SHOPPERS and avid readers around Gloucester Road and beyond are pleased to see a new-look front to the Amnesty Bookshop, with the final touches to its renovation complete following a crash into the shop front earlier in the year.
Not the first time that the charity shop has suffered damage from a car accident, the front of the store came off worst when a Range Rover skidded on ice late one Friday night in early January. The Range Rover hit a smaller vehicle parked outside the Marie Curie shop next door, shunting the second car into the Amnesty shop front. Next hitting a street bin nearby, this car was finally brought to a halt by a lamp post. Thankfully, nobody was injured in the incident.
Damage to the Amnesty shop was significant, however. The slats and side runner of the large metal shutter were mangled, damaging the door and leaving the shop inaccessible. Both side windows caved in and the window shelf collapsed.
For several days after the incident, the shop was unable to open while the damaged shutter was removed, debris and glass cleared and a temporary boarded door put on to provide some access. Once safe, a team of regular volunteers worked hard to assist with the clean up and get the rest of the store ready for re-opening.
Thanks to everyone’s efforts, the shop was open for business again within a couple of weeks, albeit with its window and outside displays moved elsewhere. Apart from various closures when carpenters, electricians and glass fitters came in to carry out repairs, the shop has managed to maintain business as usual since the incident.
In early May, nearly four months after the crash, thanks to the work of Charlie and his team from CK Carpentry Lofts & Building, the new door and shop front were at last complete.
Volunteers at the shop were delighted. One, Kate Mayall, who has volunteered at the store since it opened in 1997, said: “The shop is so full of light now [after being so dark from the temporary boarding] and soon the window will be filled with interesting books and new shelving. What a transformation!”
The shop is always on the lookout for more volunteers to keep it open as much as possible. If you can spare four hours a week, please contact the bookshop on: Bristolbookshop@amnesty.org.uk