The Sun Shining on the Bookshops of East Sussex

Having spent a sun drenched week in and around Hastings at the beginning of June I would reflect on (and review) the quality of the bookshops that I visited during the stay. This was not a book buying trip - and thanks to my wife and kids however I was allowed the luxury of browsing around numerous bookshops - in between eating ice creams and building sand castles.

I had done some research before we went and had in mind one particular shop I wanted to visit in Eastbourne the rest were all an added bonus.

Hastings

I visited Albion Books twice and bought 7 books in total. The Science Fiction section was good and there must have been 400-500 and most priced around £1.50. All the books appeared to be in good condition and was happy with the quality, however the shop is very cluttered, with untidy stacks of books all over the floors and in front of shelving making it almost impossible to see the full selection.
If the shop had been busier it would have been a nightmare to navigate.

Bexhill-on-Sea

We hadn't planned on visiting Bexhill so was lucky to stumble across Bestsellers. The shop was very well laid out and again had a healthy selection of Science Fiction.

Purchased 4 books in very good condition for £5 - can't complain.

Eastbourne 

I had read about Camilla's on line before visiting, but was still amazed at the sheer amount of books on sale. I spent more than an hour here, but could have spent several more. The volume of books does mean that they are stacked everywhere. Upstairs, ground floor and downstairs - Science Fiction were on the stairs!

A very large selection of Science Fiction again, and were in neat stacks. I rummaged through them all and selected 8 at a cost of £12. I could and perhaps should have bought more - but I had to budget for ice creams too!

There was a difficult moment when several stacks lost balance and tumbled onto the stairs - no-one came running so I can only assume it happens a lot. The plus side of this was i found a book that i had missed when the towers collapsed.

I only wished i lived closer to visit more often.

Tome bookshop - only a pebbles throw from the seafront - is a very well stocked and laid out bookshop. The Sci-Fi section was not that extensive - but big enough - they did however have a large collection of old Penguin classics - which I picked out 2 John Wyndham novels. I think from memory they advertise all second hand paperbacks at £2 each.

In all 21 classic (or old - probably not all classic) Sci Fi books, spent around £30 and many pleasant hours. When can I go again?