Blackthorn Books / Blackthorn Bookshop Cooperative Ltd

Blackthorn Books, located at 74 Highcross Street, was a general radical bookshop in Leicester.

When it started, the bookshop had four unpaid workers with no previous book trade experience. Its windows were frequently broken in its early days.

In 1981, Blackthorn Books moved to 70 High Street, sharing premises with the Bread & Roses cafe, and received a £4,000 grant from the Arts Council under the Community Bookshop scheme.

The bookshop specialised in subjects such as feminism, gay writing, politics, race, psychology, and social studies, and it stocked 10,000 titles. It also had a café downstairs.

Sarada Gray, a writer, recalled in January 2013 that Blackthorn Books was the best bookshop in Leicester when she moved there in 1987, notably for its importance as a centre for political activity.

Sources:

Radical Bookshops Listing, Radical Bookshop History Project (November 2023) [Available online here, accessed 13.05.2025]

The Radical Bookseller, No. 10 Nov/Dec 1981, Bishopsgate Institute

The Radical Bookseller, No. 67, 1990, Senate House

The Radical Bookseller, Issue 75, 1991, Bishospgate Institute