The story so far…
Lifelong bookworm and author Gavin Boyter had the idea for The Best of Times when visiting Broadstairs (he lives in neighbouring Margate) in 2025. Given that the town was the summer home of Charles Dickens, and boasts a proud literary history, it seemed odd that the town had no adult bookshops for new books.
He decided to rectify this by creating an inviting space in Broadstairs’ Old Town to browse, to read, and to write books. And so The Best of Times, named after the opening lines of one of Dicken’s masterpieces, was born…
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.
Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, 1859.
Contact us
Interested in working together? Fill out some info and we will be in touch shortly. We can’t wait to hear from you!