In August 2024 the much-loved Broadhurst’s bookshop in Southport closed without warning after trading for 120 years – now the site is set to be converted into residential accommodation. Andrew Brown reports
Plans have been revealed to convert the historic former Broadhurst’s bookshop in Southport town centre into a eight-bedroom HMO (house in multiple occupation).
According to the plans, the first, second and third floors of the building, at 5-7 Market Street, would host eight bedrooms for 10 occupants, while the ground floor would be used for commercial use. A planning application for the scheme has been submitted to Sefton Council.
Broadhurst’s bookshop was one of Southport’s oldest businesses, having traded since it was opened by Charles Kenyon Broadhurst in 1920, until its sudden closure two years ago.
The shop was famous for stocking more than a million new and second hand books. Booksellers would wrap up books bought by customers with brown paper and string, there was the roaring log fire and armchair, a children’s section and historic and rare titles going back not just years but centuries.
Broadhurst’s was owned by Laurie Hardman, who died in 2024 after 55 years in post. Mr Hardman began working at the shop in 1969.
The application behind the scheme says: “The proposal seeks to bring vacant and underutilised upper floors back into productive residential use while maintaining the vitality and viability of the town centre.
“The proposal retains active ground floor Class E retail use and therefore maintains the commercial function of Market Street.
“Importantly, the upper floors historically functioned as ancillary commercial space and were not publicly accessible retail floorspace. Their conversion to residential use does not undermine primary frontage retail activity.”
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Broadhurst’s was one of the oldest second-hand and antiquarian bookshops in the country, having been established in 1920 by Charles Kenyon Broadhurst.
The business traded continuously between 1920 and 2024 across four floors of its listed mid-19th century building. The four floors of Broadhurst’s Bookshop held a comprehensive range of books suitable for all ages, interests and pockets.
The ground floor housed an extensive stock of fiction and non-fiction in paper and hardback editions for adults.