A SHROPSHIRE bookshop has won a prestigious award.

The Poetry Pharmacy, in Bishop's Castle, has been named the regional winner of the British Book Awards Independent Bookshop of the Year.

Deb Alma, who runs the shop, said she was overjoyed when she heard the news. 

"This award is so important to our team as it's such recognition for this tiny town of Bishop’s Castle and the support of both our local community and also the wider poetry community," she said.

"We're thriving and growing against all the odds. The Poetry Pharmacy began with a Kickstarter campaign and an Arts Council England grant, and the award repays the faith in the project that they and our wonderful customers had, and for which we're so grateful.

"In Bishop's Castle we're just one part of a thriving arts scene, and we work with local authors and artists as well as providing a welcoming space for locals and visitors from further afield - good cakes and coffee help.

"Poetry is often overlooked and seen as difficult to sell, but done creatively it can thrive in the most unexpected of places.  This award is proof that indie booksellers, working as they do in towns and high streets all over the country, bring an important cultural offering to their communities, especially in light of cuts in arts funding and library closures.

"Use your local bookshop and bookshop.org - keep them open."

Tom Tivnan, The Bookseller managing editor, said: "Getting down to these nine regional and country winners was a very difficult process. Indie bookshops across the UK and Ireland are thriving and have met the very difficult recent trading conditions with creativity and cutting-edge innovation.

"What is truly cheering is that we see this in new shops that have popped up since the pandemic to venerable stores which have been trading for decades. In the last few years I have been calling this period an indie bookshop renaissance, but I think we have gone beyond that, we are in the golden age."