Never too skint for books

Our Vision

Pay What You Can

Magpie Books runs on a pay-what-you-can basis. We think literature is a universal right that shouldn’t be dependent on one’s income or ability to provide proof of residency. This is why we require no payment or membership.

All books come with an optional recommended donation. We take pride in being transparent, so we come up with these prices by matching Amazon’s lowest price for each title, and take off 10% to seal the deal (30% if the book is in bad conditions).

All children books come with a recommended donation of £1.

This said, you are welcome to donate more or less than the recommended price. Every bit helps!

Community Interest Group

Being a CIC means that any profit we make gets funneled back into the book shop and the community that it serves.

Currently, we are mostly hoping to pay back the cost of licenses and equipment to run the stall. We hope to use any money leftover to commission local artists and writers, run free events and much more.

Worker Co-operative

Magpie is a worker co-op, which means that it is owned and run by its workers. Everyone who works for Magpie gets an equal say in how it should be run.

Contact Us

We're currently waiting on our street trader license application to be approved. Watch this space to learn when and where you can find us once we begin trading.

Give us a DM on instagram or send us an email at magpiebookvan@gmail.com.