NADIA AL-YAFAI
BERMONDSEY SQUARE WRITERS
This is an informal workshop and gathering for writers. The group meets every last Sunday of the month. BSW is open to anyone who writes, whether fiction, non-fiction, scripts, or even an occasional dabbler. Booking not required. Cafe open as usual to all customers. If you're planning to drop by and join this group, please write to Nadia.

PETER CLARK
DICKENS' LONDON: BERMONDSEY IN DICKENSIAN LITERATURE
Celebrating the 200th birthday of Charles Dickens
Few novelists have written so intimately about a city in the way that Charles Dickens wrote about London. Based on five walks through central London, Peter Clark illuminates the settings of Dickens’s greatest works, his life, his journalism and his fiction.

TIM MCNALLY / MARK GETTLESON
ADVICE SURGERY WITH SOUTHWARK COUNCILLORS
Southwark Councillors Mark Gettleson and Tim McNally will be on hand to address local issues.  This is a regular monthly surgery, on the second Saturday of every month.

_PAUL BAILEY, WILL DAVIS, CAMPBELL X, HELEN SANDLER, ANDRA SIMONS, ALIYAHGATOR
SPEAKING OUT
VOICES CELEBRATING LGBT HISTORY MONTH 2012
Featuring Booker-nominated author Paul Bailey, Author/Aerialist Will Davis, Filmmaker Campbell X, Writer/Publisher Helen Sandler, Poet/Performer Andra Simons and Artist Aliyahgator. This event celebrates the diverse voices of leading lesbian and gay authors and artists. With support from Southwark LGBT Network.

VANESSA WOOLF
STORYTELLING AND SING-A-LONG FOR KIDS
Storytelling and sing-a-long session with Vanessa Woolf. Back by popular demand! Every last Friday of the month for September, October and November. Fee: £3 per family. No need to book, just drop by!

HOWARD RICHMOND & ROBIN RUBENSTEIN
Tai Chi Chuan
Tai Chi exercise, Zhan Zhuang Chi Kung, Lam Tai Chi Small Circle Form... Every Saturday from 10am-11am

ROSEMARY FURBER
Creative Writing Workshop
Rosemary is author of novels The Most Intimate Place (for adults), What You See Is What You Get (10-14 year olds) and poetry (Sweet Seventeens). This workshop is suitable for experienced writers and beginners.

NII PARKES
Stuck In The Middle... And How To Get Out Of It
This workshop with writer and editor Nii Ayikwei Parkes is an opportunity for you to take a step back from your novel and look at your structure afresh, consider how you're building tension and positioning your climaxes and revelations. Nii will also show you how to avoid common pitfalls and how the process of editing can address flaws and tighten plotting.

_ALISON CLAYBURN
Writing for Self Discovery - Spring Renewal
The workshops are run by Alison Clayburn who is a poet, writer and an adult education tutor; her twenty years experience includes  teaching at Birkbeck College and for the Open University. Having undertaken her own personal development work, particularly in Psychosynthesis, Alison's main professional interest is in writing as an aid to personal growth, and the cross-fertilisation between this process and the production of artistically powerful work.

GITL BRAUN
Glimpses of A Vanished World
Gitl Braun's unique and innovative techniques of sculpture and photography has won her widespread critical acclaim. Her works, many of which are rooted in her thwarted Jewish past, animate the dead voices of those left behind. Gitl Braun has exhibited internationally across the UK and the US and her work has appeared in numerous arts journals.

_ALIYAHGATOR
Home And Away: LGBT Londoners
LGBT History Month 2012
Home and Away: LGBT Londoners is a series of biro and coloured pencil portraits of LGBT people who currently call London their home. The title is “Home and Away” because this phrase means “gay” in cockney rhyming slang, but also because as well as being their home, London is also an away place for many LGBT people, who may have grown up in other UK cities or come to live in London from abroad.

Here's what some of you have said about Woolfson & Tay :) Thank you!

"Thanks a lot for creating a bookshop which places itself within a community and addresses political-personal issues; it can't be easy holding together the commercial considerations which an independent bookshop has to take into account as well as offering something other and so necessary in these tough times." - Nigel Y

"This shop is adventurous and dynamic, but also cosy and homely. In other words, everything a great bookshop ought to be." - Adam Smith

“It's great being, ie feeling, part of something that is a local and new and brave (women's) venture.” - R. Ades

"...Not only is it is a wonderful space, and draws local people to the square with a constantly changing gallery, lovely homemade cakes, and interesting little presents, buts its a true community-spirited environment that involves you" - Nadia Al Yafai

"In the few short months that it's been open, this shop has made itself into a mainstay of the community... MPs surgeries, local artists and world-class events... can't imagine the square without it now!" - Vanessa Woolf-Hoyle

"Very friendly and relaxed atmosphere." - Walki Tinkanesh

"Woolfson and Tay has made a huge impact on the local landscape, providing a space for events and activities - really providing a 'centre' for the local community. ...The shop has become the place where I learn Tai Chi, drink good cappuccino, have intelligent conversation and buy endless inspirational books that I never knew of before." - Pete Wyer

"I recommend this for a wonderful welcome, a great location on a friendly square, and a fantastic selection of books." - Kristina Holt

"This bookshop is a hidden gem, people need to know about it, and I say that grudgingly because part of me does not want to share this bookshop. It is a great place, feeding the mind and spirit as well as the stomach!" - A M Goodwin

"I do not live in London but discovered W&T on a visit to a friend nearby. I was stunned at the quality of literature on sale. It is a goldmine of books worth reading and I enjoy every second of each visit. PS and they make the best coffee and cake in London!" - Sue Hulkes

"...Recently they hosted an event for a local voluntary organisation which I chair. We have used several venues in Southwark for meetings and events, and this was by far the best. We are using them again next month for our AGM." - Gaby Charing

"W&T is a dream of a place, whether you drop in to buy one of its carefully selected books or gifts, to have tea and cake or a delicious 'oriental meal in a bowl' - or whether you attend one of the many courses, drop-ins, community, literary or political events, or view the exhibitions that take place in the friendly and flexible space at the back. It has created a cultural and social focus in an area that sorely needed it. I highly recommend it!" - Irena Hill

"It's everything a bookshop should be. It's challenging with both the selection of books and exhibitions that they host. It's attractively laid out without the promo gimmicks of some other places. The staff are knowledgeable and friendly. I often have a morning coffee here and I'm fussy! Delightful, interesting, the sort of bookshop that one dreams about. And on my doorstep too!" - Simon Baker

"The friendliest bookshop I have ever been in, with great coffee! Lovely selection of books for all ages. A wonderful fresh and light space to sit and relax in." - Elizabeth Bentley

"Our charity recently held an exhibition at Woolfson & Tay of a selection of images focusing on prisoners of conscience in Zimbabwe. ...We fully intend to hold similar exhibitions in the future now that we have found such an excellent space to do so. On a more personal level, I find it very easy to while away the hours browsing through their inspiring selection of books as well as enjoying their delicious "lunch in a bowl" every now and then. Woolfson & Tay are a fantastic addition to our local neighbourhood." - Lynn Carter

We'd like to know more about you, especially if you're a local resident or often frequent the area. Tell us in our survey!
And many thanks if you decide to share :)

PS. If you'd like to give us feedback, please email us rather than fill in the survey. Or if you need a reply/feedback urgently, please call us on 02074079316. Thank you.

_Opening Hours
Mon-Sat    11am-7pm
Sun          11am-5pm

Location & address
12 Bermondsey Square
London SE1 3UN
For location map, click here

Contact details
T: 02074079316
E: info@woolfsonandtay.com

Nearest tube
Borough or London Bridge, on Jubilee or Northern Lines, about 12 minutes walk

Bus routes
78, 42, 188 (direct to square) or all routes to London Bridge

Click on calendar above to see what's happening every month

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SOME QUOTES
"Woolfson & Tay... feels like the model of a modern independent bookshop." Josh Lacey, author

"This independent bookshop sits perfectly on Bermondsey Square, offering all the latest reads and imaginatory feasts - all whilst promoting community spirit." - London City Guide

"A divine bookshop, café and writers’ venue on Bermondsey Square in south London... Woolfson & Tay have made the idea of books, as objects, seem wonderfully exciting again." - Barra Bromley, writer

"W&T is an essential literary hub if you’re local to the area, and well worth a trip if you’re not." - Sally Skinner, novelist-in-training

"Woolfson & Tay is what all bookshops should be - warm, inviting and thoroughly immersed in its community." - Michael Richmond, author

New Menu Offering
We now offer wine!

NOMINATE W&T
Please leave a comment in support of W&T and help us win a chance to host a Telegraph Book Club Tour literary event!
The best comment wins £25 in National Book Tokens every month.
CLICK HERE TO NOMINATE W&T

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