The Reading Room

Location

Bell Street, near the corner of the Sluice Path

Building

1908, originally a village reading room

Run by

Iris Bell, since 2021

The Reading Room is a cafe in the old village reading room on Bell Street. The 1908 building was a reading room, then a branch library, then, briefly, a parish office, before Iris Bell took the lease in 2021 and reopened it as a cafe.

Inside

The Reading Room holds the Council’s small museum cabinet, the back issues of the Gazette, and a small bookshop corner run, by gentle arrangement, by Owen Pell. The Council annexe, which is the back room, is where the Council meets on the second Tuesday of the month.

On the Gazette

The Gazette office is above the annexe, in what used to be a caretaker’s flat. The Editor works there. The Gazette does not, as a rule, accept visitors without an appointment.

The Reading Room is run by Iris Bell.