Alnwick is also the home of Barter Books. Located in a lovingly restored Victorian Railway station.  It is one Britain’s largest second-hand book shops. As soon as you walk through the door you are greeted with a warm, homely and  friendly atmosphere, comfy chairs and loungers, and thousands of books to suit all tastes and subjects, a cosy station buffet also serves hot drinks and refreshments.

A model railway runs around the top of the bookcases in the main room.  Lines of poetry and verse link the bookcases. The owners have done considerable work preserving and restoring the building to give it the character that it has today.    It was back in 1991 that Mary Manley opened a second-hand bookshop, based on the swap system.  Her husband suggested that she opens the shop in the front room of what was his manufacturing plant, located in the old Alnwick Station. From that time a joint partnership was formed which led to one of the best-known bookshops in the UK. It was here that in 2000, an original WW2 “Keep Calm and Carry On” poster was discovered which has since turned into an International design phenomenon.