White Rose Book Cafe

Thirsk supports a real independent bookshop, and it holds the prominent spot at the head of the Market Place, numbers 79 to 81. The White Rose Book Cafe runs books across two floors, and the trade has taken notice more than once: it has been shortlisted repeatedly in the Independent Bookshop of the Year awards and took the North and Scotland category outright in 2014. For a town this size, a bookshop of that standing on the main square is unusual, and worth knowing about before you plan a day here.

It is on the same square as us. From Tea Time Cafe at 87 Market Place, walk up towards the head of the square and the shop is at 79 to 81, under a minute away on the flat.

Drivers should use the Market Place, where the first hour is free, or Marage Road when the square fills on a Monday or a Saturday. Thirsk station is about a mile and a half west, so half an hour on foot on the level, or a taxi from the rank by the clock on the square rather than from the station itself.

Take the ground floor first and then go up, because the stock is spread over two floors and plenty of people stop at the first table they see. The selection is chosen by people who read, and the Yorkshire and Herriot shelf is the part that makes sense of the town outside the window. Cards, stationery and gifts sit alongside the books, and staff will order in anything they do not hold, which is worth asking about early if you are in town for a few days.

Author events come round through the year as well, so look at the window for posters.

The two floors give it the depth a general bookshop needs, and the local shelf is the strongest section for anyone visiting the town, with Herriot titles in editions that do not turn up at an airport. The awards give a fair signal of what the place is, which is a shop that has held its standard over years.

Hours are not something we can state with confidence, so check before a special trip rather than assuming a Sunday works. Give the upper floor a look even if the ground floor has what you came for, since the split of stock catches people out and the quieter shelves are upstairs. Ask about ordering on your first day in town, not your last. And if you are after local editions, start at the Yorkshire and Herriot shelf, which is the part of the stock built for people standing in Thirsk.