The South West encompasses an area of predominantly rural England stretching from the Midlands and the Welsh Marches down to Britain's most westerly point at Land's End in Cornwall. Cities are few with small market towns being the norm.

Gloucestershire
Bookshops are still fairly plentiful in Gloucestershire, with the greatest concentration around Cheltenham and Stroud. In the south of the county, Wotton-under-Edge once again has a bookshop. In Cheltenham "Peter Lyons Books" is good for art, children's and modern firsts, "Moss Books" has a brisk turnover, and there are now no less than three charity bookshops. Sadly, Michael Rayner's shop has closed following his sudden death.

Bristol
Sadly, the number of non-charity bookshops in Bristol continues to decline, redued to barely half the number it enjoyed five years ago. However, the opening of a Bookbarn, with a current sock of a million books and capacity for three million, will be seen by many as a plus. Many thanks to Gerald Baker for his update.

Wiltshire
Salisbury has lost another of its shops with the closure of Water Lane Books, and is now home to only two of Wiltshire's rather thinly spread shops. Anthony Spranger's closure reduces Marlborough's bookshops to two, but there are books in the Antique market as well. Bradford on Avon, once something of a Mecca, is reduced to one shop from it's heyday in the early 90's.

Somerset
North Somerset has become a book buying destination for many with the opening of the huge Counrty Bookbarn at White Cross (replacing those in Glastonbury and Wells). Extraordinary as it seems, Bath is now reduced to three shops, but the prestigious "George Bayntun" and the multi-dealer "Bath Old Books" are still worth a visit. Crewkerne in the south of the county has two shops including "Gresham Books".

Devon
Devon's bookshops tend to be concentrated along the coasts, particularly around Barnstaple and Bideford in the north and Exeter and Plymouth in the south. "The Dartmoor Bookshop" in Ashburton manages to combine high turnover with quality, while the three bookshops in nearby Totnes offer a great diversity of stock. Honiton to the east claims to have "three of the best secondhand and antiquarian bookshops in the West Contry", but Honiton Old Bookshop is now by appointment only.

Cornwall
Cornwall has a scattering of shops along its three main tourist routes but most of them are to be found around Falmouth, Truro and Penzance. Truro appears to be suffering something of a decline having lost two of it's shops in as many years. "Penzance Rare Books" rarely fails to deliver, and the reopening of Newlyn Books in new premises in Penzance is good news. Sadly, Pascuzzi's Books and the Hayle Gallery, two recently opened shops, have both closed after trading for less than two years.

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