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The Book Hive in Norwich has been voted the best bookshop in Britain, according to a Daily Telegraph survey.
More than 18,000 people voted across 10 categories in a bid to find the best small shops in Britain. The awards, which previously focused on national chains, had been changed to celebrate independents after a plea from shopping guru Mary Portas.
The Book Hive came ahead of runners-up Bookmark in Spalding and the Torbay Bookshop in Paignton. The Daily Telegraph's books editor Gaby Wood said The Book Hive was "such a triumph it makes the case for independent bookshops more generally".
She said: "What an independent bookshop can offer is discovery: the chance to be introduced, via a personally curated selection, to words or pictures you may very well fall in love with. The Book Hive does this magnificently. As soon as you enter, you're struck by the democracy of the offerings on display . . . Children's books, gardening books and art books are all mixed in together, and the ratio of tables to shelves means that much of its stock is on display at any given moment. In fact, it's more than democratic, it's bordering on anarchy; the only thing linking these is that they are the staff's favourite books, and that they are the most beautiful editions available."