Book ends

2011-05-17 14:12:37

17 May 2011 Last updated at 16:06 Share this page Delicious Digg Facebook reddit StumbleUpon Twitter Email Print Article written by Will Gompertz Arts editor More from Will Can bookshops save Britain’s High Streets? The government wants to save the British High Street More from Will Am I Sacha Baron Cohen's next target? Apted: '7 Up needed more girls' The Space: Art goes online to mark Olympics Globe to Globe: Shakespeare festival opens

The prime minister is so concerned about Britain's High Streets becoming homogenised or worse, slowly dying, that he is about to ask Mary "Queen of Shops" Portas to come up with a rescue plan.

What chance of the canny Mary recommending that every High Street should have an independent bookshop?

Or if she did, how many bank mangers would support such an idea? Would he, or she stare incredulously at a would-be bookshop owner and point to the facts?

Facts like: the US-backed Borders recently went bust in the UK. That the once highly successful Waterstone's chain is now in the doldrums.

That the web exists: the place where punters can go and buy a discounted bestseller or an arcane title with one click of their mouse.

Bright future?

And that the big supermarkets have now moved in on the game to soak up much of the spare book-buying capacity consumers might have.

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