About Us
Oldspeak Bookshop isn’t just a shop—it’s a stand. Britain’s only centre-right bookshop opens May 2025 in Long Melford, Suffolk, keeping the West’s core, front and centre.
We keep traditional foundations alive—freedom, order, and truth—through books that challenge and endure. In a world losing its grip, Oldspeak holds firm.
Born from a love of Britain and the West, with an emphasis on conservative thought and timeless ways, and a clear need to push back against the drift, Oldspeak is a place for those who value liberty over tyranny, heritage over hype, and reason over noise. We’re not here to follow trends—we’re here to fight for what’s proven and lasts. From the works that built us and the classics that shaped us, to the voices that still stir us, our shelves carry the weight of tradition—unbowed.
At Oldspeak, it’s more than books. You’ll find conservative reads and works that defend the West’s soul alongside Sudbury’s own—local beers, aromatic coffee, fresh bakes and wines from nearby vineyards. It’s a taste of tradition, page and pint alike.
Set in Long Melford’s historic Hall Street, Oldspeak roots itself in a village that breathes British heritage—timber frames, quiet lanes, and a spirit that’s stood for centuries. Just minutes from Sudbury and Bury St Edmunds, it’s a fitting home for a bookshop that won’t bend.
We open in May 2025. Until then, follow us on X at @Oldspeak_Books for updates, or drop by our bookstalls at events like the New Culture Forum talks. Come along—bring someone who gets it.”
Western Core
The “Western core” isn’t some academic buzzword—it’s the bedrock of ideas and customs that our shop stands for, rooted in the history and culture of Britain and the broader West (Europe, North America, etc.). From a centre-right/conservative lens like ours, it’s less about vague ideals and more about what’s tangible and worth defending.
- Freedom: Individual liberty—free speech, free thought, free markets. Think Magna Carta, the Bill of Rights, or Orwell’s prophetic warnings against tyranny. It’s the right to say and think what you believe, unbowed.
- Tradition: The stuff that lasts—family, faith, community, law. It’s Britain’s monarchy, churches, and villages, but also the West’s deeper inheritance: Roman order, Christian ethics, Enlightenment reason. Not nostalgia, but what works.
- Truth: Facing reality head-on—reason over dogma, facts over feelings. It’s Scruton’s push for clarity, Starkey’s unfiltered history, or the West’s scientific and legal traditions. No fluff, just what’s real.
For Oldspeak, this “core” isn’t just a list—it’s a stance. It’s why our books “challenge and endure”—they’re not trendy or apologetic; they’re the West’s spine against erosion by relativism, wokery, or whatever else we might identify as threats to our way of life.
Our Name - Oldspeak
'When Oldspeak had been once and for all superseded, the last link with the past would have been severed. History had already been rewritten, but fragments of the literature of the past survived here and there, imperfectly censored, and so long as one retained one's knowledge of Oldspeak it was possible to read them.'
George Orwell, 1984
Our Logo
Our logo is a hand with a little finger pointing upwards. and represents freedom of choice.
French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre argued that humans are "condemned to be free," meaning that even in the most oppressive or constraining situations—like torture—our freedom to choose our response or attitude remains intact.
For instance, wiggling your little finger could symbolise that defiance or choice. Freedom is therefore an inherent part of being human, and our logo is a reminder of that fact.
What do you think?
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