This month’s indie spotlight is on The Eagle Bookshop, Bedford’s fabulous second-hand bookshop on St Peter’s Street.
This treasure trove for bibliophiles opened in 1991 by Peter Budek and was a mainstay of Castle Road until the business moved to St Peter’s Street in 2019.
Read: The Eagle Bookshop has finally landed on St Peter’s Street
Photos by Cameron Scrimgeour.
What inspired you to open a business in Bedford?
I was brought up in Bedford and in my teens my favourite haunts were Peacocks Auctions (then in Newnham Street) and Richard Wildman’s secondhand bookshop on Mill Street.
For pennies, it was possible to buy a book that was hundreds of years old, often very beautiful and full of the promise of strange revelations or fantastic tales. That childhood thrill, that excitement, has never left me.
In 1991, when I was living near Oxford, I decided to improve my fitness by walking the four miles into work each day.
This took me past an empty shop which, as fate would have it, started displaying posters in its window. ‘Opening soon – Second-hand Bookshop’.
Each day I passed it, extra shelves appeared, and after a couple of weeks they began to fill with old books. I was ridiculously excited, but also inspired and perhaps a little envious. Why shouldn’t I be able to do that? Just imagine being able to play with books all day and call it work.”
The rest is history. When I came back to Bedford for the Easter holidays, I took a walk down Castle Road, and there was a little shop for sale, with a flat above it.
Why not? I thought. Somehow, I managed to persuade the bank manager in Oxford to let me have a mortgage (people may remember those ‘boom before the bust’ days. This was still the boom) and with my dear mother – who needed no persuasion at all – as my initial business partner, The Eagle Bookshop was born.
What’s the best thing about being part of the Bedford indies community?
When we opened there was a vibrant, independent trading community in Castle Road which was immediately welcoming and supportive.
This was a huge reassurance for a business just starting out – and great fun as well.
The town centre then was full of chain stores – people regret their passing now, but at the time they said it made Bedford just a clone of any other town centre.
Of course, the best scenario is a balance of the two, but it is the independents that give a town its uniqueness and character.
The best business advice you’ve been given?
Rare books, like antiques, involve a lot of deals within the trade, and the best advice I had when selling was not to be greedy – always leave enough for the other dealer to have their profit.
What’s your favourite book that’s passed through your hands?
How do I choose?
Perhaps, a unique and beautiful set of the works of Charles Dickens (the Nonesuch Dickens, for those interested) which included, in a matching dummy volume, the original, engraved metal plate of what I think is the most iconic book illustration ever – and I defy you to beat it…
The actual printing plate from Oliver Twist of Oliver Asking For More.
And the most valuable?
A pamphlet that took me two days of book hunting in Salisbury to track down – Wilbur Wright’s Some Aeronautical Experiments.
Printed in 1900 and pre-dating the brothers’ first powered flight, it describes their early experiments with kites and gliders.
Only a handful have survived. It’s worth many times its weight in gold – if only the same were true of The Encyclopaedia Britannica I was offered yesterday!
Which other Bedford indies do you always recommend to customers?
We are so blessed in this town, but being just round the corner from St Cuthberts Street, it’s a pleasure to point our peckish customers to the likes of Roosters, Vanilla Tree, Say Doughnuts or, for something to take home, that most memorable and delicious of all sausages, the Bedford Banger from Lingers.
The Eagle Bookshop, 16 – 20 St Peter’s Street, Bedford MK40 2NN eaglebookshop.co.uk/
Opening hours: Monday – Saturday 10am – 5.30pm Sunday 11am – 4pm
