A POPULAR independent bookshop has moved to new premises in Stockton.

Drake the Bookshop, which has been in the Enterprise Arcade on the high street, is moving to its own premises in Silver Street as the family-run business expands again.

The shop is holding a series of events on Saturday, October 8, to celebrate the official opening in the new shop and its first birthday.

A question and answer session will be held with debut novelist and former magistrate Kit de Waal, whose novel My Name is Leon was June’s Radio 2 Book Club choice, from 3pm.

Richard Drake and Melanie Greenwood, who run the award-winning bookshop, started out at the end of September 2015 with a small shop. They are now able to expand not just their stock, but opening times, and are also creating an after-school tutoring centre for children aged five to 16.

The bookshop is the first new independent bookshop in Stockton since Dressers closed last century. and has children’s books and fiction as well as a dedicated section for dyslexia-friendly reading, and another for local authors.

The shop will be open on Oct 8 from 9am-5pm.