South London’s newest bookshop has been set up by 15 indie publishers

Indie publishers are behind some of the most successful, gamechanging books out there. They take chances on writers that no one else does – writers who often end up as multi-award winners and Nobel laureates. And yet, the small press industry is struggling. In October 2025, more than 20 British independent publishers signed an open letter to bring attention to the challenges faced by the industry. A year later, that letter has evolved into a real-life bookshop. 

Fifteen of those publishers have come together to open the Small Press Futures bookshop in Peckham. The shop was made possible thanks to donations to the group’s GoFundMe page that raised almost £10,000. It opened in Copeland Park on November 6 and will run until December 20 on a two-month pilot. 

The space is stacked with fiction, poetry, essays, translation, art books, political writing and experimental literature from the likes of Rough Trade Books, Tilted Axis, Book Works, Cipher Press and Cassava Republic Press, alongside books from partner Fitzcarraldo Editions, which has offices in the same building. And it’s staffed by the very same people who commission, edit and design the books being sold. Every sale goes directly to the presses. 

If the pilot proves successful, the group hopes to keep the space open and bring even more publishers into the mix. Over the next two months, it’ll also host events and panels which will shine a light on all the work that goes into getting a book made and on shelves.  

The organisers behind Small Press Futures said: ‘A year on from publishing our open letter, which aimed to raise awareness of the precarity of small press publishers, and to outline the importance of our role in the wider literary ecosystem, we’re incredibly excited to be launching this project. Community and collaboration are vital to the work of small press publishers, and this bookshop is an active, practical response to the collective challenges we’ve been discussing.’

Sam Fisher, director of Peninsula Press and co-owner of Burley Fisher Books, added: ‘The aim of our open letter was always to find collaborative, concrete solutions. This feels like one of those: bringing publishers into the kind of direct contact with readers that only bookshops provide!’

Small Press Futures, Copeland Park, 33 Copeland Road, SE15 3SN.

Did you see that a much-loved bookshop has returned to London after five years?

Plus: A bookseller has taken over a tiny north London kiosk. 

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