'We took over our library when the council shut it'

What does it take to open and run a library? Coffee was one of the surprising answers given by the community group behind the reopening of a Wirral branch.

Wallasey Village library was opened in 1938, but closed in 2022 alongside eight other branches on the peninsula because the local authority could no longer afford to run them.

The community group decided to take it over instead and now the building has fully reopened, with a café, a community room, bookshop and a lending library.

Trustee, Ray Lyons said the library project probably would not have been viable without the café.

"It's a place that draws people in," he said.

"They have a coffee and then might buy a book or borrow one."

Ian McGinn runs the café, which opened its doors ahead of the other facilities last month.

He said some of his catering industry friends were sceptical of the idea at first, but there had been "queues out the door" since the place opened.

Mr McGinn said builders found a treasure trove of artefacts during the renovations – mainly things which had fallen down the back of the cast iron radiators.

He said they discovered "library cards from 1940, lots of old money, layers of time - from Um-Bongos [drink cartons] from the 1990s to air raid warden pamphlets from the 1940s".

"We'll eventually display them on the walls".

Local Conservative councillor Ian Lewis who led the project said the new library would be far from traditional.

He said the high platform where "fierce librarians" had sat in previous decades had been removed and a big focus for the library would be families and children.

"We wanted to make a space for people who hadn't set foot in a library for a long time, so we made a café," he added.

He said the lack of a community centre in Wallasey meant the community room will be well-used.

The lending library will be staffed by volunteers.

Ian Lewis conceded that staff wages had been the biggest cost to the local council, but he also said the community group would have access to funding streams which local authorities could not have accessed.

Books for the lending library have been donated by local people and retired librarian, Sue Simpson, who has overseen the cataloguing of more than 4,000 books, said it had been "fascinating".

"One of our key things is social isolation," she said.

"We hope people will come in here, borrow a book and then be linked up with other people, and best of all – it's free!".

Listen to the best of BBC Radio Merseyside on Sounds and follow BBC Merseyside on Facebook, X, and Instagram. You can also send story ideas to [email protected]