About The Book Shop
A fixture on the Lee-on-the-Solent High Street for 75 years, The Book Shop is arguably
the oldest shop in the village, and probably the oldest surviving independent book seller on the South
Coast. Leonard Miles ran a florist's shop at 142 High Street and also a small library and book store.
In the 1950s and 1960s, the shop was owned by Thomas Clague "bookseller and stationer". In recent decades
Mr. & Mrs. Pollard, Mr. & Mrs. Adams, Tony and Jean Wilson, and Charlie and Maureen Excell have been
proprietors. The current owner/proprietor is Rick Barter, who took over from the
Excells in November 2004, with
Martin Roach as "webmaster", and the invaluable assistance of Ben O'Shaughnessy,
Jan Watkins, Tim Seward and Kyle Shergold.
142 High Street photographed circa 1958 by
Thomas Clague's teenage son, Malcolm.
With easy parking nearby, the shop is open Monday-Saturday, 8.30am-5.30pm. The web site also offers
lots of useful links and information, as well as a Quote of the Day, so do check back often.
With an eclectic mixture of books, cards, stationery, maps, toys, and gifts, it is
easy to see why the shop is popular not just with Lee locals, but with visitors from the larger local
area who drive to Lee to enjoy the High Street shops, seaside setting, and leisure possibilities that
Lee-on-the-Solent has to offer.
The Book Shop as seen from the top of Lee Tower, probably in the 1940s when
Leonard Miles was proprietor. Photo: Gosport Society
Rick Barter
Rick Barter, who became proprietor of The Book Shop in November 2004, is originally from
America. After decades here, he loves Britain and can't imagine living anywhere else. Except for the
weather. And maybe the Inland Revenue.
Rick hosting a book-signing event with one of his favourite authors
Hanif Kureishi.
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He grew up in
New York City, although his family is from
Maine, the northern New England state well known for
its rugged beauty, scenic coastline, delicious seafood, and seasonal agricultural specialities. He has degrees
from Tufts University in Massachusetts, The Sorbonne in Paris, and The University of Wales in Aberystwyth.
After a brief spell in retail sales (at Alexanders and
Bloomingdales department stores in New York City),
Rick began a 20-year career as an international educator and librarian, working at schools in New York,
Austria, Spain, Lebanon, and the UK. In addition to articles in the professional journals, he has
contributed to two books about multiculturalism and multilingualism.
In addition to reading (!), Rick's interests include travel, architecture and design, and
the performing arts. He speaks good French, decent German, laughable Spanish, and a smattering of Arabic.
He divides his time between Lee-on-the-Solent and the east London borough of
Newham.
Martin Roach
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Martin in his salad days.
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Martin Roach was born in Manchester and grew up in the North West of England. He moved to London and in his twenties, adopted East London as his home and has lived there ever since apart from a few years where he lived in the Middle East, in Beirut.
Martin works in legal publishing and also independently with www.compendium.org.uk. His interests include reading and developing solutions to managing computer data (he says this is because he is not good at crosswords). He is learning Arabic, which he began speaking in Beirut, and is now competent in the language.
Martin also enjoys walking, both in cities and the countryside, visiting museums and old buildings, and travelling in the UK and abroad, seeing new places and people.
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(023) 9255 6592