This handy little Post Office is great. It is located within the local the belly of the The Best…read moreOne - a little grocery shop, and is really, only a little counter. Nevertheless, on many an occasion I have had a handful of items, such as ebay parcels, late birthday cards and so on, to post and simply dreaded the idea of the queues that would await me in Headingley or Leeds. They are virtually never busy, and when they are the queue is a ten-minute wait, not a forty-minute wait. They have friendly helpful staff who have not once, ever offered me a Post Office credit card (I hate it when they do that!) and they have a few extra simply stationary supplies should you require. What could be more perfect? Job done.

We come here to do our weekly lottery, the staff are always pleasant and polite to talk to, I just…read morehope they don't close it down like they are doing with the other post offices. http://www.plumberyorkshire.co.uk/pages/plumber_in.php?plumber_in=Leeds

This cute little second hand bookshop has shelves packed full of an array of used and antique…read morebooks. Their sections include maritime, cricket, ornithology and fungi among others. Any bookworm could spend hours browsing. There is a special cabinet set aside for the large hardback antique books which look like something out of a fairytale, some dating back centuries! There are also some delightful, slightly more recent hardback books for children and teenagers from the mid 20th century which provide a wonderful insight into what life might have been like for youngsters at that time. There are also plenty of modern books at decent prices including the likes of Harry Potter and Star Wars. The owners can open the shop specially for an appointment for anyone interested in selling or buying a number of second-hand books - the email address for more info is book.shop@btinternet.com. This is a great place to browse for a unique, carefully chosen gift for a book enthusiast or someone who has a passion for a particular obscure topic that may well be covered here...or just to have a nosy through the shelves for that special find.

For a while now I have had in my possesion a Grimm's Fairy Tales book dating back to at least 1906…read more As I didn't know much about the book other than that Grimm's Fairy Tales are rare, I decided to look online to see if there was any information I could find. After a four hour extensive google search I found nothing. No images and very little about the publishers. The only reason I know it dates back to 11th July 1906 is the plaque in the back. The book belonged to a school girl and she was rewarded the book for perfect attendance at Leith Academy in Edinborough. Needless to say, my fruitless efforts led me to believe that there would be a shop out there that would know much about this book and be able to give me some sort of professional opinion. I searched all around Leeds but all the shops said the same thing: "The only store I know of that deals with books is The Book Store in Kirkstall". It took me a while to get there, mainly because money is hard to come by but I eventually found myself outside of this mysterious and well talked about store. The store itself is quaint and a little charming but nothing to write home about. Certainly a bookworms delight but nothing more. I approached the counter and talked with the woman behind it. She seemed friendly enough but I expected a little more professionalism from her, after all she owns this book store so she should at least know something about the books she handles! Here is what she said. "The book is a reprint of the Grimm's tales" Firstly I would just like to say, No sh*t Sherlock. It's not exactly going to be the hand written very first edition of the tales by the brothers themselves is it? I was aware that it wasn't a first edition 1812 copy so I let her continue. She examined the book to the extent someone who didn't know what a book was would do, in that she handled it like it was a brand new book. It was painful to watch this nice old book being treated rough. She also completely ignored the plaque at the back that I had to point out to her when she said "without a date for this book there isn't much to go by." The date in the book is when the book was given to the girl which was 1906 which means the book itself could possibly pre-date that by a few years. I would say that is substantial evidence of the date of the book but this woman was absolutely clueless and completely dismissed the fact that the date was there saying: "That date doesn't have anything to do with the book though, it does not tell us when the book was published." I get that but it's not going to be anytime AFTER the date is it? Because the book was given to the girl ON the date inside the plague of the book. She then looked on her computer for what I can imagine must have been a google search for the book, of which I told her I had done an extensive search online for this book with the evidence that I had but I still found nothing. I really don't know what she was hoping to achieve in the two minutes she looked online but obviously, she didn't find anything. To which she concluded her examination by saying that "Unless it has illustrations in, especially by Arthur Rackham, i am sorry to say the book isn't worth anything." Basically making out that the work inside the book is rubbish unless it is accompanied by the illustrations of a famous artist. I was always under the impression that a books worth came from it's main selling point itself, in this case, the Fairy Tales. What I find funny more than anything, Is the fact that a woman who owns a book store full of old, possibly ancient and antique books, told me that a rare book that is 100+ years old was worth nothing. She also mentioned the state of the book, complaining that it was in poor condition. In actual fact,the book itself is in a good condition. It's not falling apart save for an illustration at the beginning of the book and the cover is in great condition considering the age of the book. I am no expert by all means but I have seen books this age in poor condition, not only are they illegible but most are very delicate indeed. I would go as far as saying this book is in great condition and as much as I can praise the store I can't praise the lack of help I received. I didn't expect much for free in terms of evaluation but I did expect more professionalism in terms of knowledge and handling of the subject matter.

I came here recently to fulfill another passion of mine; reading. Well, obviously, it's a book…read moreshop. But I'll get to the point. This store is certainly a handy locale for the many students that Leeds houses, and has a huge collection of virtually every specialty, it seems. With the exception of feminism and gender studies. Imagine my disappointment when browsing the various obscure specialty subjects on offer here, only to find a distinct lack of books surrounding my particular subject of interest. There was barely a book in relation to the subject, and I was directed to try and seek out material in psychology, of all categories! So, some of you may chirp in that it's neither a particularly popular subject, nor a common one, which is as may be. However, since I know that both the Universities offer courses in Gender Studies, and the various surrounding elements (of which there are many tangents), I thought this was a little disappointing. They aren't out on a limb though, it seems the only place I've found which actually caters to this subject has been the Oxfam books in Headingley. Even Borders, when it was still around, went from having a Gender Studies section to a smattering of books lumped in with Social Studies and lesbian writing. I shan't give up my search in any case! However, in spite of the lack of material in that particular area it has to be said that the store has a lot to offer. With many other specialty subjects catered for, a wealth of popular and classic fiction, and some interesting gift style items (see the Leeds pubs posters and similar) this shop would satisfy most of the general custom it supplies. Staff have always been as friendly and helpful as I've needed too, so all in all, one can't complain too much. If you're looking to expand your mind thoughts, this place is certainly somewhere to start. With the exception, of course, in gender studies.

A relic to what it was like to be a student in the days before Amazon, a visit to Blackwell's makes…read moreyou feel like proper student even if the closest you've ever been to higher education is getting caught in an Otley run trying to walk home on a Friday night. The shelves are packed high with textbooks and academic tomes on every subject imaginable, and there's a good selection of non-academic works too. Books are both new and second hand, and you can get money in exchange for bringing your old books in for resale. The only downside is the price, and many students seem to use it as a venue to preview books before ordering them for cheaper online.