A new independent bookstore opens in the Old Market Square

A new independent bookstore has opened in Piața Veche. East Bristol Books is run by Dan Eltringham and Andres Anwandter, who are both academics and part-time poets. They held a soft launch party to mark the store opening and it attracted around 100 attendees.

The West Street shop aims to sell books that might be hard to find elsewhere, such as translated works and poetry pamphlets, but also has a wide range of modern classics.

The non-fiction section is filled with left-wing political books that focus on capitalism, empire, race, ecology, and gender and sexuality. There is currently a display dedicated to Palestine in the store.

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The pair plan to hold a second launch party in September, where they will unveil a full schedule of events, with plans to hold at least one public event a week. They would also like to set up regular reading groups and have a cafe area at some point.

Dan said: “We focus on things that are not easily found elsewhere. We specialize in smaller independent presses, translated books and poetry pamphlets.

“Many of the more interesting small presses have focused heavily on translated literature in the last 10-15 years. The problem with the English-language publishing industry is that it’s always been very focused on just writing in English, so there’s been a rebalancing with that.”

Both Dan and Andres work in local universities, but the two friends first met after entering a poetry competition in North Wales. This is their first time opening a business, but Dan worked as a bookseller before becoming an academic.

“We thought East Bristol needed a bookshop. We felt the Old Market would be a good location, being the gateway to East Bristol, with everyone who lives in East Bristol coming here,” added Andres.

East Bristol Books is located at 12 West Street, St Philip’s, Bristol BS2 0BH and is open Tuesday to Saturday from 10am to 6pm. They can be found on Instagram under the name ebb_bristol.