PLEASE HELP - our GET Free Books Shops are under threat. 

Please sign and share our petition.

At the Global Educational Trust, we usually have around 20 shops open around the UK, and we are always looking for opportunities to open more.  Our concept is simple in that you come in, browse like any other bookshop, you make your choice (usually limited to 3 in most of our shops), take the books FREE OF CHARGE then get on with your day.  We always encourage people to put a donation in the pot but you don't have to, the books are yours forever, later on if you want to re-donate them, or any other books, you can but the choice is absolutely yours.

When we first move into a town, we are used to hearing the words “too good to be true” or “what’s the catch”.  We know it sounds too good to be true , because who really gives anything away for free?  We do!  Once our shops are set up and the word gets out, we quickly become valued members of the community.  As we occupy empty shops until a more permeant tenant is found, we can be there for just a few months or quite a few years.

Local Authorities are always helpful, they value the resource we bring to their communities and we establish good working relationships with them. 

A good example is in Bishop Auckland.  We have had our current premises for 3 years now, but have been served notice and are only using the shop for storage until we find a replacement.  We previously occupied 3 other shops on the same street and our presence spans 7 years in this town.  We are currently looking for a new home and Durham Council are actively helping us with this, as they understand the importance of our presence in their town.

Unfortunately, not all Local Authorities are the same.  2 years ago, we established a new G E T Free Books Shop in Sheffield.  Far from being supportive, Sheffield City Council’s stance was aggressive from the start.  They refused to grant us the mandatory reliefs we, as a charity, are entitled to and they took us to court twice.  After almost 2 years and in the face of overwhelming evidence, they finally granted the relief we are entitled to, but are continuing to bully us and have set a new court date for September.  I believe they are doing this to try to ‘save face’, in light of their catalogue of errors spanning almost 2 years, culminating in an embarrassing climb down.  Let’s see what they bring to the court in September, and we will vigorously defend our G E T Free Books charity.

So, we need your help in signing our petition.  We want to send a message to Sheffield City Council and anyone else who try to pull us down, that we are who we say we are, we do what we say we do and our shops are universally loved.  Please also comment as to how  you feel our shops serve you and your community.  Whether you are a volunteer or a customer or one of our many bulk recipients of our books,  your comments will make a difference and will help us to secure our future on your high streets.   Just please keep it polite, as we have quite a few younger readers with a passion for books who follow us too.

Thank you so very much for your continued support.

Global Educational Trust/GET Free Books Team