Small But Big; Beets Pulse & Thyme.
23 December 2020 • beets pulse and thyme, nutritionist, small businesses, small but big, vegan
How did Beets Pulse and Thyme come to be?




Turn on the light.
21 December 2020 • basics
Now, more than ever, we have to take note of the happy moments. We have to submerge ourselves in them and take a long, decadent swim, until we surface somewhere remote, unfamiliar and so wonderfully peaceful. And then we'll hopefully turn and squint at the dark horizon we came from, and not remember what it was made of.
These happy moments don't have to be grand and sparkling, with pitch perfect music playing in the background and a warm, soft glow around the edges. They can be the smallest, quietest things. Like your Pilea Peperomioides sprouting a teeny baby in its soil. Or biting into the seeded sourdough you treated yourself to from the bakery, on your way home from work. Finishing a really lovely book before going to sleep. Finding the perfect Christmas gift for a loved one, when you'd been worried about finding anything they'd like.


Small But Big; The Hastings Bookshop.
5 December 2020 • bookish, bookshop, bookshops, Hastings, small but big, The Hastings Bookshop
Oh yes, this Small But Big series is officially BACK, baby! For those of you who don't know, I love (to the point of obsession) small businesses. I want to work and shop with them as much as possible, and shout them out on every platform I have. Well, today I am overjoyed to be shouting about The Hastings Bookshop; a newbie to the infamous Trinity Triangle, and a welcome addition to our town as a whole. I was very excited to interview Charlie, the book lover behind it all...
What's your story? How did The Hastings Bookshop come to be?
It's been my dream to open a shop in Hastings for a very long time. I grew up down here and it is such a special, warm and caring place - it deserves a really amazing bookshop. Book selling is in my blood I guess - most of my family are in the book biz. My mum and dad actually met when they were working in a bookshop together - goals! I've been selling books myself since the age of 16. I worked at Waterstones for a bit and then spent a few years working at this amazing bookshop on Tooley Street, near London Bridge, called The Riverside Bookshop - I learnt a lot and made some great mates there, I still love those guys dearly. Alongside my book selling I studied Sociology at Goldsmiths and then did an MA in Modern European Philosophy at Kingston University. I sometimes still write about philosophy, I've recently had a few pieces on French and African philosophy translated into Arabic and published by my good friend Oumar Azzeradj, an excellent Algerian/British philosopher and cultural critic who now lives in St Leonards. During the first lockdown I realised that the future of our industry lies in small, local, independent bookshops and publishers who have a really close relationship with their customers. With this new shop, I'm trying to combine a modern, contemporary selection of books (which try to deal with current social and political issues), and a classic, old-school approach to book selling; for example, recommending a book you think a customer would actually like to read, rather that what you are being told to hand sell by some company big shot. I have complete freedom to stock what I want in this shop and therefore I can make the stock list a genuine reflection of the interests of our community - Amazon and the book selling chains just can't compete with that.

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