Greenleaf / Greenleaf Bookshop Co-operative

1982 — 2005
82 Colston Street, Bristol, BS1 5BB

Greenleaf or Greenleaf Bookshop Co-operative opened in September 1982. It was a key facility for Bristol promoting green and eco-friendly ideas before they became mainstream. The bookshop ran on radical cooperative principles and supported gay and lesbian issues and needs.

Its specialist subjects were feminism, psychology, health, politics, non-sexist/non-racist kids books and lesbian and gay literature. They had a stock of 6000 titles and ran a wholefood vegetarian cafe and bookstalls.

Several community groups depended on the bookshop for meeting space, office facilities, as a postal address, or simply as an information exchange.

It closed in July 2005 having struggled for some years to survive against internet book sales. The co-op members were left with a personal debt of £8,000.

Sources:

Out Stories Bristol

The Radical Bookseller, No. 67, 1990; No. 75, 1991