I’ve been reflecting on longer-established York bookshops that are no more, ones pre-dating several that appeared in the 1980s and ‘90s. The ghosts of bookshops past.

Who recalls the excellent Thomas C Godfrey, the doyen of York booksellers, later under the Blackwells’ banner, in Stonegate? They also had the bookshop at York University. Is is true that there’s no longer a bookshop on campus? Extraordinary!

Also situated in Via Praetoria was SPCK, which later decamped to Goodramgate.

Nestling near Micklegate Bar was Edwin Storey, a favourite source for story books.

Seemingly a bit out on a limb, the shop had its faithful clientele and thrived for many decades.

At the confluence of Shambles and Little Shambles stood the much-photographed Pickering & Co Booksellers.

Prior to this, the firm had spent almost a century on High Ousegate when toys, models, train sets, stationery were all part of the mix.

For a few years there was a Pickerings’ presence in Goodramgate, selling purely educational books.

One bookshop enjoyed a particularly interesting trajectory as it started in a suitcase, progressed to a York market stall, then graduated to Walmgate Bar.

This was the aptly-named Barbican Bookshop.

The last iteration of this distinctive store of second-hand and new books with a strong Christian emphasis operated in Fossgate, with small shops elsewhere in the North.

I’m sure Press readers will recall these and other bookshops that in various ways enriched the York scene.

Derek Reed, Middlethorpe Drive, York