Battle of the Bookshops: The Idler in Suffolk
If you’d really like to know What The Chancellor’s Wife Saw then you could take a peep in the window of The Idler in Hadleigh, where you’ll find the pages of Alexander Hope’s 1898 sequel to The Prisoner of Zenda dangling in the door OPEN, inviting you in.
Such idiosyncrasies are typical of the humour of owners, Bryan and Jane Haylock. They launched their bookshop just over 30 years ago – in a year that mourned the departure of John Lennon, saw a nation obsessing over a forthcoming Royal Wedding and begun a decade of political malaise. Sound familiar?
The Haylocks stock books that they love, and are passionate about art, humour and local history. You’ll often see Blythe of Akenfield fame rubbing spines in the window with Spike Milligan.
Lavenham may be more familiar to many than Hadleigh, described by Betjeman (1962) as “one of the most perfect small towns in England, with trees, old red brick, flint and plaster and that unassuming beauty of East Anglia which changes to glory in sunlight”.
The Idler sits at no.37 on a higgledy-piggledy High Street formed almost entirely of Grade II listed buildings which, while modernized in the 1700’s still retain original timber-frame structures behind the Georgian facades.
Step inside and discover arty gift wrap and a fantastic selection of greeting cards: retro fashion via the New Yorker, wit from Ed Gorey, classic treats c/o the Bodleian Library or the contemporary prints of coastal artist, Clare Curtis.
Currently doing well is Ask The Fellows Who Cut the Hay by newish Suffolk publisher Full Circle, which has just added Fenwomen to its growing list of eye-catching titles.
As well as new books you’ll find a wide-ranging selection of secondhand and remaindered books. There’s a book search service for out-of-print books and new books can be ordered on demand.
You’ll never have any trouble p-p-picking up a Penguin but you might find it hard to only buy what you went in for because it’s a like being let loose in a sweet shop as a child.
I only went in for a birthday present and a few greeting cards but emerged with some obscure postcards and a tower of vintage titles – Binkle & Flip, Bimbo & Topsy and other 1960’s hardbacks with schoolgirl names inked inside.
It’s testimony to the place of the shop in the hearts of the local community that The Idler has weathered the test of time, when national, brassier chains giving less shelf space to independent publishers have been – and gone.
Jane makes no pretense about even trying to compete with the surviving chains. Besides, it is for a personalized, friendly touch that her customers return, as well as tickets for drama productions, allotment information (!) and the latest on the ‘Hands off Hadleigh’/ ‘Every Little Hurts’ campaign aimed at preserving local businesses to which the shop devotes a pinboard.
If this last bookshop in Hadleigh ever felt the need to live life in the espresso lane I’m sure they’d opt for an original Gaggia in the best, bohemian style. But this is Suffolk where life trickles at a gentle pace.
And frankly, with a name like The Idler it would be very contradictory to up the tempo. It’s all about the books, you see.
Post & photo collage by Rebecca Smeaton
What do you think?