Waterstones Lincoln Store
Like much British infrastructure, Waterstones Bookshop in Lincoln High Street has reused existing features and had to adapt itself to a space that may not be considered ideal for the purpose. If we take a look at the satellite view of the store and compare it with a 1902 map we see that in fact the footprint of the store occupies most of what was in previous times a Hotel, Public House and dining room known as the Saracen’s Head, at 298 High Street.
The floor plan in fact is slightly more complicated that it appears here, a quarter of the ground floor is occupied by a separate jewelry store (presumably this predates the bookshop as it takes over the 298 High Street address, while the bookshop has to borrow the number from the shop next door and become 297a). Additionally there are some private, coded-lock doors on the upper floors that might lead to store rooms above the buildings to the south, and I think that the “remaindered” room on the first floor is also outside the original footprint.
Despite the awkward floor plan the designer’s have squeezed in quite a bit of content, including a lift to all floors, a (very narrow!) escalator from the ground to the first floor and a substantial cafe. Let’s take a tour, accompanied by the photographs in the gallery below.
On entry from the street there is a narrow section in which we find new releases and books of local interest, along with some special offer tables. The escalator is to our right, the cash desk to the left (leaving quite a narrow section, especially if there is a queue for payment). The rest of the ground opens out to a wider area and contains all the gifts, toys and children books (a smart move since the rest of the store is hard to access with a pushchair or kids!)
The first floor is largely split evenly between the cafe and non-fiction books, although the boundary is nicely fluid, with some tables close to book stacks. The cafe gets the front and the large windows. It is operated by Waterstones and has a good selection of cakes and pastries but the coffee comes only in a single size which is too small for my preference! The Waterstones loyalty scheme covers all purchases, including the cafe, books and on-line purchases and is fairly generous, going a considerable way to making up for sometimes cheaper prices on Amaazon.
The second floor is almost entirely fiction, with just a few book stacks of reference, popular science and study guides that didn’t fit downstairs. There is a very extensive Science Fiction, Fantasy and Manga section, which is particularly well stocked (and popular with me). There’s also a large table available for study or board games (although the cafe hosts monthly games evenings too.)
Overall, this is probably the place where I spend the most time when in Lincoln and I enjoy every minute.
