LITERARY festivals, visits from authors and poetry days could soon be held in Clevedon thanks to a group of book lovers.

A group of friends from the town is setting up a community bookshop which members of the public can buy shares in and all the profits from the sales will pay for literary events in the town.

Clevedon Community Bookshop is the brainchild of Angela Everitt, who ran a bookshop in Scotland and saw a need for a similar store when she moved to Clevedon.

The second-hand bookshop will be run by seven volunteers who now need to raise �20,000 to set up the project.

Committee member Katherine Howe said: “The shop will be publicly owned.It’s a not-for-profit organisation, so any money we raise in the long term will be ploughed back into the community.

“We hope to run literary events in Clevedon, poetry days, invite authors to visit and hold story-telling sessions for young children.

“There’s a lot of anxiety about shops being closed down at the moment, so anything which revitalises the town centre for the good of the community has to be applauded.”

The volunteers are taking over two shop fronts on Copse Road.

One of the units used to be a second-hand bookshop so the group has around 10,000 to box up and store this month before they can renovate the premises in October. The next job will be decorating and furnishing it, and it is hoped it will be up and running in time for Christmas.

Angela said: “We’ve had fantastic support from people in Clevedon including free help from a solicitor and the landlord is renovating the store for us.

“The idea is that the bookshop will be a sustainable small business. Our turnover will cover our costs because we are all working as volunteers. Any profit will be ploughed back in to improve the shop and run literary activities.

“We are saving the last remaining second-hand bookshop. I think it’s important that small independent shops are preserved and saved.”

The committee is holding a public meeting to announce its plans to the community at Clevedon Baptist Church hall, Queens Square, 7.30pm.

People will be able to buy �1 shares in the shops, with a minimum purchase of 10. People can also support the bookshop through interest-free loans.

Anyone interested in helping to clear the store, decorate the shop or buy some shares can pop along to the meeting or email angela at k.angelaeveritt@gmail.com

Once it is open books can be donated to the store or volunteers will buy books from customers to sell in the shop.