Benjamin Judge's judgements

I’m the sort of person who likes to make plans at the start of the year. Get healthy, write more, learn a new skill, upgrade my French from rudimentary to basic, that sort of thing. Big, obvious plans, that I don’t achieve. I throw in a few silly things too. This year I attempted to visit 365 charity shops and, reader, I succeeded. As I write this, in late November, I have been to 393. I thought I would share some of my favourites with you. We all love a charity shop. Here’s your ticket to some of the very best.

6 Shops

Trinity Hospice, Lytham

Hands down, the prettiest charity shop I went to this year. I nicked a photo off their Facebook page so you could see it. Nice, isn’t it?

Brian House Children Hospice, St Anne’s

And if you are in Lytham, it would be churlish not to pop to St Anne’s, wouldn’t it? (After walking to the jetty, and visiting the Bobby Ball statue, of course.) The Brian House shop is a bookshop with excellent vinyl and dvd sections. It is brilliantly curated, with the stock priced expertly. You aren’t going to find Led Zeppelin III for 50p here, but they aren’t going to ask you for £8 for a Johnny Mathis album either. Everything is slightly less than it would be in a second-hand book/record shop, which ensures that every time you visit there will be new treasures to find.

Emmaus, Bolton

This one is a bit of an open secret. Manchester Evening News wrote about it with the headline, “I visited the Greater Manchester charity shop where people queue to get in.” The headline is a bit misleading, as the queue was for the car park, not the shop, but the general vibe of the article that it is a place worth visiting is correct. Set in a former barracks, it has buildings dedicated to crafting materials, books and records, gardening, upcycled furniture, a cafe, and, well, everything.

Crohn’s & Colitis Concern UK, Hyde, Manchester

Sometimes there will be a charity shop in a town that hits harder than all its local competition. This is that one. Where else can you buy a copy of Gormenghast while an old man tries to convince the manager that there is no discernible difference between a belt designed for a man and a woman, while she holds a belt encrusted with fake diamonds? One of those, “I think you’re both right,” moments. Obviously, I stayed well out of it.

Renewal North West, Stockport

If I could only visit one charity shop a year, it would be this one. I know I said that charity shops are good when they price things cleverly but this one is super cheap and I love it. It’s a bit of a walk from Stockport centre but definitely worth the effort. The two-disk BFI edition of Seven Samurai for 30p? Yes thank you.

The Shakespeare Hospice Bookshop, Stratford-upon-Avon

One of the finest second hand bookshops in the country. Two floors of books, all in really good condition, at great prices. Shakespeare would be proud.

6 Towns/Places

Altrincham

If you are looking for an alternative to Didsbury and/or Chorlton charity shopping in Greater Manchester, may I recommend Altrincham. Nine shops, all good, plus an Everyman cinema and about three hundred choices of cafe if you fancy a coffee or something to eat. It’s a full day out, mate.

Leamington

Leamington is small enough that you can cover it all on foot, but large enough to contain over a dozen charity shops that run the gamut from fancy bookshops to pile-it-high/sell-it-cheap clearance shops. My Brio buying days are behind me but it used to be quite good for Brio. It is excellent for books.

Smithdown Road, Liverpool

One road, a eleven charity shops. The real joy of Smithdown Road though is that the thing you didn’t know you were looking for could be in any of them. There are no weak links. Give yourself a couple of hours for browsing. Stop for lunch at Skaus. Keep walking and you’ll find Dead Ink Books.

Stockbridge, Edinburgh

An afternoon in Stockbridge has become a bit of a family tradition but, in fairness to us, it’s a really really nice place to be. Among the stationery shops and the artisan pie shops and the fancy coffee bars are a dozen or so high quality charity shops, which include both an Oxfam bookshop and an Oxfam record shop. As with Smithdown Road, you will need a couple of hours and there is an excellent book shop to visit. In this case, Rare Birds Book Shop.

Rawtenstall

If you are looking for a nice day out, try taking the steam train from Bury to Rawtenstall. After stopping off a couple of times for a walk round a country park and/or a hot chocolate in Ramsbottom, you will find yourself in Rawtenstall. Have a dandelion and burdock in the UK’s last temperance bar, then hit the charity shops.

Ecclesall Road/Fullwood Road, Sheffield

If you don’t mind a bit of a walk, this is the big one. Five miles, roughly fifteen charity shops, some of which are absolute bangers. On my last trip I found Introspective by Pet Shop Boys on vinyl, a Ken Burns boxset, an Asterix book in Welsh, an Isley Brothers LP, The Running Man, La Strada, The Great Dictator and a couple of Jackie Chan movies on dvd and ten Christmas albums. Quite literally something for everybody.

For the sake of transparency, the charity shops I went to this year were in the following towns and villages:

Greater Manchester: Altrincham, Ashton, Bolton, Bury, City, Edgeley, Heald Green, Hindley, Hyde, Littleborough, Milnrow, Oldham, Openshaw, Royton, Sale, Shaw, Stalybridge, Stockport, Wigan

Rest of the UK: Berwick, Birkenhead, Birmingham, Blackpool, Bradford, Brimham Rocks (NT), Durham, Edinburgh, Glossop, Halifax, Harrogate, Holy Island (NT), Hornbeam Park, Knaresborough, Leamington, Leeds, Liverpool, Lytham, Middlesborough, Newcastle, Newport (IOW), Northallerton, Rawtenstall, Ryde, St Anne’s, Scarborough, Sheffield, Solihull, Sowerby Bridge, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwick, Wilmslow, Wooton Bridge, Yarm

Also: Oslo

So, if you know of some excellent charity shops, that aren’t in any of those places, let me know in the comments.