31 St Andrew’s View, Penrith · Tue, Thu, Fri, Sat 10 to 16 · Wed 10 to 13, 14 to 16
01768 895951 · CA11 7YF
Beckside Books Penrith · est. 2007 Enquire by email
Stock The shop Cumbria + Wainwright Visit Enquire by email
Penrith · St Andrew’s Churchyard · since 2007

Two floors of secondhand and antiquarian books, tucked beside the churchyard.

Beckside Books has held the listed building at 31 St Andrew’s View since 2007, with the current owners running the shop since February 2019. Over 18,000 books across two floors, an upstairs snug with two sofas and free coffee, and the kind of subject shelving that only happens when the people running the shop read what they sell. Five minutes from the Lake District boundary, ten from the M6.

See the stock  → Call 01768 895951
2007 Est. Penrith Building has held a bookshop for 30 of the last 43 years.
18,000 Catalogued titles Across two floors, by subject, not by colour of cover.
Grade II Listed building Early 19th c., listed-buildings ref 72937.
4.5 TripAdvisor From eight reviews, "a hidden treasure".
The Beckside Books front door at 31 St Andrew's View, Penrith, looking onto the gardens of St Andrew's Churchyard
31 St Andrew’s View The door, the churchyard, the snug above. CA11 7YF
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Stock · four browsable rooms

What two floors of secondhand and antiquarian actually means.

Eighteen thousand titles, shelved by subject across two floors. These are the four sections most people come specifically for. Each one deep-links into the matching search on our AbeBooks store for the titles that travel; the rest is on the shelf at 31 St Andrew’s View.

01 / Cumbria + Lakeland

The local-history wall, on the Wainwright doorstep.

Five minutes from the Lake District boundary means the regional reference set lives on the shelf here. The Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society in long back-runs, Hadrian’s Wall and Birdoswald studies, Papcastle digs, stone-circle gazetteers, and a wall of Wainwright pictorial guides on the upstairs landing. The kind of thing a researcher rings to find and a tourist with a Saturday afternoon walks straight past.

02 / Mountaineering + Alpine

Seventy-plus climbing guides, signed and scarce first editions.

A run of mountaineering literature that travelled in from the Lake District climbing community over the years. Alpine Journal back-issues, expedition photography, fell-running and bushcraft, canoeing and kayaking, mountain biking and sailing. Skills, rescues, biographies and maps. Signed first editions surface every few months. We catalogue these properly and price them properly.

03 / Lake Poets + Ruskin

Wordsworth and Coleridge from paperback to fine binding.

A dedicated section for the Lake Poets in every binding the shop comes across: Wordsworth, Coleridge, Southey, De Quincey, Lamb. Paperbacks for a first read, fine bindings for a shelf, biographies and analyses for either. Alongside, a selection that follows Ruskin’s arts-and-crafts legacy in print and out of print.

04 / Fiction snug

Two sofas, free coffee, the upstairs room.

The fiction snug is the upstairs room with two sofas, a window to the churchyard, and the Folio Society shelf customers single out on TripAdvisor. Virago green-spines, Waverley Novels, Shakespeare and the classics, sci-fi and fantasy, holocaust and WWI history, gardening, cookery, theology, children’s. The room visitors stay an hour in.

The listed building, the lane, the bus station that was

A pebbledash-over-stone, three-storey listed building. A bookshop in it for thirty of the last forty-three years.

The shop sits at the end of the row on St Andrew’s View, with two 12-paned sash windows on the first floor and another two without glazing bars on the top. Listed Grade II as the structure stands. Before the bookshop, the building was the bus drivers’ restroom for the old Penrith bus station that sat opposite. The bus station moved; the bookshop came in; the name on the door changed to Beckside Books in 2007.

We hadn’t planned on buying a bookshop when we picked up a flyer about the shop sale at the York Book Fair in September 2018, and thought, "why not have a day out in Penrith?". But we loved the shop and the area, so the rest, as they say, is history or madness.

From the owners’ own /about page

Early 19th c. The pebbledash-over-stone building goes up on St Andrew’s View. Three storeys, two 12-paned sash windows on the first floor. Listed Grade II as the structure stands today (ref 72937).
1970s After a spell as the bus drivers’ restroom when the old Penrith bus station sat opposite, the building begins a working life as a bookshop. It will stay one for around 30 of the next 43 years.
2007 The shop is renamed Beckside Books, taking its name from the back lane that runs along the beck below the churchyard.
Sept 2018 A flyer at the York Book Fair mentions the shop is for sale. The current owners think, "why not have a day out in Penrith?", and travel up. Redundancy was on the cards for one of them.
1 Feb 2019 Current owners take over. Backgrounds in archaeological conservation, literature, archives and local history. A bookshop run by collectors with day jobs that prepared them for it.
Today Two floors, over 18,000 books, sofas in the fiction snug, free coffee and Wi-Fi, parking discs for the visitors’ short-stay bays opposite.
Scenes · three from the shop

Stairs, snug, sash windows.

A bookshop has been a bookshop in this building for around thirty years. The wood and the shelving show it.

The staircase between the ground floor and the upstairs fiction snug at Beckside Books, Penrith
01 / The stairs Between the ground floor and the upstairs snug.
The fiction snug at Beckside Books, with two sofas and a window onto St Andrew's Churchyard
02 / The fiction snug Two sofas, free coffee, an hour goes quickly.
The original sash window at Beckside Books, looking out onto the churchyard gardens
03 / The sash window One of two 12-paned originals on the first floor.
Specialism

Cumbria, Wainwright and the climbing wall.

Five minutes from the Lake District boundary, Beckside Books is the kind of shop where the regional reference set walks itself in. The Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society back-runs, the Hadrian’s Wall studies, the Wainwright pictorial guides at first-edition condition, and the Alpine Journal back-issues all arrive here for the same reason: the people who collect them live an hour away. We catalogue them on the upstairs landing, on the local-history wall and on the climbing run.

  • 01CWAAS Transactions in long back-runs, the regional reference set.
  • 02Wainwright pictorial guides, first editions sought and held.
  • 03Seventy-plus climbing guides, including signed and scarce first editions.
  • 04Alpine Journal back-issues, expedition photography, fell-running, bushcraft.
The Wainwright pictorial guides shelf on the upstairs landing at Beckside Books, Penrith
Enquire

Looking for a specific book?

Email arrives on a real inbox we read at the shop. If you are after a specific Wainwright edition, an Alpine Journal year, a CWAAS volume, or a fine binding of a Lake Poet, tell us what you are looking for and we will check the shelves. Phone 01768 895951 for anything urgent during opening hours.

Selling? The same form.

Cumbria, mountaineering, Lake Poets, Ruskin and fine bindings are the categories we will always look at. A rough list by subject, edition and condition is the right first step rather than a doorstep visit.

Thank you. We have your details and will reply from becksidebookspenrith@gmail.com during opening hours, Tuesday to Saturday.

Visit

31 St Andrew’s View, Penrith.

Walk through the gateway by the church and along the side of St Andrew’s Churchyard, past the Giant’s Grave, the legendary burial of Owain Caesarius. We are in the listed building at the end of the row, with the two sash windows on the first floor. Penrith railway station is six minutes on foot, Junction 40 of the M6 is six minutes by car. Free coffee and Wi-Fi while you browse, and parking discs for the short-stay bays opposite.

Mon Closed
Tue 10:00 · 16:00 Open
Wed 10:00 · 13:00 / 14:00 · 16:00 Lunch 13 to 14
Thu 10:00 · 16:00 Open
Fri 10:00 · 16:00 Open
Sat 10:00 · 16:00 Open
Sun Closed
31 St Andrew’s View, Penrith CA11 7YF · six minutes on foot from Penrith station. Open in Google Maps ↗
Frequently asked

The questions Penrith customers actually ask.

From the front desk, the phone, and the TripAdvisor messages.

Where are you, exactly?

31 St Andrew’s View, CA11 7YF. Walk through the gateway by the church and along the side of St Andrew’s Churchyard, past the Giant’s Grave. The shop is in the listed building at the end of the row, with the two 12-paned sash windows on the first floor.

Are you open Wednesdays?

Yes, but we close for lunch. Wednesday is 10:00 to 13:00 in the morning and 14:00 to 16:00 in the afternoon. Every other open day, Tuesday and Thursday to Saturday, is 10:00 to 16:00 straight through. Closed Sundays and Mondays.

Do you have Wainwright first editions?

Often, yes. Wainwright pictorial guides at first-edition condition find their way here because of where we are. We do not catalogue every copy online; if you ring or email with a specific volume and edition we will check the upstairs landing where the run sits. The same applies to Alpine Journal back-issues and the climbing first editions.

Can I sell you books?

Often, yes. We are particular about condition and we read what we sell, so a single ring or email with a rough list (subject, edition, condition) is the right first step rather than a doorstep visit. Cumbria, mountaineering, Lake Poets, Ruskin and fine bindings are the categories we will always look at.

Is there parking?

There are short-stay bays directly opposite the shop on St Andrew’s View; we keep a stock of parking discs at the counter for visitors who need one. Penrith’s long-stay car park at Sandgate is a five-minute walk. Penrith railway station is six minutes on foot for anyone coming in by train.

Where else do you sell?

AbeBooks for catalogued antiquarian and rare titles, eBay for higher-volume runs, and the shop itself for everything that benefits from being seen in person. The AbeBooks store deep-links live on each category below, so you can search our online stock for Cumbria, mountaineering, the Lake Poets and the fiction snug from one page.