Willie's Bookshop

Willie's bookshop was run by William Leitch. The shop was set up in the 1950s. William was given money by the Communist Party to set up a shop in Aberdeen, but there was never any contract. He sold contraceptives, porn and political books and was eventually disowned by the Community Party.

William later joined the Liberals and stood for the council. He died in 1978 and the shop continued to exist until late 1980.

Ross Bradshaw wrote on his blog entitled "Changing the world, one book at a time" posted on November, 15th 2019 that "strangely, I bought a number of avant garde books from an ‘adult’ bookshop (ie one specialising in pornography). These included Genet, Henry Miller and others from Aberdeen’s adult bookshop, which had the unfortunate name of ‘Willy’s’. I made a point of never going beyond the front racks. It was also the only place I knew that sold Private Eye, then banned from WH Smith."

Sources:

Radical Bookshops Listing, Radical Bookshop History Project (November 2023) [Available online here, accessed 15.7.2025]

Ross Bradshaw, 'Changing the World, One Book at a Time', Alliance of Radical Booksellers website [https://www.radicalbooksellers.co.uk/?p=580, accessed 15.7.2025]