Bookshop faces closure threat as charity aims to cut losses

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL OPENS CONSULTATION ON STORE'S FUTURE

- By BEN LYNCH

A WEST London charity bookshop which has been praised for offering “community and connection” has been earmarked for potential closure.

Amnesty International’s Hammersmith store is one of several the human rights organisation has said may shut following a review of costs.

Volunteers have called on the charity to retain the shop, and more than 2,200 people have signed an online petition.

Susannah Ford, a volunteer at the shop and former literary editor at the Sunday Times, said it is frequented by all ages, with older people often dropping off books which younger customers subsequently buy.

She added: “This is a generational transfer of a love of books, a love of printed matter.”

A spokesman for Amnesty International UK said no final decisions have been made, with a consultation due to run until the middle of this month.

Amnesty’s first bookshop began as a stall in Hammersmith, and the organisation now has nine around the country, including the one in King Street, Hammersmith.