The bookshop in London that lets you play bookseller for a day | Sunday Eye - Indian Express

A bookstore in London offers the experience of running it for a day by Shakti Swaminathan, Assistant Professor of Journalism and Free lance writer. 

Photo: Turn up for the Books: Mark Nessfield at Offside Books.

A little bookstore, nestled amid rows of English cottages with picket fences, in Kilburn, northwest London, lets you play a bookseller for a day. If you dream of being surrounded by aisles of books, Offside Books is the perfect haunt, housing both used and new books. The bookshop, run by Mark Nessfield, is listed on Airbnb as an experience that people can pay for to play bookseller for eight hours a day.

Over five years ago, after a long career in data analysis and a brief stint in Madrid, Nessfield, 58, started the bookstore with his wife, Fatma. He named the store Offside as an homage to football, and also since the store was located off the main road. Offside is small, but an endless array of books seems to tumble out of its crevices. A plush beige sofa waits to be plonked into.

Located amidst a bustling Jewish and Afro-Caribbean neighbourhood, the store has sections on Jewish and Black history, a specific corner for LGBTQ literature and a section on local writers...

Offside Books is not the first bookstore to offer this experience. Shakespeare and Company in Paris also allows aspiring writers to take refuge and inspiration from its bookshelves. At The Open Book, in Wigtown, Scotland, a customer gets to live in and run the bookstore for a week.
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Source: Indian Express