‘Bookmark’ is (for another two days at least), a renowned, award-winning independent bookshop in Spalding, Lincolnshire. Many of the recent articles written about it refer to it as having been an integral and much-loved bookshop in Spalding for ‘over 20 years’. ‘Bookmark’ has been there for nearly 45 years, almost half a century! I know this because I was there in 1981 when it first opened.

This week, on Friday, 25th July 2025, it will be closing its doors for good. The business is not being sold as an ongoing concern, as the current owners, Darren and Jason Sutton, have deemed the business not viable. This is not only a loss to Spalding, but from a personal perspective, a loss to me too.

Nothing exists in isolation. Everything has a past and a present and we all know different parts of it. Most people in Spalding will know the present ‘Bookmark’, a few will remember its recent past, but fewer will remember its origins. Before it closes and becomes something else or, worse, sits as empty retail space, I want people to know where it came from and how it started. I want people to fully understand what they’re losing: a part of Spalding’s history.

I know different people will know ‘Bookmark’ at different times, but I want to tell people who don’t know, who have only known ‘Bookmark’ for 5 years, 10 years, or 20 years, that it has been here for a lot longer. That it was started nearly 45 years ago by a local family who lived on Broadgate, Mike and Jane Kingham, and their two children. It began as a small family bookshop at 22 The Crescent, Spalding. It will be closing in less than two days, and perhaps selfishly, I want people to know where it came from. I don’t want people to forget how it started, who started it, and that if it hadn’t been for that family in 1981, ‘Bookmark’ as we know it might not even exist today.

Given that in the lead-up to its closing, there doesn’t yet seem to be anything about its opening and history, I thought I’d try to give you a snapshot here. It is, of course, written weighed down by emotion and is no doubt biased, but from what I’ve read on social media, there are a lot of people out there who love this shop too, and whose lives it has been a meaningful part of at various stages in its history.

In 1981, my parents opened ‘Bookmark’, a small bookshop at 22 The Crescent, Spalding. I was six. After originally selling soft toys nationwide at country shows, in around 1979 they introduced books and moved away from the soft toys.

(I was an aspiring bookseller and keen to help with the family business. I’m sure I always got a sympathy purchase from someone! I have incredibly fond memories of the trade shows we did, of the marquee and the yellow van we travelled in.)

‘Bookmark’ was going to be a family-run bookshop, ‘…a small shop with a big service,” where books could be ordered and in stock within a fortnight. This seems like a long time to wait now, but online retail and same-day or next-day delivery weren’t an option at that time, and people didn’t demand everything almost instantly. The intention was to anticipate what titles would be popular based on current trends to avoid them being out of stock.

‘Bookmark’s’ success allowed it to grow and when the wool shop next door closed, it expanded into a second shop, which meant even more books to discover as I got older. As a child and already an avid reader, access to so many books was a dream come true. The impact of being exposed to this environment has been long-lasting, and my love of books and reading continues now, 43 years later.

The shop, at only 500 sq ft, had a high density of stock—and the occasional ‘gimmick’ to entice customers in. There’s nothing like a banned book to pique interest!

As I was growing up, I never imagined that the bookshop wouldn’t ever be ours, but due to ill health, my dad had to sell ‘Bookmark’. Fortunately, this wasn’t the end of it though, and it went to the very capable hands of Christine Hanson who bought the shop in 1991 after being lent half the money needed to buy the business by my dad. Dad sadly died a couple of years later from Motor Neurone Disease.

Under Christine’s ownership and due in no small part to her incredible passion for the industry, ‘Bookmark’ continued to grow, and in 18 months she had doubled it’s turnover. Christine’s visions and aspirations to grow the business continued, and in June 1998 she moved a few doors down to 18-20 The Crescent, a 6,000 sq ft space with around 25,000 titles which now included a coffee shop and reading rooms.

‘Bookmark’ soon became an award-winning, independent bookshop. After having been shortlisted for The Daily Mail Independent Bookshop of the Year Nibbie for four years in a row, Christine deservedly won the award in 2002. Christine’s passion, desire to continually learn, and her determination meant ‘Bookmark’s’ success continued with the first five-year sales target of £500,000 being reached in one year.

Christine ran ‘Bookmark’ for 25 years before retiring in 2016, when she sold her popular, much loved and successful business to Darren and Jason Sutton.

The Sutton brothers already owned Charmed Interiors in Spalding and retain this business to date. Darren Sutton took on a managerial role in the day-to-day running of ‘Bookmark,’ and the plan was for things to remain similar, but with additional investment. There was to be some website and logo rebranding, a new gift range, and changes were to be made to the coffee shop menu based on the Sutton’s success with the café at their Downham Market store.

Sadly for ‘Bookmark’, 9 years after taking over, the current owners have decided that due to economic challenges, keeping the shop open is no longer viable, and because of this, they are closing it rather than selling it as an ongoing concern.

I was in Spalding a few weeks ago; I went down to see the shop before it closed, and it’s hard to put into words how the imminent loss of ‘Bookmark’ makes me feel; it’s a strange combination of sadness, loss, anger and frustration. Its closure was very much a topic of conversation in a lot of places we went into, and it’s clear the people of Spalding don’t want to see it close. This was the point where my instinct (completely unrealistic) was to immediately think, ‘How can I buy it? How can I save it?’ Sadly, I can’t.

The loss of ‘Bookmark’ is the severing of the last remaining, tangible link I had to my dad; it’s the loss of a part of my childhood. I’m grateful it existed and that the shop was an intrinsic and much loved part of my childhood, and for some of the later years whilst I was growing up. I was always incredibly proud of the fact that something started by my dad, my family, had continued to exist and has been so successful and so loved by generations. I’m sure it will be missed by a lot of people.

I can only hope that somehow ‘Bookmark’s’ legacy lives on, and that my dad and the small family who started it in the beginning aren’t forgotten.

Sam

I’d love to hear your thoughts and memories of ‘Bookmark,’ so why not say hello using the contact link in the menu, leave a comment below, or find me on my Facebook (Samantha Quinton – Two Blogs and a Book) and Instagram (2blogsandabook) pages.

Credits / Sources:

• The Spalding Guardian
• Spalding Herald
• Bookseller, 15th October 2004, pp 24-25 (Fiona Fraser)
• The Spalding and South Holland Voice (June 23rd, 2016)