THE British Book Awards has revealed the regional and country winners for the 2022 Independent Bookshop of the Year Award - and The Bookery in Crediton has been announced as the South West England winner.

Started as Crediton Bookshop as a community-owned independent in 2013, it was last year re-named as The Bookery.It has more than 300 shareholders.

In 2016 it moved to the larger Grade II listed building that is its current home.

The not-for-profit independent bookshop organises a huge range of events and community out-reach activities and actively pioneers programmes supporting literacy, community well-being and access to cultural and learning opportunities.

The Bookery was judged the best in the South West ahead of the other finalists: Archway Bookshop (Axminster), East Gate Bookshop (Totnes), Little Toller Books (Beaminster), Max Minervas (Bristol), Persephone Books (Bath), Shrew Books (Fowey), Storysmith (Bristol) and Winstone’s Hunting Raven (Frome).

Last month, Dee Laljee, manager of the Bookery, said about being chosen as a finalist: “It’s a real honour and fantastic recognition of our brilliant team and our community, near and far, who have supported us.“

Our staff are brilliant and we wouldn’t be here without our volunteers and our customers.”

The other 2022 Independent Bookshop of the Year regional and country winners are: East of England: Bookbugs and Dragon Tales | Norwich, Island of Ireland: O’Mahony’s | Limerick, London: Burley Fisher Books | Haggerston, Midlands: Wonderland Bookshop | Retford, North England: Forum Books | Corbridge, Scotland: The Edinburgh Bookshop | Edinburgh, South East England: The Haslemere Bookshop | Haslemere and Wales: Book-ish | Crickhowell.

The nine regional and country winners are now in contention for the overall Independent Bookshop of the Year Award, announced at the British Book Awards winner ceremony to be held at Grosvenor House in London on Monday, May 23, 2022.

The overall Independent Bookshop of the Year winner will also compete to be crowned Book Retailer of the Year.

 Sponsored by Gardners and supported by The Booksellers Association, the award celebrates nine inspiring bookshops, selected from a list of 63 finalists, which have continued to support their local communities during these turbulent times with their insider knowledge, inclusivity, digital innovations, adapted events, and, of course, books.Tom Tivnan, The Bookseller’s managing editor, said: “This was undoubtedly the most competitive year we have ever had for Independent Bookshop of the Year, and these nine shops should feel justly proud for claiming their regional and country crowns when their fellow indies have also been flourishing.

Although there are different models here, from long-time family-run shops to a community-run not-for- profit, the common thread is constant innovation and unwavering support for local communities.“

It may be counterintuitive to say, but we just may be in the golden age of independent bookselling.“

The last 10 or 15 years have been the most testing of times for indies as they have battled against online competition, supermarket deep discounting, rising business rates and, of course recently, a global pandemic.

But they have met the challenges; indies are thriving and the number of shops is rising.“

Perhaps it is because they combine the old with the new: that almost unique insider knowledge and deep love of books which they can impart to readers, along with a digital savviness as indies use everything from crowdfunding to TikTok to reach customers and improve their businesses.”

Alan Quick