Banyan Restaurant

Interview with Ian Rowley, owner of The Haslemere Bookshop The Haslemere Bookshop is an independent bookshop at the heart of Haslemere High Street selling new and second-hand books, and cards. Did you face any challenges when setting up the business? There has been a bookshop on the High Street for many years. When I took over the shop from Ronald Timms in 2014, I had no idea how a bookshop worked; fortunately the staff (all friends or family) did! Since then, through their hard work, the business has been transformed. Not only does the shop look very different but we are online, more community focussed and our second-hand book section rejuvenated.

Hamish Donaldson has been organising Haslemere Festival for 20 years, here we ask Hamish questions about the history & future of this wonderful biennial event.