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A whitewashed cottage with a bright green door and black-trimmed windows displays hanging baskets and a shop sign, a book cart set outside a neighbouring door.
Dumfries and Galloway

Well-Read Books of Wigtown

A secondhand bookshop in Wigtown, opened in 2018 in the old Grapes Bar by Ruth Anderson, a retired QC, with a crime book club.

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Welcome

Well-Read Books is one of the newer bookshops in Wigtown, a town famous for its books and its festival.

It opened on 21 September 2018, during the town's twentieth book festival, in the building that used to be the Grapes Bar on Agnew Crescent.

Its owner, Ruth Anderson, spent more than forty years as a lawyer, finishing as a QC, before turning the tired old bar into a bright, well-lit and well-shelved secondhand bookshop. She runs it with help from Becky and prides herself on a knowledgeable, personal service. Crime fiction is a particular love, with a Dark Deeds Book Club and events for fans of the genre.

The shop opens from Monday to Saturday, ten until four, behind a lime-green door. It is an easy addition to a tour of Wigtown's bookshops.

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Before you go

Monday to Saturday, 10am to 4pm; closed Sunday.

Where
1-3 Agnew Crescent, Wigtown.
Opened
21 September 2018.
Run by
Ruth Anderson, a retired QC.

Opening hours

Their website
Monday
10am–4pm
Tuesday
10am–4pm
Wednesday
10am–4pm
Thursday
10am–4pm
Friday
10am–4pm
Saturday
10am–4pm
Sunday
Closed

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Where it is

At 1-3 Agnew Crescent in Wigtown, DG8 9DS.

Close byWigtown.
  1. The Open BookThe Open BookThe bookshop you can run on holiday.Under a mile 1 min by road
  2. 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
  3. The Book Shop, WigtownThe Book Shop, WigtownAnother of Wigtown's bookshops.Under a mile 1 min by road
  4. 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.ReadingLassesA bookshop and café on South Main Street in Wigtown, specialising in books by and about women, with homemade cakes.Under a mile as the crow flies
  5. The Old Bank BookshopThe Old Bank BookshopA secondhand bookshop of six rooms in Wigtown's old Custom House and bank on South Main Street, with a whole room of sheet music.Under a mile as the crow flies
Directions
Stone cottage with a green Celtic knot sign, seen through a leafy tunnelShoppingByre Books, WigtownA 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 Distillery0.9 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 Ranger3.5 miles as the crow flies
Whisky barrels line a gravel path beside a distillery's glass-fronted timber buildingAttractionsGalloway Distillery6.4 miles
Landing craft 433 unloads vehicles onto a Mulberry harbour pontoon causewayAttractionsGarlieston Mulberry Harbour7.8 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
Ruined stone abbey framed by a doorway, grass filling the roofless naveAttractionsWhithorn Priory and Museum11 miles

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From the magazineA Walk Through Scotland’s National Book Town - WigtownCollectionBookshops Worth a Detour
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