As part of Independent Bookshop Week 2025, we’re celebrating the vital role independent bookshops play in nurturing local communities and championing social change. With over 700 indie bookshops taking part, the campaign highlights how these spaces go far beyond selling books – they’re hubs of conversation, connection and creativity.
This year, Bristol University Press is proud to be twinning with Bookhaus, a fiercely independent bookshop nestled in the heart of Bristol. Known for its vibrant curation, community-driven ethos and support of grassroots movements, Bookhaus exemplifies what it means to be purpose-led in bookselling.
We caught up with Darran McLaughlin, the manager of Bookhaus, to hear about what drives the shop, how it supports local activism and why independent bookshops matter more than ever.
- What inspired you to open an independent bookshop, and how did Bookhaus come to life?
Bookhaus was actually the vision of Kevin and Jayne Ramage. They were living near the Harbourside during the Covid lockdown. During their daily allotted walk, it occurred to Kevin that Wapping Wharf needed a bookshop, and Jayne had the idea that they needed to hire me to run it. They contacted me at the beginning of 2021 with their plan. We knew each other from a shared involvement in political activism, but I hadn’t realised that they owned bookshops, and they hadn’t clocked my years of experience in the book industry. We agreed that there was a gap in the market for a radical bookshop in the city and we were determined to fill it. I started working for them in May 2021, and after a few months of preparation we opened that August. Historian David Olusoga cut the ribbon at our opening party, which was a real honour.
- How has the journey of running Bookhaus surprised or challenged you?
I had previous experience in the book industry, on the shop floor at Ottakars and Books Etc, and as a buyer at Borders head office. This was during the tail end of the chain bookstore boom of the 90s and 00s, where chains had seriously hurt the independent book trade, before being devastated in turn by the rise of supermarket bookselling and Amazon. I had got out of the book industry because it had seemed like a dying sector. At my first Booksellers Association conference after opening Bookhaus, I was surprised to hear that 2021 had seen a record number of new independent bookstore openings. There has been a massive revival of independent bookstores, which has been very evident in Bristol. Part of that resurgence, I think, is linked to the post-lockdown craving for tactile, offline activities – like baking, gardening and reading. For those who prefer face-to-face connection over digital convenience, indie bookshops are more important than ever.
- Independent bookshops often serve as more than just retail spaces. How does Bookhaus connect with the local community?
When we opened the shop, we envisaged hosting lots of events like book launches and readings, as well as reading groups. We now host an average of two events a week, and a weekly reading group. Our reading groups are Feminist Texts, Weird Fiction, Indie Press Literary Fiction and Revolutionary Texts. We have partnered with many local institutions including both the universities, the Watershed, local publishers such as Tangent and Bristol Radical History Group, local media such as Bristol24/7, The Bristol Cable, Stir to Action and Left Cultures, Art in Motion, the Black South West Network, Extinction Rebellion, Bristol Pride, ACORN, the TUC South West, Alliance Francais, 91 Ways, Co-Exist Community Kitchen and more. We’ve also worked with schools, nurseries and local organisations to help distribute books to children, and we have donated books to Bristol Prison and a women’s refuge. In all of this, the aim is simple: to use books as a tool for connection, education and collective imagination.
- Can you share any examples of how Bookhaus has supported grassroots activism or local campaigns?
We have championed books about housing activism and worked with local institutions like ACORN and Shelter, encouraging people to join and become active in housing campaigning. We have hosted many events on the climate crisis, including one with Andreas Malm for his book How to Blow Up a Pipeline, and another with Gail Bradbrook, the co-founder of Extinction Rebellion. We run talks on anti-racism and decolonisation, and have hosted several events in support of Palestine, including Valentines for Palestine with Bristol Artists for Palestine, raising nearly £2,000 for Palestinian causes. We collaborate with queer and trans authors and promote books on LGBT subjects. Next month, we’re launching Pride and Prejudices: Queer Lives and the Law by Keio Yoshida – a Bristol Pride event that we’re proud to host.
- In what ways do you see indie bookshops playing a role in societal change?
I’m a Marxist, and I would say that we live under capitalist hegemony. It’s an idea developed by Antonio Gramsci which says that capitalism works in insidious ways. Rather than directly oppressing the working class through force, it gets people to assent to their oppression by creating and reproducing capitalist hegemony, which means constantly feeding us propaganda (through the education system and the media) that tells us that the system we live under is the best possible one, and that alternative systems must be wrong. A radical independent bookshop can act as a chink in this hegemony. For instance, we’ve maintained a display of pro-Palestinian literature for over two years – long before mainstream figures began to shift their stance, and I’m certain this has been changing hearts and minds. Many Palestinian visitors have thanked us for this.
- How do your personal values shape the books and events you choose to promote?
Many books extol my Marxist perspective, but I am not dogmatic. We stock books that represent a range of views, though it is true they tend to be progressive at the very least. I also appreciate a lot of work across the spectrum, including more conservative voices. I was not very political until about ten years ago, and before that I was enormously interested in and passionate about art, literature, music, culture etc. I read very widely across genres, periods of time and cultures. We stock and promote a lot of works in translation. We’re a team of booksellers with distinct interests and areas of expertise, and that diversity shapes our shelves.
- Are there particular topics or voices you aim to highlight through Bookhaus’s selection?
I am Black, and it was always my intention to stock and support books by Black authors, but our stock also reflects my concern about other topics such as the climate crisis. I run our Weird Fiction reading group, which covers horror, fantasy, science fiction, graphic novels and generally odd or surreal books, so we have a decent selection of these. We are committed to supporting small, independent presses, so we celebrate our indie press section. Our stock of books by LGBT authors, alongside the events we run with them, reflects my dismay about the attacks on trans people over the past few years, a culture war stoked by right-wing donors and institutions. It seems to me that one day we will all look back with disbelief that such a culture war was allowed to happen and will be as ashamed as by the way gay people were treated before the 90s.
- What does Independent Bookshop Week mean to you and your team?
It’s encouraging to have a nationwide celebration of indie bookshops, to remind ourselves how important they are to the literary and cultural ecosystem of the country. We have been partnering with a different indie publisher for the past few years, and this year it is great to be collaborating with Bristol University Press and building relationships with our local academic publisher.
- How can publishers and readers best support indie bookshops beyond this week?
Come and see us! Come and buy books for yourself and others. Sign up to our mailing lists, join our reading groups, come to our events and follow us on social media. Support doesn’t have to be complicated – just engage, attend and buy local.
- Looking ahead, what are your hopes for the future of independent bookselling in the UK?
I hope that this renaissance of indie bookselling continues to thrive. Personally, I have found myself spending less and less time on the internet and social media (especially since I now have a two-year-old and a six-month-old), and I don’t find myself missing them. I hope others rediscover the joy of screen-free living – through books, art, live music, film, real-world relationships. Get into the world and connect with real people!
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Image credit: Author’s own.