The Bookbanks charity has opened its first North East location in Newcastle, bringing free books to people using food banks. The new branch is based at the Church of the Venerable Bede on Benwell Grove and will run for two hours from 10am every Thursday, open to all food bank attendees.
Charity expands to Newcastle
Bookbanks partnered with Bookshop.org last month, with its Books that Give campaign, where 10% of all book sales between October 22 and October 25 were donated to the charity. Since launching in 2024, Bookbanks has distributed more than 28,000 books to people accessing food banks, as well as training 175 volunteers with backgrounds in books to run the stalls, hold events, and provide 200 hours of conversation between volunteers and food bank users annually.
Currently, the charity operates in ten food banks across the UK, including locations in London, East Anglia, the North West, and Yorkshire. With the new North East location, Bookbanks is working towards its aim of having 30 book banks in food banks by 2030.
Volunteers and community impact
Regional Lead Asa Beckett is part of the team looking forward to bringing reading to food bank users and their families. He said: "People really appreciate bringing services to them and having a friendly face to talk to about their interests." The team currently consists of Asa and five other volunteers, all from a range of backgrounds but linked by their love of books and passion to help those in the area enjoy reading for pleasure.
According to statistics by the National Literacy Trust, the national literacy crisis correlates with poverty. In 2025, one in eight children who got free school meals didn't own a book, with the number of young people reading for enjoyment and daily reading at a 20-year low. The charity aims to help tackle this by providing families with new books that are donated by individuals, publishers, and local self-published authors, to help increase their ability to access books in places they visit.
Books for wellbeing and connection
Last year, the charity supplied 13,000 books into low income homes, half of which were children's books. This trend is also predicted at the Newcastle branch, with the option of many children's books for families to make memories together with and read together.
Many can find a stigma of using food banks affects their mental health, so Bookbanks' dedication to people as well as books is key. Volunteers, like Asa, commit their time to creating a personal connection with guests and help curate the stock they provide alongside their guests' interests. This includes not just a range of genres for pleasure reading but also a variety of books including puzzle books and colouring books, both of which can help improve mental health and combat stress.
The stalls also include supplies like pens, pencils, colouring pencils, and post cards alongside the books, which come in new conditions to help give guests a sense of pride in their books, to create memories with their families, and cherish in the future. Books have been shown to break poverty cycles and improve wellbeing, which proves to the charity that their goal to make books accessible to everyone is even more important than ever.
Support from local figures
For North East author, TV supporter, and Bookbanks supporter Vick Hope, this newest addition is welcome to the region. She said: "Books can inspire confidence, spark curiosity and help people dream big, whatever their own story. As someone who's incredibly proud to be from the North East, it's brilliant to see Bookbanks coming to the region, giving people using food banks access to free books. Everyone deserves the chance to fall in love with reading, and I know from my own experience how life-changing that can be."
