Welcome

Heron Books, Clifton’s only independent bookshop, can be found in the historic Clifton Arcade on Boyce’s Avenue.

The shop stocks a range of fiction, non-fiction and children’s books, 4000 of them in a carefully planned cosy space. Heron Books offers personal recommendations and the creation of bespoke gift lists for special occasions, and runs events, including a monthly poetry series and several book groups. Where not already on the shelves, books can be ordered for home delivery by Royal Mail and, if you live really nearby, staff can exceptionally cycle over to deliver them personally.

The shop is a welcoming space. We like nothing more than talking about books; if the book in question features a heron, all the better.

Opening Hours
Monday-Friday: 10am-5:30pm
Saturday: 9am-6pm
Sunday: 11am-4pm


Unit 5, The Clifton Arcade
Boyce’s Avenue
Bristol, BS8 4AA

0117 431 0616


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News

  • Bookshop Day Everyday – 12/10/2024

    Wishing you a very happy Bookshop Day 2024, a concocted concept which I fully endorse along with such events, doubtless already in your diary, as: International Day of Rural Women (15th October – check it out); CAPS LOCK DAY (22nd October – NO, SERIOUSLY); National Pumpkin Day (26th October – I don’t know whose nation;…

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  • Raising Heron – 05/10/2024

    I can hardly express how moved I’ve been by Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton, the story of finding a leveret in danger and rescuing it without domesticating it. Chloe Dalton picked up the exposed leveret within mounds of damp grass hoping not to impart her scent but was told by a conservationist that its mother…

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  • Hyper Herons – 28/09/2024

    Like Fanta Mentos, The Sopranos, Le Creuset, Florence (the city and the Machine), smoked paprika, the printing press, this contraption, Jodie Comer and the medjool dates they sell at Reg the Veg, the new Sally Rooney novel is worth the hype. I was nervous before reading it and had shunned reviews. I need not have…

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  • Tell Us Everything – 21/09/2024

    If you have not met Olive Kitteridge and Lucy Barton yet, I am thrilled for you because of what you have lying ahead.If you have, I am thrilled at that. There is so much to discuss.   Now, at last, Olive and Lucy have met each other. And they keep meeting. In order to tell…

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  • Cardiganed Herons – 14/09/2024

    A chill hung over The Downs early yesterday morning as we began setting up for the University of Bristol’s Welcome Fair. My fingers complained of the cold when I attempted to achieve the perfect fan of bookmarks (years of training required). By the time our stall was ready, the sun was offering alleviation and the…

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  • Loitering With Herons – 07/09/2024

    Dear Reader, ‘All stories are true.Some would disagree.All narrators are Cretan liars.’ – My Good Bright Wolf by Sarah Moss Last week I was mesmerised by finding Gwen John everywhere, building a portrait of a portrait artist from fiction, biography and poetry. The possibilities of writing shone. I thought about how so many of the…

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