Fossgate Books
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Review
Don't look at the man in this picture, you'll get the wrong impression. Stop it! There is a shady cobbled street leading away from York's city centre and the Minster and towards the tourist-free Picadilly and Fossgate. The road is home to some brilliant and quirky little shops – fashion, food, music, pens – and also the best bookshop in York. Fossgate Books is an unimposing, simple and good value place where you can find that Sailing Annual you were always looking for, the one with the really good pictures of that woman sailing, and the wind's blowing one way but she's leaning another – you can see right down her... well you get the idea, they sell pretty much everything second hand whether it's obscure or not. The helpful but non-intrusive owner will generally know off the top of his head where something is if you can't find what you're looking for and, on several occasions, has been known to get books in for customers if they happen to mention them in conversation without expecting you to buy. You'll never hear any music in there, you'll never be bumping shoulder to shoulder with serious looking collectors but similarly you'll be avoiding the bargain-hunting-TV-biography-reading-I-want-a-coffee-with-my-book crowd. It's great for getting cheap but good copies of texts if you're a student and always worth a general nose around.Laurence Cook
