York’s newest bookshop is set to open its doors tomorrow – and ready to prescribe poetry for any emotion.
Poetry Pharmacy was first revealed to be opening its third location in York at 20 Coney Street back in October last year, and now the prescription is ready to be filled as it opens tomorrow (Friday).
Described as ‘part bookshop, part apothecary’, it stocks poetry and non-fiction titles curated according to emotional states – such as ‘Inspiration’, ‘Comfort’, and ‘Joy’.
It was founded by poet and editor Deborah Alma, along with partner and poet James Sheard, with its flagship store opening in Bishop’s Castle, Shropshire, in 2019.
A second location as a concession inside Lush Spa on Oxford Street, London, opened in 2023, and now its third location in York is here.
The York shop aims to continue the Poetry Pharmacy’s vision to bring poetry and wellbeing to a vibrant community of readers, residents, and visitors, and it offers a dedicated retail space for poetry, literary non-fiction and wellbeing gifts.
The Poetry Pharmacy isn’t organised by A to Z, or by fiction and nonfiction. Instead, it is categorised by emotional state.
“We’ve got a beautiful section, for example, for joy, where you can look for really hopeful, beautiful poems about life,” said Kit Muir, general manager at Poetry Pharmacy in York.
“We’ve got ones for love, we’ve got ones for a broken heart. We’ve then got our pill bottles – our poetry on prescription.”
The unique concept aims to make poetry as accessible as possible to anyone and everyone.
“If you go into a bookshop, poetry can be really daunting and inaccessible, because you don’t know where to start,” said assistant manager, Thomasina Cass. “So by sorting it by mood and by the poem-cetamol and insomnia and all those kind of themes, it allows people to actually have a taste for poetry – it’s a good entry way.”
“They are so accessible,” added Kit, “they’re so consumable. Don’t eat them, but you can pop one of them open and you’ve got some beautiful lines that are going to inspire that emotion in you.
“Everything is so curated, our non-fiction and gift sections too. It’s a really lovely experience to come into store.
“We have a really open space talking about emotion and human experiences which are relatable to all of us. It’s a place that remembers that there is more that we have in common than that divides us.”
The Grade II listed building has an interesting literary connection, as Oxford Literary Guide to the British Isles states that famous poet Percy Bysshe Shelley stayed at 20 Coney Street in October 1811.
It says: “Shelley’s letters state that he was stayed at Miss Dancer’s, Coney Street, and from contemporary local newspapers that Miss Dancer was a haberdasher and perfumer on Coney Street.”
York has a thriving independent bookshop and literary scene, such as Criminally Good Books on Colliergate and Portal Bookshop on Patrick Pool, and York Literature Festival 2026 is currently taking place in the city.
The Poetry Pharmacy have received lots of support from the city. “What’s nice in York is that the independents really support each other,” said Thomasina. “It’s really nice to be joining that community – supporting other creators, supporting the culture and supporting the arts that are here.”
The poetry bookshop will open from 9am tomorrow. “It’s such a unique, beautiful enviroment to be in, and watching it transform has been so exciting,” said Kit. “I can’t wait for people to see it.”
To find out more about the Poetry Pharmacy, visit their website here.
