An old friend of STML, Housmans Booksellers on the Caledonian Road (just up the way from the scary pub, opposite the “hemp” bakery) is celebrating its diamond anniversary this month. The ground floor houses a vast array of worthy (and less so) titles, while the basement is a veritable mine of books, with a shaft sunk a good thirty feet under King’s Cross to tap the area’s rich vein of pulp.

I’ll let them tell you all about it:

“On 26th October 1945, Housmans first opened its doors at a shop on Shaftesbury Avenue. It has served the British peace movement ever since. Sixty years on, we are still here while other radical bookshops have come and gone, with 2005 alone seeing the closure of Greenleaf in Bristol and the Index Bookcentre in Brixton.

“Number 5 Caledonian Road has been home not only to Housmans Bookshop since 1959, but also to the editorial offices of Peace News, along with many other campaigning groups: Gay Switchboard, the Campaign Against Arms Trade, and the McLibel campaign, among many others, all started life in the building.

“Housmans and number 5 continues to be the focal point for radical and local community groups to this day. To celebrate our survival we shall be holding a week of events between 21st and 28th October to reflect the diversity of our supporters over the years: from The Battle of the Beanfield, through CND and War Resisters’ International, to the Caribbean diaspora. This week will culminate in an anniversary celebration at the shop on the evening of the 28th at which we will launch the 2006 Housmans Peace Diary, now in its 53rd year.”

You can find out about all the events here.