Treasured 'Notting Hill' bookshop faces chop

I’m shocked to read that London’s Travel bookshop, where Hugh Grant wooed Julia Roberts, is being put on the block.

The absentee owner lives in France and his children have no interest in continuing the business. I’m more than half-tempted to buy it myself, maybe in a consortium of friends.

The Travel bookshop knows the world like no other and has a manager, Saara Marchadour, who lives and breathes its books. She also puts on intimate author evenings that end up in a tapas bar two doors down. Saara, by the way, is Julia Roberts and then some. She speaks French and Finnish. And she knows her wines.

Movie chic aside – and it gets a lot of tourists who want to meet Hugh Grant – it is a rare haven of intellect and excitement in one of the most diverse parts of the city. And it’s a genuine community bookshop, with an enviable children’s section and much to do with cookery.

I’d hate to see it go. Let’s save it.