Books on the Lane: The Wakefield bookshop set up to support local youth music
Books on the Lane near Wakefield, is an independent bookshop set up to support youth music in the local area.
Located on Oakenshaw Lane in Walton, about three miles south of Wakefield city centre, the bookshop is conveniently placed for visitors to stop after a walk on the neighbouring nature reserve.
Outside, it grows its own herbs to sell in the warmer months, and inside, you’ll find a cosy log fire and shelves stacked with a wide range of books, from history and nature, to contemporary literature and more.
Although a successful bookshop in its own right — it was chosen by Guardian readers in 2021 as one of the UK’s best independent bookshops — Books on the Lane opened as a way to help local young people access live music experiences, and is a trading arm of the Yorkshire Live Music community interest company (CIC), which was set up in 2009 to support youth music and performing arts.
Sandra Carlon, manager at Books on the Lane, explained how her lifelong passion for music motivated her to provide similar opportunities for young people today.
Sandra said: “My great passion is music, [I] played piano and the violin.
“That grabbed me at a very early age.
“Wakefield used to have a flourishing youth music education programme, so I was lucky enough to be at school in the early seventies and to be able to take part in that, and that’s certainly fed into a lifetime’s pleasure from it, which you’re wanting to share with other people.”
Every year, Books on the Lane donates to a different youth music organisation, and this year donated £500 to the HD9 Community Music group in Holmfirth.
With the shop’s main goal being to generate donations for the CIC, Sandra said the off-the-high-street location was chosen primarily to keep overheads low and avoid an expensive city centre rent.
For more information and the source, visit: Behind the business at Books on the Lane: The Wakefield bookshop set up to support local youth music