OUR STORY

We’re a small team. Vicki (owner – the person in the picture not the dog; the dog – Jessie – doesn’t care for books) and Kristin (manager) are here pretty much every day, managing each element of the business, supported by part-time team of booksellers (Sarah, Jess, Barry and Matteo) who each have curated their own events in the shop. We have diverse tastes and different styles, but we all love Bàrd. (I think we all love Bàrd. I hope we all love Bàrd!).

Well-stocked bookstore shelves with various books and a display table

Bookshop

The beauty of having an independent bookshop is that we can curate the bookshelves to our tastes. What we have in shop, completely, are books that we’ve read and think others should read OR books that we want to read. That’s it. Which means our customers can feel confident picking something off the shelf knowing it’s been properly vouched for.

Person enjoys cocktails, snacks; 'The book was better' visible

CAFÉ / BAR

With coffee from Extract and pastries baked and delivered daily from The Snapery East, our daytime reading is peppered with delicious hot drinks and snacks. Move into the evening and we have a short but perfect bar(d) snacks menu and some delicious wines and cocktails too.

Group of people at a bar, enjoying drinks and conversation

Events

We have such a variety of events on at BÀRD. From our monthly quiz to open-mic sessions, to visiting author talks, pop-up dinners, comedy nights, tarot nights – the list is endless. We also host private events so if you’re looking for the perfect venue for your book launch, birthday party or even wedding, just give us a shout.

Bar counter with wine and Doom Juice Fizz bottles

Bar counter with wine and Doom Juice Fizz

BÀRD

Dictionary Definition

bard1 /bɑːd/

noun

ARCHAIC•LITERARY

a poet, traditionally one reciting epics and associated with a particular oral tradition. “Our national bard, Robert Burns”
not to be confused, bard is sometimes confused with barred

The union of a life-long dream and a mid-life crisis, BÀRD opened its doors in July 2024. We had no industry experience beyond a genuine passion and love of books, but fast forward to now, and we’ve built something that is so solidified in the local community and beyond it’s hard to remember a: what we did before and b: what there was before Bàrd existed on The Roman.