Camilla's Bookshop

Camilla Francombe and Stuart Broad opened their first secondhand bookshop in 1976 at the Seven Dials in Brighton. The shop was small & shaped like a piece of cheese but with shelves 20 ft high. It was, however, a start and from there with one of those strokes of luck that appear once in a lifetime, they purchased the freehold of 88 St James's St for £7000!. This shop, now long gone, was 5 stories high, but only 12 ft wide! Built in 1830 & in poor physical repair the shop was named 'Picture Books' as illustrated books were the preferred stock. This shop later became 'Tall Stories', when a new owner took over. In 1984 the partners took on a shop in Worthing called 'The Steyne Bookshop' near the Chatsworth Hotel. This too was multi-storied, but suffered from a very secondary site. The next year came a much better position in Eastbourne, where they opened 'Camilla's Bookshop' still trading from its position next to the Police Station in Grove Rd. Running 3 shops was something of a nightmare and so reluctantly they sold the Brighton & Worthing sites to concentrate on Eastbourne. This most successful and popular shop is open daily except Sundays