Ryde Bookshop

More than 30,000 new and secondhand books fill the ten rooms of this shop on Ryde High Street. What started as a hobby grew into a full shop stocking specialist subjects rather than current bestsellers, with strong sections on island history, travel, transport, the military and literature, plus a stock of local postcards. Staff will search out and order titles not held in stock, and much of the secondhand range is also listed on ABE Books and Amazon for buyers who cannot get to the High Street in person. The shop opens seven days a week, including bank holidays, closing only on Christmas Day. Rooms lead into one another rather than forming a single open floor, so browsing means working through several small spaces stacked floor to ceiling with stock built up room by room.