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Sunday 26 May 2013

Antique books in old Bridlington - the very best of medicine!

An antique bookshop in an original Victorian Chemist, a 1920s typewriter and a tearoom groaning with antiques. Sounds like the centre of Chester or Bath? No, this is Bridlington! 



Burlington Books in Old Bridlington
situated in an original Victorian chemist shop


In the 1960's an original Georgian street in the old quarter of Bridlington on the East Yorkshire coast was earmarked for demolition by the local authority. The new town was at the height of its popularity as a holiday resort whilst the old high street no longer seemed to have a purpose. But the council reckoned without the tenacityof the local businesses who were determined to keep the history of the town alive. Last week I discovered the restored High Street for myself and it is far, far better than any museum,  crammed with antique shops, arts and crafts shops and, most of all, with people who are proud of their heritage. Old photographs from the 1950s show this wonderful street with its Georgian bow windows and adverts for Capstans cigarettes and 'Players Please' with a solitary  Morris  Oxford wending its way past the shops. It could almost be the same place today

The bookshop's owners, Mr and Mrs Stephen Reynolds, gave me a particularly old fashioned  welcome, finding me books from World War Two, an era that has always fascinated me, and even producing a paperback about Guernsey as soon as I mentioned where I was born.

We spent most of  the week in York, taking in many historic sites including the Castle Museum with its 'real life' Victorian Street, and the splendid York Minster, both of which attract visitors from all over the world.  Yet it was old Bridlington, once almost lost forever, that really transported me to the past.
  

A 1920s Underwood typewriter at the
Georgian Rooms, Old Bridlington
 
Say 'No' to white lines

7 comments:

Linda Mitchelmore said...

What a fabulous post. I want to come to that booksho - would I ever leave???

Guernsey Girl said...

Thanks, Linda, we do so agree on that. My husband waited for me so long he thought I must have gone back to York!!

Nikki - Notes of Life said...

Sounds like a wonderful place. What a great discovery! :)

Francie...The Scented Cottage Studio said...

I wouldn't want to leave either. Sounds like you had a great time.

Guernsey Girl said...

Thanks for coming by Nikki-Ann and Francie. I'm thinking of turning my office into an antique bookshop....

anotherguernseygirl said...

What a wonderful place you found would have loved to have been there with you.

Barbara said...

That looks like my kind of bookshop! We will be looking for it next time we visit the area. Thanks for sharing the photos.