The sad end of Ian Allan Birmingham

It is Spock (the Vulcan) who said "All things must end." and indeed is the case with the Ian Allan bookshop in Birmingham which will close next weekend. This is very sad for me as Ian Allan was not a normal shop in many ways. A specialist transport and military bookshop, it was regularly visited by myself and my best friend in our teens. It was the highlight of our weekends (this was before we discovered girls of course).

Indeed I have been going to the shop since the mid-1980s (albeit in it's previous location where the Birmingham New Street entrance is now). I have bought hundreds of books from there, many of which I still own.

Below is the first book I ever bought from Ian Allan on Electric Locomotives which I bought as my interest in railways first began when I was a schoolboy in the mid-1980s. Next to it are the last two books I bought last weekend. Inbetween are many many books and many many memories.