Welcome
Heron Books first took flight in the historic Clifton Arcade on Boyce’s Avenue. We are moving to 7a Regent Street on Monday 3 February. Full news in our weekly missive here.
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-Saturday: 9.30am-5.30pm
Sunday: 11am-4pm
7a Regent Street
Clifton, Bristol
BS8 4HW
0117 401 1717
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News
The Women Are Up to Something – 22 March 2025
May I invite you to join me in quiet indulgences, in re-reading a book, in watching the daffodils open, in listening to the ‘thud of dozy bumblebees.’ In the past few weeks hundreds of books have been published. The shelves are delighting in their new cargo. Absolute bangers rampage across the bestseller lists. The postman…
Mice in The Heronry – 15 March 2025
A few days ago, I opened the fridge only to discover a mouse sitting next to my oat milk. Fetching more tote bags, I was greeted by a mouse nestled amongst the herons, quite unafraid. One popped up in Harry’s coat pocket. Another was sunbathing in the window under a daffodil. I suspect there to…
The Interpretation of Dreams – 8 March 2025
Dream Count is a novel about four women. Dream Count is four connected novels. Dream Count tells and retells the stories of four women so that the reader at first knows them and then realises the ways in which one cannot know someone. Dream Count is a novel about romance. Or, its opposite. Dream Count…
Normal for Herons – 1 March 2025
Following last week’s dizzying strategies for world domination, I descended from the ceiling to focus on something closer to home. Mary Shelley in Bath, introduced by Fiona Sampson and illustrated by Eleanor Macnair, is a collection of Shelley’s writing during her time in the city. It includes short stories, a chapter of Frankenstein, diary entries…
Hammocks for Herons – 22 February 2025
The ceilings are so high in the new shop that we may be getting carried away. Our ambition knows fewer and fewer bounds. Now that we have a kettle, we can plot for even grander things. Reading tents, hammocks, champagne fountains. How have I coped for so long without a photograph prop shelf? We have…
Perfect Deviation – 15 February 2025
‘… A love poemdoes not love you. Ordoes not necessarily loveyou. A love poem facesoutward. It performslove adequately. Lately,I’ve wondered about poetry’sefficacy. It’s like doubtinga long romance, or romanceitself, the essence of it.Fearsome, to doubtyour life’s foundation.’ Efficacy, utility, value; affinity, love art; Keats, Colette, Nick Cave and PJ Harvey. Diane Seuss may claim doubts…