Welcome to the wonderful, exhilarating and occasionally bizarre experience that is Number Eight Books. This second-hand bookshop is an Aladdin’s cave stacked with promise, open on Wellington’s market days: Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The shop carries a broad stock of books at affordable prices aimed at the reader as well as the collector.

At the heart of the shop is the owner, Perce Muscutt. Perce (photo) reluctantly acknowledges that he is warm, effusive, knowledgeable …..and that he shares many of the finer qualities of Bernard Black.

Perce believes in providing quality service. If he hasn’t got the book you want, he’ll get it - if it’s for sale somewhere in the world. If you’re not sure what it’s called, he’ll help you refine your search using the latest technology, until, bingo, the little gem is revealed. Time travel is no object; Perce delights in running to earth the lost, the forgotten, the unlamented.

It’s not only the books that lure you in! Visitors to the shop are likely to find themselves drawn into lively debate with other customers on every subject under the sun (nothing is out of bounds!!!). Conversation is punctuated by laughter, storytelling and cups of strong coffee. The shop has been described as the Hyde Park Corner of Wellington.

Number Eight Books is centrally located in the old market town of Wellington, Shropshire. Crown Street is one of the pedestrianised side streets currently undergoing extensive renovation as part of a Lottery Heritage Fund project. Number Eight stands out because of its Dickensian frontage in vibrant unmissible colour (photo). The town is served by regular rail services, and the rail station is only a few hundred metres from the shop. Car parking within the town is free and there are several car parks close to Number Eight. Nearby, too, is the traditional town market, which includes a well-stocked book stall among its many attractions. And within easy walking distance there is a plethora of charity shops, many of which stock shelf-loads of popular reading.

Wellington has other attractions: it has had a market since 1244 and has had an illustrious career as a market town and stopping place on the London to Holyhead coaching road. There are many interesting buildings including a church by George Steuart (1789). Wellington was the home of Dr. William Withering (1741-1799), whose contribution to our health and longevity has been largely unsung to date, and also home to the popular Victorian writer Hesba Stretton (Sarah Smith)(1832-1911).Wellington is a stone’s throw from the museums of the Ironbridge Gorge, and many of the local settlements owe their existence to the Industrial Revolution.

You may have come across Perce Muscutt in Much Wenlock at Wenlock Books which he owned between 1987 and 2003 and which is now owned by Anna Dreda. Under her ownership it was voted Independent Bookshop of the Year in 2006 and is well worth adding to any local voyage of discovery – and you will find yet more second-hand books just a stone’s throw down the street at Much More Books.

There’s plenty of gentle walking in the area, but more energetic walkers may wish to scale the Wrekin and become eligible to buy and wear the “I’ve Climbed the Wrekin” tee shirt which we sell. This is the same Wrekin that features in the phrase “all around the Wrekin” – a byword for circuitousness. From the top there are splendid views over the North Shropshire plain in one direction and over hilly south Shropshire in the other.

Number Eight Books on the Net
Number Eight Books has a substantial number of books listed on the internet. The current net catalogue can be accessed on www.abebooks.co.uk - just follow the links to "booksellers" and put in Number Eight Books.