Finsbury Park’s New Beacon Books celebrates its 60th-anniversary this year and still stands as the UK’s first Black publisher. It comes at a time of hardship as they grapple with soaring business rates, the cost-of-living crisis, and a nationwide decline in reading.
Since starting out in 1966 as a publisher printing directly from founders, John La Rose and Sarah White’s Hornsey flat, the bookshop has weathered a turbulent past decade. In December 2016, its doors closed as the directors struggled against mounting economic pressures, particularly the rise of online booksellers which infringed on their niche offerings.
But the story did not end there. By early 2017, the New Beacon Development Group, a dedicated volunteer collective, reopened the shop with reduced hours, raising £11,248 through crowdfunding to fund a refurbishment and a website for online orders. Today, the shop is open from Thursday to Sunday, staffed by a passionate team of volunteers committed to keeping its literary mission alive.
This anniversary is bittersweet for the bookshop amid soaring business rates. From April 2026 the government plans to introduce two lower multipliers for high-street businesses to calculate business rates bills, which will depend on the value of the property.
Booksellers warn if rental estimates rise when they are reassessed, many independent shops could still end up paying more despite the new lower multipliers. “Only big businesses are surviving this crisis. New Beacon Books like everyone else is suffering,” Michael La Rose, current director and son of John La Rose, said.
According to La Rose, “the dominance of Amazon and Kindle, the [COVID] pandemic shutdown, the cost-of-living crisis, [and] people, young people in particular, barely reading books” are also issues that pose risks to the bookshop’s survival.
Committed customers in the local community are crucial to the continued existence of New Beacon Books, he urged. Michael said: “Friends like MP Jeremy Corbyn ensure he comes in to browse and buy books from New Beacon instead of Jeff Bezos.”
He added: “We are invited to schools by teachers and librarians. We go out to business events and conferences to provide themed bookstalls. We still get book orders from Islington, Hackney and Haringey libraries.”
New Beacon Books remain optimistic about the future. “Despite the financial problems we intend to do all we can to survive and provide the important service of knowledge, education and information to the community,” La Rose said.
Yet he acknowledges the heavy task that lies ahead of him leading a bookshop specialising in Black literature from the global diaspora. “We are proud of all that we have achieved but there is more to be done. These are dangerous times with the rise of anti-Black racism and xenophobic ideas.”
Claudia Efemini is an MA Newspaper Journalism student at City St George's, University of London. She has previously written for BBC Africa and BLK Brit covering Africa and the diaspora across news, culture, and business.