New haven for book lovers

He found the right premises for the book shop he had planned for five years - an empty shop at the corner of St Leonards and Sea Road - and set about refurbishment himself.

He has created a peaceful old fashioned library atmosphere complete with a leather-topped desk and even a comfortable armchair for a customer to settle into. The shelves are full of novels for booklovers to browse through and choose from - there is also a selection of biographies and histories of war.

On Saturday morning the Town Mayor, Cllr Paul Lendon, dropped by the declare the shop officially open.

He said: "This is a marvellous shop to open in light of the other bookshop in Sea Road that has just recently closed after 17 years of trading. I wish Mike every success for the future."

Mike said: "It has been quite promising - people have been very nice.

I opened earlier that I expected because people were coming in during the week.

"When I was moving I spent two or three weeks driving around the country to see a place I liked. Then I came to Bexhill and thought there was a lot of independent shops here, not many of the big chains, then I saw the shop from the outside and liked the look of it.

"This is something I planned for many years - I always fancied having a bookshop

- then I was working for a company I didn't like much and I thought, why not do it?

"From this past week with people coming in I feel very optimistic.

"Obviously I had a few jitters while I was fixing the place up, but people have been very nice and very keen to get in. I think as long as I have got what they are looking for, I should be OK."