Hello and Merry Christmas! I have sooo much to tell you about so let me delve straight in. First, we've been featured on the new national Visa advert! We had photographers come in mid October and I spent an hour posing in the doorway. Here's the final shot that is being used on billboards across Coventry. Not long after this, we received more National coverage as we were heralded as one of the best UK small music venues by The Guardian! Many thanks to regular gig-goer Karen f

On September 27th we turned 4! I was surprised by Amy with this wonderful blog. Thank you! Take a read and then come and visit. - Michael Bookshops are important. There are so many reasons we flock to them - for food, discussions, music, events (or maybe even buying yet another book!) To celebrate The Big Comfy Bookshop's fourth birthday this week, I wanted to gather some thoughts from my friends. (Friends I never would have met, if it weren’t for The Big Comfy Bookshop.) “I'

The Big Comfy Bookshop: An Evolution The last post I wrote somehow became a huge hit. I didn’t start out with an agenda for it except to say thanks for the past 12 months, but it ended up being a call out to the public, not quite a cry for help, but more a nudge in the ribs to maybe pop along soon. It worked too, we had some people come along who either hadn’t been before or hadn’t for ages. The thing is, it’s a short-term solution as that blog has been and gone and ended up

Might be a bit of a long post, but here goes anyway... I touched on it briefly earlier this week on facebook but it's now been 12 months since I reopened the newly expanded Big Comfy Bookshop. It wasn't a decision I took lightly either, man, the day before I signed the lease I was sweating and thinking am I doing this right? You know, 12 months later and it's kinda working. Together with the most amazing women I know (minus my wife), Ali and Eve have helped structure, mould,

After the successful running of a few new discussion groups, friends of the shop Amy and Dom decided to have a little think about the reasons why these went so well and provide some tips on how to get the most out of your own discussion groups. Amy hosts Muggle Musings; a new monthly Harry Potter discussion group and Dom hosts a Lord of the Rings discussion group Rangers of Mordor Minor which has now run for just over 7 months. So here are their collaborative top tips for run

If you're the kind of person that hangs out online a lot, it won't come as a surprise to learn that things are about to change, and in a big way. I'm talking of course, about Facebook. A few weeks ago Mark Zuckerberg the CEO of Facebook announced that the platform will be concentrating on 'meaningful social interaction', and away from the news heavy, Gif ridden mess that it has become over the past few years. The focus is shifting to a personal connection rather than a conten

Well, it's been a fun week! The sunshine (sporadic though it may have been) saw the the tables and chairs being set up outside for the first time this year, and Michael even put a few books out for any lucky people turning up. I wasn't at the shop yesterday, so I hope no books were ruined in the thunder storm. On Thursday the shop hosted the monthly Fire & Dust poetry open mic night. It looked to be a fairly quiet night until 20 people turned up and ordered a LOT of hot choco