On King Street, in the heart of Manchester’s bustling business district, one independent bookshop is working to combat loneliness and social isolation and building a community of like-minded readers.
House of Books and Friends, an independent bookshop based on King Street, was founded in December 2022 as a space to bring people together over a love of books.
Literature’s popularity boost in recent years has been paired by a growing number of book spaces, both online and in real life. There is often an air of scepticism around these spaces, particularly towards the wider community of BookTok and online celebrity book clubs such as Oprah Winfrey’s Oprah’s Books and Kaia Gerber’s Library Science.
Questions have surfaced over whether people are actually engaging with all the books they say they’re reading. But at House of Books and Friends, engaging with books and people is at the forefront of their mission.
The bookshop was shortlisted for Independent Bookshop of the Year by the British Book Awards in February, its third nomination for the award in its almost four years of existence.
“It’s really special every year because anything that attracts new eyes to our shop is amazing to us,” Naomi Self, manager at House of Books and Friends said. “Our social mission is to try and prevent loneliness and social isolation, so the more people that hear about us, the better.”
House of Books and Friends may not have existed for long but the shop has a great grasp on the classic feel that book lovers appreciate. The Grade-II listed building was opened in 1871 so the backroom event space dates from that time.
“I think a lot of people who enjoy books and bookshops do like that classic feel, they value the workmanship that’s put into the building,” she added. “It has a lot of original features so it felt like let’s go with the flow of what the building is telling us.”
“I think we all bring something different to the book market. Different bookshops come to the industry from different backgrounds and with different hopes and dreams you know there’s bookshops that are aimed at particular minority communities there’s bookshops that are aimed at bringing community together.”
House of Books and Friends is more about community than capital. “There’s no money taken out for shareholders or to buy a yacht or anything strange and exciting like that.” Naomi says. “All the money we make goes back into the projects that we do to try and combat loneliness. I think independent bookshops we all stock something different. As a customer isn’t it great to be able to go to different bookshops and experience those different atmospheres and communities that they cultivate?”
More so than HoBaF’s wide range of books, are the variety of events, from author meet-ups to craft sessions which they offer to combat loneliness and offer community for book lovers. Customers can also customise their events at House of Books and Friends, with even the option to host a wedding.
“I think a lot of our customers are very open-minded like that, always wanting to learn and develop themselves.” Naomi observes. “I think that’s been something that’s really caught people’s imagination, just hearing from different people and perspectives. It’s really valuable because you know there’s no way to get to know everyone on the planet but you can get to know people through reading. It just broadens your world view.”
House of Books and Friends will celebrate four years at the end of this year and Naomi is looking towards the future.
She added: “There was a customer in here today that said “thank you for everything that you do for us”. They’re part of a group who meets here and I just thought that’s such a lovely thing for him to just take the time and say that to me.
“I hope only more people will feel like that over time. Growing our network is the most exciting thing; more books, more authors, more customers, more friends.”
My visit to House of Books and Friends definitely gave me more: 3 more books for my personal collection, a new conversation about the upcoming adaptations of Emily Henry’s novels and one more wonderful place to participate in one of my favourite hobbies. At House of Books and Friends, there’s definitely something different, classic and comforting and more for those familiar and novel to the wonderful world of literature.
For more on House of Books and Friends and their mission, head over to their website and Instagram.