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A white building carries a sign reading 'The Old Bank Bookshop, Books & Sheet Music', national flags strung along a railing outside.
Dumfries and Galloway

The Old Bank Bookshop

A secondhand bookshop of six rooms in Wigtown's old Custom House and bank on South Main Street, with a whole room of sheet music.

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Welcome

Wigtown has bookshops all round its square, and The Old Bank Bookshop on South Main Street is one of the best for a long, happy browse.

The building began life in the late 18th century as the town's Custom House, with a bank and a bank house added beside it in the 19th century, and today its six rooms are filled with good secondhand books on practically every subject, along with curated collections of new books. One whole room is given over to sheet music, a treat if you play, and there's a small selection of cards and prints too. Joyce and Ian run the shop and welcome book lovers of all ages, and they buy books as well as sell them, so bring along any you're ready to part with. There's wheelchair access, and the shop is open Monday to Saturday from 10.30am to 5pm, with the occasional Sunday, especially in December.

Round the cornerReadingLassesA bookshop and café on South Main Street in Wigtown, specialising in books by and about women, with homemade cakes.1 min by roadSee itInside ReadingLasses: shelves of new books by women writers on one side, and the café counter on the other, with cakes under glass domes, a chandelier and bottles on a shelf above.
Before you go

Secondhand and new books, sheet music, cards and prints; the shop buys books too.

Where
7 South Main Street, Wigtown, DG8 9EH.
Open
Monday to Saturday, 10.30am to 5pm, and occasional Sundays, especially in December.
Selling books
The shop buys books; get in touch first.
Access
Wheelchair access.
Phone
01988 402111

Opening hours

Their website
Monday
10.30am–5pm
Tuesday
10.30am–5pm
Wednesday
10.30am–5pm
Thursday
10.30am–5pm
Friday
10.30am–5pm
Saturday
10.30am–5pm
Sunday
Closed

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Where it is

At 7 South Main Street in Wigtown.

Close byThe bookshops of Wigtown, and the Machars.
  1. Vintage typewriter and stacked leather books beside a tartan-cushioned armchair in a libraryThe Book Shop, WigtownScotland's largest second-hand bookshop, in Wigtown, with around 100,000 books on over a mile of shelves, a log fire and a shop cat.Under a mile 1 min by road
  2. Stone cottage with a green Celtic knot sign, seen through a leafy tunnelByre Books, WigtownA secondhand bookshop in Wigtown, down a pend and through a small garden, specialising in folklore, mythology, theatre, film, archaeology, poetry and Scotland.Under a mile 1 min by road
  3. Whitewashed cottage row with green doors and hanging flower baskets on a village streetWell-Read Books of WigtownA secondhand bookshop in Wigtown, opened in 2018 in the old Grapes Bar by Ruth Anderson, a retired QC, with a crime book club.Under a mile 1 min by road
  4. White corner building with green trim on a street corner, signed The Open BookThe Open BookA bookshop in Wigtown with a holiday flat above, where guests run the shop for the length of their stay.Under a mile 1 min by road
  5. WigtownWigtownScotland's National Book Town, a small town on the Machars with bookshops around its square and a book festival every autumn.Under a mile 1 min by road
  6. Whisky barrels line a gravel path beside a distillery's glass-fronted timber buildingGalloway DistilleryGin made from scratch at Newton Stewart, with fir from the hills and weed from the shore.6 miles 11 min by road
  7. Whithorn Priory and MuseumWhithorn Priory and MuseumThe ruins of the priory and cathedral of Galloway at Whithorn, for 1,000 years a place of pilgrimage to St Ninian, with a museum of early carved stones.11 miles 17 min by road
Directions
Inside ReadingLasses: shelves of new books by women writers on one side, and the café counter on the other, with cakes under glass domes, a chandelier and bottles on a shelf above.ShoppingReadingLassesA step away
Copper pot stills in a row in the still house at Bladnoch Distillery, under a timber ceiling, with the spirit safe beyond.AttractionsBladnoch Distillery1.1 miles
A woman with grey hair and glasses smiles beside a large tree trunk in woodland, wearing a green jacket with a round embroidered badge.AttractionsFreelance Ranger3.3 miles as the crow flies
Landing craft 433 unloads vehicles onto a Mulberry harbour pontoon causewayAttractionsGarlieston Mulberry Harbour8.0 miles
Terraced shopfronts and colourful houses line a quiet street beneath grey skiesAttractionsWhithorn11 miles
Carved stone slab with cup and ring marks set among grassAttractionsDrumtroddan Cup and Ring Marked Rocks11 miles

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