Meet the Yorkshire couple who turned their barge into a floating book shop on Leeds canal

Over the last 18 months, however, Marjorie has been given a new lease of life.

Her owners, Victoria and Chris Bonner, have spent the last year and a half converting the coal barge into a floating book shop, which sits at Leeds docks next to the canal where she once made her living.

“We’ve owned Marjorie for around 10 years now,” says Victoria, sitting below deck in a spot once occupied by 75 tons of coal.

“People really liked her, and she really feels like part of the community, so we needed a way to keep her safe for the future, and also let people have access to her.

Using cast off scaffolding boards and scrap wood from Leeds Building College, the couple have converted the boat into Hold Fast Books, which opened earlier this month, and which they hope will become a community hub of reading and story sharing.

In creating their shop, however, the couple have also dismantled the home they had previously built.

Prior to converting Marjorie into a bookshop, Victoria and Chris had turned the boat into their place of residence.

“At times we’ve just thought ‘what are we doing?’” says Victoria.

“You watch things like Grand Designs and you see people crying in a caravan, and we’ve had some moments like that.”

“Some of the businesses around here have probably spent more on their signs than our whole budget,” adds Chris, “but it's worked out well.”

As well as wanting to preserve Marjorie’s history, the pair also hope to find answers to a few mysteries which surround the boat's past.

After a chance meeting, the pair were told of Norman, Marjorie’s old driver.

“We bumped into a man when he was just walking his dog with his granddaughter,” says Victoria, “and it turned out he used to do maintenance on the boat in Wakefield.

“And he told us all about the guy who used to drive her - and that everyone used to make fun of him because he would turn up to work in a clean shirt and tie, bearing in mind he was driving a coal barge.

“Everyone else used to drive them like dodgems, but Norman apparently mollycoddled this boat, and we’re glad he did, she survived because of it.

“But somewhere out there there is Norman’s family and we would love to meet them.”

The name Marjorie is also a mystery to Victoria and Chris.

Whereas most coal barges of the time have had their names accounted for, and are named after the wives of workers, or after people in the office, Marjorie’s name remains a mystery, along with her R initial.

Although Chris was born in Lincolnshire and Victoria in Leeds, both have lived in Yorkshire since they were young.

Now married for 28 years, they met when they were growing up in Grimsby, and moved away together when they were 18.

The pair have also operated a vegan ice cream business, in which Chris would deliver ice cream on his bike.

“My legs were like tree trunks back then,” he jokes.

Previously a library worker and creative writing teacher, Victoria’s love of reading in part inspired the couple to convert Marjorie into a bookshop.

“There's just something about bookshops,” she says, “we’ve got our favourite book shops up and down the country, and there's just something a bit special about them - clothes shops and shoe shops just don't have that same character to them - and I don't know why that is. I also think for a lot of people reading is a massive help for mental health, it's either a distraction from difficult things or it's a way to explore difficult feelings, or to feel supported or less alone.”

As well as selling books, the couple hope to hold creative writing classes, and have had inquiries about a poetry group at the bookshop. They also intend to hold “late night Thursdays”, in which they will run events, as well as enabling people to come after work and buy books.

Hold Fast Books will sell both new and second hand books, something Victoria notes is she is happy to be able to do.

“We all have treasured books that we really enjoy - but books are for reading - and the more they go round and round the better,” she says. “I always say if you've got a book on your shelf and you enjoyed it, you should give it to someone else to read, because it needs reading twice, and if you didn't enjoy it you should give it to someone else, because they might like it.”

They have also been accepted on to Book Sellers Association, meaning they will be able to order in books which they do not have in stock. As well as offering a delivery service for books on his bike, Chris, who has worked as a musician, a gardener, and driver of the Leeds water taxis, intends to sell plants from the top deck of the boat.

Laden with plants, many of which hang from repurposed car tires, Chris hopes the look of the boat will also inspire others in the area to place plants on their balconies and in their houses.

“I think every bit of green really helps,” he says. “And I like to think we can inspire people to brighten up the balconies and around the city, because it's so much better for your physical and mental health if you’re surrounded by green.”

The appearance of Majorie, much of which Chris has fashioned by hand, is one of the things he is most passionate about within the project.

“You’re not supposed to have too much emphasis on what other people think,” he says, “but it is lovely when people just smile and are so obviously excited. People have beamed when they come in -and that's what we want - from the moment people get on we want them to be happy.”

Chris also notes how when barges such as Marjorie were first commissioned, local children would be given the day off school to get on board as the boat was put into the water for the first time.

“Right from day one there were people having a good time on this boat,” he adds, “so it's nice to think that 76 years later people will be coming along and smiling when they get on.”

The couple are passionate about what they have achieved, and hopeful for what will come next.

“It's hard trying to find the words to get this across, but boats are strange really,” says Victoria, “They're almost like a cross between a car and a pet.

“You name them and you love them and you get a bond with them, and it's about wanting people to come and share how much of a lovely space it is.”

“I guess someone with a much bigger budget than us would have paid a team of people to come and do things in a fraction of the time that I've done them by watching Youtube videos and swearing at the walls at two in the morning,” adds Chris, “but it's worked out alright. And I think there's a space for us here. There's no other floating book shops that we know of, and we hope people will be curious about that if nothing else.”