A familiar and valued feature of the Marlborough community and High Street it may be, but with our help it might become recognised as a favourite on a far wider scale. Marlborough’s White Horse Bookshop has been shortlisted for the Independent Bookshop of the Year: South West England award and if you think it deserves that accolade go and cast your vote…….
Why the White Horse? That was the question posed to manager Angus McLennan earlier today. “We want people to think of the White Horse as a place where they are welcome” explained Angus. ”Where they have fun, where they are treated with kindness and respect (yet not seriousness!), yet also feel that the shop tries to reflect and suport the interests of the community”.
Even though the White Horse is seen as a bookshop, as it’s name implies and which forms the basis for it’s inclusion in the ‘Independent Bookshop of the Year’ shortlist, it offers much more. ”It’s an art shop” adds Angus, “it’s an art gallery, it’s an art studio and it’s a theatre of some sort”, the latter reflecting the addition of the exhibition space to the rear a couple of years back which is used regularly for art and live shows.
If you think that The White Horse is more than Marlborough’s favourite Independent Bookseller, and warrants that position this year for the whole of the South West click here to cast your vote and say why, as this award is the Book world’s equivalent to the Oscars.
“Books aren’t just books, books are our culture, our history, our future, those of our children, and our imaginations. They are more than just a ‘product’ and a good bookshop should be more than just a shop.” added Angus, which is exactly what he and his team have been looking to create for the past few years.