[June 2026] Alnwick, an old town in Northumberland, England, has more to offer than just its castle.
One such attraction is the used bookshop, “Barter Books.”
What makes it special is that it was once a railway station.
While there are no railway lines to Alnwick today, a branch line connecting Alnwick to Alnmouth station, 6 kilometres east of the town, opened in the late 19th century.
Alnmouth station is still in operation, but the railway to Alnwick was closed in the 1960s due to a policy of eliminating unprofitable lines.
However, the station building, a listed property, remained standing and was used for a time as a workshop and warehouse.
A couple running a small manufacturing business in one corner of the building came up with the idea to open a used bookshop.
When it first opened in 1991, it occupied only a small part of the train station, but as it grew, it expanded into a large shop covering the entire station.
Now, it sells hundreds of thousands of books and has grown into one of the largest independent used bookshops in Europe.
The reason for its immense popularity is, firstly, its system of bartering (exchanging) books brought in by customers for books sold there, as the store’s name suggests.
There’s an appraisal counter where you can have your books appraised and receive a voucher based on the value.
You can then use that voucher to buy books from the shop’s inventory.
Another reason for its fame is the rediscovery of a poster with the globally popular slogan “Keep Calm and Carry On” in a box of books in the shop.
This poster was apparently created by the British government before World War II to avoid chaos in the event of war.
Perhaps it was timely given that it was rediscovered in 2000, and it spread rapidly throughout the world.
All sorts of parodies circulated as well, didn’t they?
When we visited this shop, we didn’t know any of that background; we were simply surprised by its size and the large number of customers, despite the general decline in book readership.
There were few tourists like us just sightseeing; everyone was seriously searching for books.
The glass cases seemed to contain valuable books, such as first editions.
The atmosphere of its original life as a train station has been skilfully preserved.
The model trains running on top of the bookshelves were a nice touch.
There was also a cafe.
After leaving here, we headed to the Lion Bridge, which offers a great view of Alnwick Castle.
While taking pictures, it was suddenly time for our tour to meet up.
We had been worried that spending three hours in Alnwick without entering the castle would be boring, but that wasn’t the case at all.
