BOOTS the chemist once had subscription libraries within their stores. They were extremely popular and operated very successfully from 1899-1966.

In their heyday they had more than a million subscribers. Grange-over-Sands, Windermere and Kendal were all home to a branch of Boots Booklovers Library.

In my book ‘Lipsticks and Library Books’, former staff share entertaining anecdotes of wealthy, eccentric subscribers and strict spinster librarians. It tells the story of a privileged elite in a world that existed really not so long ago but which seems very distant from today.

I would be interested to hear from anyone who remembers Boots libraries anywhere in Cumbria.

Jackie Winter

Winterborne Zelston, Dorset