Bring Battersea Bookshop to life

Stanfords has been given the opportunity to open a neighbourhood bookshop in the newly renovated Battersea Power Station. We need your support to build our bookcases, fill our shop with books and hire great staff. Join Michael Palin, Peter Ackroyd and Levison Wood in supporting our new venture.

Since Stanfords opened 169 years ago, we’ve been a firm fixture in Covent Garden and have amassed some amazingly loyal customers over the years. It is wholly down to our loyal customers that Stanfords survived the pandemic. You helped save Stanfords from closing down by raising £150k in a crowdfunder. 

Now that Stanfords has survived we are looking at this new opportunity as a chance to thrive.  It’s been a rough few years for independent bookshops, we were all hit hard by the pandemic. As bricks and mortar shops with rent, taxes and expert staff, we have expenses that web only businesses do not have. To be asked to open a store in this iconic London building is such an honour and we would like to bring our years of experience to create something really special in Battersea.

We need you to be part of our next chapter and help bring Battersea Bookshop to life. 

Our aim is provide a bookshop that brings the local community together through book groups, collaborations with local schools and community organisations. The shop premises we have chosen in Turbine Hall B has an events space that can be used for launches, author talks, workshops, art and photography exhibitions. We also have an area in the shop to display photos and artefacts from the Power Station.

At the heart of our store we want to provide a service that truly reflects the ethos of independent bookshops where our staff get to know authors and customers so they can make recommendations and create a sense of community.

Please support us to pay a part of the costs of opening our new Battersea Bookshop. The majority of the costs are being covered by the owners of the Power Station and by Stanfords shareholders. We are also being supported by publishers large and small whose books we will stock. However there remans a gap between our cash in hand and what we need to operate successfully for the first year. We need your help to close that gap.

We will accept with huge gratitude any donation you might make for no reward other than supporting independent bookselling.

In addition we have assembled a wide array of rewards for you to select from in return for your contribution. Here are some examples of the rewards we have available.

Peter Ackroyd's new Colours of London signed.

Michael Palin's latest adventure Into Iraq signed and personalised.

Levison Wood's new book Endurance signed and personalised.

We also have some fascinating live events for you to choose from including a special tour of the Chelsea Physic Garden at the peak of the snowdrop season.

You might be familiar with the fabulous maps created by Adam Dant. Another live event for you to select will be to visit Adam while he creates a new map of the area surrounding the Battersea Power Station.

The Battersea Park Children's Zoo has a new collaboration with the London Beekeepers Association. Visit the beehives and learn about being an urban bee keeper. You will receive a book to learn how to support our bees and a jar of local honey.

Paul Wood is passionate about trees and especially trees in London. Who better to join for a tour of the special trees in Battersea Park. You will receive a signed and personalized copy of one of Paul's books.

Cruise the River Thames with authors and members of the Stanfords staff. Enjoy a narrated trip and delicious refreshments and a book about the Thames.

Finally we should mention we believe a very small number of those who contributed to the Stanfords Crowdfunding in 2020 have not yet received their Reward. If this includes you please email [email protected] with your name and description of the reward that has not yet reached you.