Shops open to people on their own on Christmas Day

THE owner of a bookshop who opened on Christmas Day says it was “a great success”.

Fourbears Bookshop in Prospect Street, Caversham, opened specially to welcome people who were alone over the festive period and about 30 came. Pets were welcome too.

Owner Alex Fourbears was in the shop with his wife Claire and baby daughter Eliza and played welcoming Christmas music.

The till was shut for the day and was replaced by a table full of food and drink, including biscuits, flapjacks, buck’s fizz, wine and soft drinks, some of which was provided by the Waitrose store in Caversham. There were also mince pies made by a woman at St Anne’s Primary School in Caversham, where Mrs Fourbears is a teacher.

Book vouchers with a £5 value which had been donated by customers during December were given to those people who hadn’t received any other presents.

Mr Fourbears, who opened the business three years ago after working in financial services for about 15 years, said: “It was a great day and lovely to have the shop filled with people enjoying Christmas together.

“There was a nice mixture of people who are local as well as some first time visitors to the shop. It had a real community feel and we appreciated everyone that visited and made the day such a success.”

Mr Fourbears hopes to hold a mini books festival in May with author talks and events and also plans to repeat his Christmas Day initiative next year.

Another shop to open on Christmas Day was Conisboro Stores, a convenience store and sub-post office in Caversham Heights.

Owner Pritpal Singh Malhotra, who is known to many customers as Paul, wanted to welcome people who were otherwise alone.

He said: “The idea came to me last year when I asked one of my customers if they had had a good Christmas and they said they had not seen a soul. I was determined that should not happen this year. Nobody should be on their own at Christmas.”

Mr Malhotra posted notices offering free tea, coffee, mulled wine and mince pies from 11am to 2pm. He had only expected about 20 customers to attend but more than 70 people came and enjoyed the refreshments to the sound of Christmas music.

Mr Malhotra and his family were kept very busy serving food and drinks while the guests chatted. They included some near neighbours who were meeting for the first time.