Book lovers in Belfast have been dealt another blow with news that one of the last remaining bookshops in the city centre is to close its doors for good.
A treasure trove for second-hand books of all genres, Keats and Chapman on North Street is a favourite destination for readers, but the shutters are set to come down for the final time at the end of October.
Confirmation of the closure comes as plans continue for a major redevelopment in that corner of the city centre.
The loss of the store, which is packed from floor to ceiling with everything from classic literature and antique tomes to sci-fi and horror, follows the loss of another popular bookshop in Belfast earlier this year when Book Paper Scissors in the Stranmillis area closed after nine years in business.
Once Keats and Chapman closes next month, it will leave only three regular bookshops in the city centre area selling new and used books, along with two Christian book outlets.
In total, the loss will mean Belfast as a whole will have just 14 bookshops left.
In the late 1980s, readers in the city had a choice of no-less than 33 bookshops to browse.
The Irish News spoke with a staff member in the store who confirmed that Keats and Chapman is to close, with no plans to relocate.
The store had previously been located in the nearby North Street Arcade, which has lain derelict for more than two decades since it was destroyed in a fire in 2004.
Keats & Chapman is among the last bookshops in the city centre PICTURE: COLM LENAGHAN
It is one of the last remaining businesses in North Street, now a shadow of its former self, and the location for a proposed major residential and retail redevelopment, which is currently the focus of a public consultation.
The scheme is proposed by Castlebrook Investments, and would see 1,000 new homes, two hotels and commercial space built in the area between North Street and Donegall Street.
The site, next to St Anne’s Cathedral, is owned by Castlebrook, which had previously secured planning permission for a controversial scheme known as Tribeca, before it stalled.
Castlebrook say the revised proposed scheme, which no longer has the Tribeca name, would revive the area and help meet Belfast City Council’s targets for city centre living.
Most of North Street in Belfast lies derelict amid ongoing plans for a major redevelopment of the area PICTURE: COLM LENAGHAN
The firm is set to submit a full planning permission for the revamped development before the end of this year.
However, the proposals to flatten and redevelop the area around North Street have been opposed since even before the Tribeca proposal, with a campaign led in recent years by the Save CQ (Cathedral Quarter) group.
Writing in the Irish News last year, vice chair of Save CQ, Dr Agustina Martire, said of the loss of stores in the proposed redevelopment area: “These are not just shops; they are informal community hubs, economic lifelines, and keepers of local culture.
“Their loss strips away not only jobs, but the sense of place that makes a city feel like itself.”