Local issues

Over the last few months we have been very aware at October Books that there has been an increase in the number of rough sleepers in Portswood. We have also seen an increase in anti-social behaviour with obstructive parking along with fly tipping, rubbish and other human waste deposited in and around the alleyway at the rear of our building. Some of this behaviour seems to be associated with the group of people sleeping rough outside the Church but also at other spots in the High Street. We wanted to let you all know we are working with The Society of St James, (who we already had a relationship with, in their capacity as owners of the premises above the shop), Southampton City Council and with other traders and Portswood residents, to address some of these issues.

The Society of St James are Hampshire’s leading homelessness charity and they provide help for vulnerable people experiencing homelessness, problems with alcohol and substance use and other complex needs to change their lives. We have been working with them since the move to new premises and they were an integral part of the project, with funds from the sale of the flat allowing us to complete our renovations. We have a great relationship with them and we are connecting with them and Southampton City Council to work with the homeless in Portswood and potentially work with some of the tenants in creating a community garden at the rear of the building.

 We are also writing to all traders and residents on the alleyway at the back of the shops, to request we get together to deal with some of the current problems with other anti-social behaviour. Details of the meeting will be on our website soon . We have also written to the council to outline the problems and to request that the public toilets are reopened. We have suggested to the council via The Society of St James, that the homeless can access human poo bags, which would at least reduce the clear up problem of human waste appearing on our back doorstep. Council officers are out and about collecting and collating information on those who are currently rough sleeping but the process is slow, particularly for non-nationals. The dumping of rubbish is a continuing issue and it appears that some locals are using the alleyway for getting rid of rubbish. Also a car which has no connection to us is continually being parked on our land, which neither council nor police can help us with. Conversations with our neighbours in Mencap, who have premises off the alleyway, indicate they are also facing these issues.  

None of these are easy things to talk about but we wanted to let you, our customers know we are aware of the issues and are doing what we can to alleviate them with fairness and equity. We feel that talking about this openly and honestly is one way we can do this and raise awareness of what is often behind the scenes work.

Please do let us know if you would like to sign up to our public meeting or if you have ideas or thoughts about actions we can take as a community to improve life for all who live in Portswood.

We are open:

Monday - Saturday

10am - 4pm

We are back open six days a week, with the whole store open for browsing. We will still of course be taking customer orders and you will still be able to buy food and cleaning products online through our online store. 

We are able to be open 6 days a week again because of your consideration and care whilst in the shop. Though things are opening up, covid cases are still high and a lot of our staff have only received one jab. So we are asking customers to continue to leave that extra space, sanitise their hands and pull on their mask. We really appreciate it.  

You will see we have a QR code at the door, if you have the NHS COVID-19 app downloaded to your smart phone please scan this as you enter the shop.