The Bookery: A new chapter for a much-loved community hub

A much-loved local bookshop, The Bookery in Crediton became a community benefit society in 2014 to preserve its presence on the high street – and create a valuable resource for local people.

“The recognition was that it would be challenging to run a commercial bookshop in Crediton,” said General Manager Dominic Myers. “It needed to have a greater purpose than just being a commercial bookshop, with the community’s support and commitment behind it.” 

So today, The Bookery is a brilliant independent bookshop and also a vibrant community hub. Supported by around 50 volunteers, it delivers an extensive programme of literacy, learning and social activities, from taking books into local primary schools and supporting reluctant readers to running early years activities.

Volunteers also visit care homes and older people in rural communities, offering reading and companionship. The bookshop provides a welcoming warm space, free soup and stories during winter, author events and a co-working hub.

But despite its strong reputation and deep community roots, The Bookery had to re‑group and re‑focus shortly after Dominic joined in May 2024.

Following a period without consistent on-site leadership, the business required a new strategic plan to put it on a more sustainable footing – and it needed some financial breathing space to make that happen.

So the society launched a share offer to strengthen its financial position to make improvements and invest in the business. An approach to the Plunkett Foundation led the team to the Community Shares Booster Fund, delivered by Co‑operatives UK.

The fund provided financial assistance and expert support to help The Bookery prepare and launch its share offer. This covered practical costs such as advertising and organising an open day – as well as guidance on developing the offer document and meeting the requirements for the Community Shares Standard Mark.

“The financial advice was very good. The consultant we worked with from Plunkett helped us create the right framework and the co-op adviser who helped us prepare the Standard Mark application was accurate, quick in her responses and happy to coach us through what we needed to do.”

Launched in November 2024, the share offer closed in January 2025, raising just over £20,000 from the community. Additional investment from the Booster Fund brought the total to around £31,000. For local people, investing was about protecting an important high street business.

“The vast majority of those who bought shares did so because they wanted the bookshop to remain community-owned and stay on Crediton’s high street,” said Dominic. “They recognised its importance to the diversity of retail in the town and wanted to support a flourishing high street.”

The investment has enabled The Bookery to improve its shop frontage, install additional shelving, upgrade ageing computers and improve its co-working hub. It has also given the team time to develop its strategic plan and pursue new grant opportunities.

“If we hadn’t raised that money, we would have really struggled,” Dominic explained. “We wouldn’t have had the cash flow to give ourselves the time and room to make improvements and invest in the business.” 

The Bookery is now in a more stable financial position, with improving cash flow and new opportunities for grant funding. Its achievements include winning the Horace Plunkett Award, which recognises the impact of community-owned businesses and the difference they make to the places they serve. 

For Dominic, the Booster Fund’s combination of investment, expert advice and practical assistance was instrumental in making that progress possible.

“The Booster Fund gave us the information we needed to prepare a quality share offer for our community. That gave us the room to put a new strategic plan in place, which has led to successes over the last 12 months.” 

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