The DorsetBookshop

The Dorset Bookshop fills three floors of an early eighteenth-century building at 69 East Street, in Blandford Forum's Georgian town centre, and has traded since 1950 under owners Kevin and Denny Cook. New and secondhand stock sits side by side across the shop's floors, covering Dorset and walking guides, children's books, fiction, travel writing, art, cookery, philosophy and transport titles. The building's age shows in its uneven floors and narrow staircases, which visitors regularly mention alongside the range of stock packed into the space. Opening hours are limited to daytime only, Tuesday to Saturday, ten until one, with the shop closed the rest of the week. The Cooks keep the selection curated rather than exhaustive, choosing titles by hand rather than stocking by algorithm or bestseller list.