Bravo! Little Green Bookshop is a giant success

Herne Bay is on the north coast of Kent, five miles from Whitstable, and eight miles from Canterbury.

Just over a year ago an old friend and colleague opened a bookshop in the small seaside town.

It’s called The Little Green Bookshop and yesterday I visited it for the first time.

But first, some background.

I’ve known Jacqui for almost 20 years. We met in 2005. She was working for a PR company whose office in Margaret Street, near Oxford Circus, was a short walk from where Forest was based after we left our previous office in Palace Street, near Victoria Station, earlier that year.

The proximity of our two offices was a total coincidence, but it was handy for meetings and the occasional catch-up in a nearby coffee shop (Benugo) or wine bar.

Jacqui’s company was hired to help us fight the threat of a public smoking ban and together we devised a campaign, Fight The Ban, Fight For Choice, that included a string of ads in magazines such as The Spectator, the New Statesman, and The Week.

(Private Eye refused to run the ads, claiming they broke their ban on political advertising!)

We also commissioned polls in ten cities throughout the country - a total of 10,000 people - that demonstrated that the public was decisively against a comprehensive ban on smoking in pubs and clubs when offered options such as separate smoking rooms.

The company also produced a number of campaign tools including an ashtray that featured the Fight The Ban, Fight For Choice logo and was sent to every MP a few days before the decisive vote in Parliament.

We had a limited budget but we did as much as we could with it and I was impressed with their professionalism and creative ideas.

After MPs voted for the ban, and our campaign came to an end, Jacqui and I kept in touch, and since she left the company to go freelance we’ve hired her on many occasions to help with this and that.

In 2009, for example, she helped organise the launch of the Save Our Pubs & Clubs campaign at a pub in Westminster.

Over the past decade she’s organised and coordinated a series of media tours undertaken by John Mallon, Forest’s spokesman in Ireland.

For many years she was also a familiar face at Forest events, although we saw less of her after she moved to the south west corner of Wales.

A couple of years ago, after a decade or so in Pembrokeshire, she moved back to England and in May 2022 opened The Little Green Bookshop in Herne Bay.

I’ve been following it with interest and as far as I can tell it’s been a great success, with Jacqui’s PR and organisational skills clearly in evidence.

Even more important, perhaps, are her interpersonal skills because what is evident is the genuine affection and regard people have for her as well as the bookshop.

Here are a handful of the many appreciative comments on social media:

When you next visit Herne Bay, pop in and meet Jacqui. It's such a lovely book shop.

We visited Jacqui at the delightful The Little Green Bookshop in #hernebay #kent today. Bought a book for my daughter so helping local businesses thrive. Only open barely a few months and doing a roaring trade and popular with locals.

Tired but happy author this evening, raising a glass to all of you amazing booksellers on #BookshopDay 📚🧡 With special thanks to the wonderful Jacqui at The Little Green Bookshop in Herne Bay for hosting such a glorious event today 📚🧡

To put this in perspective, before she moved to the area, Jacqui didn’t know anyone in Herne Bay. Slowly but surely she is building a business that is clearly prized (by those who are aware of it) as a small but important local asset.

Last night I attended one of many events Jacqui has organised in the bookshop. And it was sold out, creating an intimate and lively atmosphere.

Interviewed by author and podcaster Mark Stay, journalist Lesley-Ann Jones discussed her book, The Stone Age: Sixty Years of the Rolling Stones.

(I won’t go into detail other than to say she had some interesting insights into various band members and their girlfriends!)

After the event we went for a drink in a nearby pub that overlooks the sea and the pier.

I told Jacqui how much I admired the work she has put into the business and I meant it.

Seeing the premises transformed from an empty, nondescript unit (the previous occupant was a physiotherapist) into a smart and cosy bookshop has been remarkable.

Opening any business post pandemic was a huge risk, but running an independent bookshop in a sleepy seaside town when your main competitor is the might of Amazon is an even bigger challenge.

It takes guts, imagination, and hard work. Bravo!

Below: Jacqui with Forest Ireland’s John Mallon (and me) at a Save Our Pubs & Clubs event at the House of Commons in 2011