About Bookshop Crawl UK CIC

Bookshop Crawl UK originally began in 2016, when founder Bex Hughes asked (then) Twitter who wanted to explore bookshops in London with her. In February 2025, just ahead of the 10th London Bookshop Crawl, we registered as a Community Interest Company (CIC), with a directorial board of Bex Hughes (executive director), Rhys Hughes (director) and Charlie Russell (director), and associate assistance from Esther Ushe, who has provided all of our amazing logos, posters and lots more as our freelance graphic designer since 2017.

Becoming a CIC means that we are now a non-profit organisation existing entirely to create amazing events to celebrate and support bookshops and connect book lovers with each other.

Our events are designed to be easy and fun for introverts, neurodiverse people and anyone else who may struggle in social situations for whatever reason, as Bex herself is neurodivergent and has social anxiety, and her aim from the beginning has been to create an events space which feels safe & welcoming for everyone!

As part of our 10th year celebrations, we launched Canterbury Children's Literature Festival which is also part of the CIC, and where our aims are to create access to literacy and stories through bringing authors, illustrators, storytellers, actors and stories in all their forms to the families, schools and children of Kent.

What is a Bookshop Crawl?

Picture of a blue and white checked floor and corridor lined with bookshelves either side with a colourful mural painted on the back wall

A bookshop crawl is, in essence, a period of time in which you visit several bookshops within the same area. This can be over an afternoon, a day, a weekend, or longer! Our events at Bookshop Crawl UK generally run over a day or a weekend, and are designed to be low pressure, 'socially antisocial' events. We usually have a variety of ways you can take part, either by joining a Group Bookshop Crawl or by using our Self Guided Bookshop Crawl Kit.

Group Bookshop Crawls last between 2.5 and 4 hours, depending on the location and the focus of the group, and have a group leader who will take you around a planned itinerary of 5-10 bookshops, often with some fun little extras along the way. These are a great way to meet new people, and to find new bookshops you may not know about. They are also a judgement free zone, suitable for all types of readers! You can chat as much or little as you like, buy as many or as few books as you like... Basically think of them as your permission slip to spend some time in bookshops! Group Bookshop Crawls are ticketed - children under 16 are free with a paying adult and we recommend groups for age 10+.

Self Guided Bookshop Crawl Kits (which we don't create for any festival collabs, but do create for all of our solo events) include a Big List (Google Map) of bookshops, with opening hours, accessibility information (wherever we've been able to find it!), general info about shops and details of any extras on offer for the bookshop crawl, and also include the ID card needed to claim said extras, and some of our other planning resources. They are always free or pay as you feel, and you can use them to explore on your own or with friends and family.