Nottingham’s Ideas on Paper bookshop one of four chosen for global magazine celebration

A Nottingham bookshop is one of only four in the world chosen to be featured in a magazine’s celebration.

Ideas on Paper, in Cobden Chambers, will be part of Monocle Magazine’s 10th birthday issue.

Monocle is a global publication covering current affairs, business culture and design.

Ideas on Paper owner Alex Smith says the magazine was the reason he was inspired to open his own bookshop, which specialises in independently published magazines.

“Monocle has its own radio station and I was listening to their Saturday morning programme,” he said.

“It inspired me because there were a lot of people talking about magazines launching, but nobody was really talking about selling this kind of thing.

“So I thought I’m a curator not a creator, I always intended to have my own shop but I was open-minded about what I was going to sell so it just seemed like a great opportunity because there was a gap in the market.”

Despite a background in fashion in London, Alex says he decided to set up shop in Cobden Chambers because he’d always loved going to independent shops in Hockley when he was younger.

“Nottingham’s a really exciting exciting city, because for a start there are 70,000 students here, people here are quite independently-minded and open-minded and creative, so that’s why I thought it might work,” he added.

“Nottingham being a UNESCO City of Literature makes it an exciting thing, and also not everyone wants to read the classics or sit down and read DH Lawrence.

“I just want people to read because it’s not hard, adds to your quality of life, is cheap and everyone should be doing it.

“It shouldn’t have to be academic.”