“This was something Sandwich was missing”

For Bookshop Day, the Booksellers Association invited us to Spellbound in Sandwich, which we were only too happy to accept. Steven rarely needs much encouragement to visit a bookshop for the first time, while being sent to Sandwich also presented an obvious side quest: finding a sandwich in Sandwich.

Bookshop Day is an annual celebration encouraging people to support bookshops, particularly independents, and recognise the role they play in their communities. This year it also fell on World Mental Health Day, giving the visit another theme: the relationship between reading and wellbeing.

Spellbound Books is Abigail Worthington’s creation, a small independent shop that opened opposite Sandwich’s market square in November 2025.

Getting there apparently involves driving through an industrial estate and over a drawbridge, but I digress…

Abigail took out a loan and renovated the space, bringing a bookshop back to Sandwich after the town’s previous one closed in 2011.

Why would anyone voluntarily do that in this economy?

“I've always wanted my own business.”

Abigail is talking to me while the shop remains open and busy. A young person on work experience is covering the till, while author Felicity Epps, who will appear in an upcoming interview, is holding an in-store signing.

Abigail was “born and bred” in Sandwich. Her father was an independent builder who bought land and built the family home himself.

“I think probably the growing up in a household where someone runs their own business, that maybe sparked the idea.”

“It clicked a few years ago that this was something Sandwich was missing.”

Abigail had been working in schools, where she had seen both “the positive effects of reading” and “the negative effects of not reading” among children from reception through to secondary school.

Books had also been part of Abigail’s own childhood.

“I was lucky that there were still a lot of bookshops at the time before there was too much social media. I had a lovely childhood.”

Abigail previously ran a Special Educational Needs support room at a secondary school for “intelligent autistic children that needed a safe space within the school”.

In that role, she became concerned about how little some pupils were reading and how much time they spent on screens, which she says contributed to sleep problems and other difficulties.

“I felt I could be that person in the community that children would recognise, and be happy to come to, buy a book and really just spark that love of reading again.”

Abigail describes Sandwich as “a lovely small town with lots of independence”, but says it lacked the kind of community space a bookshop can provide.

For Bookshop Day, she offered discounts to “give back a thank you for supporting the shop”, alongside book bags for children to “try and get that excitement about reading going.”

Storytelling is the heart of humanity

Abigail sees encouraging children to read as important for reasons beyond literacy.

“Reading with family and parents when you're young, in those formative years, is good for attachment to your parents.”

She also points to speech development and emotional literacy.

“A lot of children learn through stories. Storytelling is the heart of humanity.”

For Abigail, that extends beyond books to news, music and other ways of communicating.

“Storytelling in so many different forms is what makes us human, how we pass on things and learn.”

“I think children that enjoy stories, share stories, their wellbeing and confidence is as a result of that.”

She thinks adults have some of the same problem, particularly when it comes to switching off from technology.

“Adults are finding it really hard to relax, and reading can help with that as well.”

Abigail chose the name Spellbound because she wanted the shop itself to feel enchanting.

“I feel like bookshops are magical in themselves.”

She has filled it with “little curiosities”, including vintage typewriters, old phones and other “storytelling items in themselves that make you stop and think.”

Abigail’s own taste leans towards fantasy, and the shop carries a selection of special editions produced for independent bookshops.

The cliché says not to judge a book by its cover, though apparently gilded pages are fair game.

“That's true. People love a beautiful book.”

Stocking a new bookshop is an education in itself.

“I'm learning as I go, definitely.”

Abigail says she is trying to make sure the shelves reflect the variety of Sandwich’s community. “That’s my aim.”

One section Abigail didn't originally plan is devoted to independent and local authors. It developed organically after the shop opened.

“From the day I opened I've had local creatives come into the shop, get chatting, and I've made good friends with them.”

She enjoys giving those writers space on the shelves.

“A lot are talented but maybe haven't been published traditionally, and there's incredible books out there if you give them a chance.”