Book-ish

Crickhowell is a small Brecon Beacons town that became briefly famous for fighting back against tax-avoiding multinationals — a proudly independent high street that made national news — and Book-ish is its literary champion. Emma and Drew Corfield-Walters opened it in 2010 and built it into what the trade agrees is one of the best bookshops in Britain: named the UK's Independent Bookshop of the Year in 2020, with a café upstairs, a packed events programme, and a knack for putting the right book in the right hand. It is the kind of shop that anchors a town — where the staff have read the stock, the recommendations are trusted, and an author event fills the room. Crickhowell punches far above its size for independents, and Book-ish is the reason a lot of people make the trip. Buy the book they press on you; they will be right.