction (including a lot of crime novels and a small amount of sci-fi): rather mixed quality, but a decent proportion of literary fiction. Five shelves of classics. Six small shelves of romances. Paperbacks in all genres £1.75. Hardbacks £2.

A couple of shelves of poetry, rather disappointing, but the single shelf of drama contains a number of nice volumes. A few dozen high-quality foreign-language novels, mostly £1.50/£1.75. A very large selection of children’s books, mostly £1. Lots of fiction and some good children’s non-fiction. Half a dozen shelves of teenage fiction: paperbacks £1.50. A few annuals (‘The Dandy’ etc) from the 1980s: £2.50. Six shelves of vintage books: mainly rather dull older novels (reasonably priced) or tedious large sets of volumes that are unlikely to sell, but also a few dozen Pelicans in good condition (£1-£1.75).

Prices for the non-fiction are generally low (many of the books are £2.50), but the quality varies significantly by subject. Cookery, health and gardening (two/three shelves each) all have good stock, with some notably cheap cookbooks. Six shelves of history/military: quite good, although nothing outstanding. A small selection of literary criticism of a decent standard. The books on religion are very varied and quite high-quality. Art, crafts, natural history, science and sport have a few good titles, but the overall quality is mediocre. The travel section is bland. A few dozen OS maps: £1. The biography section (six shelves) is rather disappointing, but there are a few good music biographies. Certainly the best of the Whitley Bay charity bookshops. Booker T 07.05.26

Tynemouth Market/TYNEMOUTH/Station Terrace

Tynemouth Market Open at advertised times

Station Terrace TYNEMOUTH NE30 4RE

tel: 07907 468 441 e-mail web

Open: Saturday & Sunday 9.00 - 3.30

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"Located within Tynemouth Rail Station on the Tyne and Wear Metro Network." "TWO MARKET PLATFORMS, ONE GOOD DAY OUT! – A huge variety with over 150 stalls selling everything from Antiques, collectables and bric-a-brac, to art, toys and fresh produce. The Market’s magnificent glazed roof offers shelter whatever the British weather brings, rain or shine!"

There is one long-standing regular bookstall here every Sat and Sun, mostly popular paperbacks, and one more occasional stall of literary collectables, as well as books on other, general bric-a-brac, stalls. Mark V 07.06.25

Rather a dud as far as books are concerned, at least if the Saturday on which I visited was at all representative. There are two major caveats, however: Jimmy’s (see separate TBG listing) is certainly worth a look, and the venue hosts the Tynemouth Book Fairs, held on Sundays every couple of months or so.

But the regular weekend market itself was a big disappointment. Just a single bookstall on the day I was there, on Platform 2 (the same side as Jimmy’s), near the footbridge steps: 850 books, largely paperback novels (mostly £2, some £1.50), predominantly romances, also modern crime fiction, but little else. For non-fiction, the choice is meagre, but the quality is not too bad and at least the prices are low – typically £2-£3, with almost nothing more than £5. A few dozen books in total on history, military, local interest, sport and cookery, and a few biographies, some quite good. A small selection of children’s books (paperback fiction £1.50) and some 1960s/70s annuals (’Tarzan’, ‘Beezer’, ‘The Topper’, ‘Judy’: £3-£4). The stallholder, who takes cash only, told me that she trades at the market on Saturdays and Sundays.

A few other stalls have a small and random stock of books of no great merit. Another has a couple of hundred OS and other maps: modern £3; vintage up to £15. At the other side of the footbridge, on Platform 1, is a stall with graphic novels, vintage comics – mainly DC/Vertigo and Marvel titles (‘Swamp Thing’, ‘Blade, ‘Midnight, Mass.’ etc) – and annuals (‘Superheroes’, ‘Spider-Man’, ‘Judge Dredd’), reasonably priced.

One last thing: cynophobes thinking of visiting this market should brace themselves for an anxious experience at almost every turn. Booker T 06.05.26

Secondhand and Antiquarian Bookshops in the UK and Republic of Ireland