A beautiful new bookshop is opening in Churchtown Village in Southport this weekend.
The Magpie’s Tale, owned by Emma Legan and Mark Dickens, is a brand new independent bookshop located at 76 Botanic Road.
It opens at 10am this Saturday (1st August 2026) with Emma and Mark looking forward to welcoming people.
It’s a busy day for Churchtown too, with the Summer Mini Music Festival and Family Fun Day and Stalls taking place a short walk away at The Hesketh Arms pub, raising money for Bebe’s Hive, between 12pm and 7pm.
Emma and Mark said: “After searching for years we finally found the right premises on Botanic Road in May this year.
“We are an independent book shop selling new books. We will also be selling and accepting National Book Tokens.
“We will be offering a free book ordering service and loyalty card.
“We will be open Wednesday – Sunday 10am-4pm.
“The shop is furnished with reclaimed and repurposed furniture and decorated with hand painted touches as bookseller Mark is also an artist / illustrator.
“We have had a lifelong passion for books and reading and spent most of our working lives among them in and around Southport.
“We are really excited to finally be launching and also feeling nostalgic as my parents, who are no longer with us, had a book shop on Botanic Road in the 1990s so it feels like it’s meant to be.
“As 2026 is the National Year Of Reading it feels like perfect timing.”
Keep up with updates about The Magpie’s Tale on their Instagram page here: (2) Instagram
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