Share Discover East Finchley on FacebookShare Discover East Finchley on TwitterShare Discover East Finchley on LinkedinEmail Discover East Finchley link
Friends Brian and Bruno have been operating Black Gull Books, a second-hand bookshop in East Finchley, for 15 years.
“We’re a neighbourhood place and we’re embedded in the local community now.
“It’s important for people to shop locally because we live locally. And if we live locally we should connect locally. I think given what’s come in since last March, what feels like an unprecedented pandemic, has in its wake shown us what it is to be a community on the high street and why it’s necessary.
“Of course we’re doing online shopping, online connecting with people. But there is a need, a hunger, for just seeing people – relative strangers, or acquaintances, in public surroundings. We need that. It’s part of our social connection and it tells us we’re real. The books are real, the environment is real. And you leave here with something that continues. The book is your window to something else.
“To be on your local high street is to be not alone. And that’s what we’re all looking for. We are communal animals and we need a place to be communal. And your high street shop is the place it’s going to happen.”
Friends Brian and Bruno have been operating Black Gull Books, a second-hand bookshop in East Finchley, for 15 years.
“We’re a neighbourhood place and we’re embedded in the local community now.
“It’s important for people to shop locally because we live locally. And if we live locally we should connect locally. I think given what’s come in since last March, what feels like an unprecedented pandemic, has in its wake shown us what it is to be a community on the high street and why it’s necessary.
“Of course we’re doing online shopping, online connecting with people. But there is a need, a hunger, for just seeing people – relative strangers, or acquaintances, in public surroundings. We need that. It’s part of our social connection and it tells us we’re real. The books are real, the environment is real. And you leave here with something that continues. The book is your window to something else.
“To be on your local high street is to be not alone. And that’s what we’re all looking for. We are communal animals and we need a place to be communal. And your high street shop is the place it’s going to happen.”
