Bloody Time Out

We've been meaning to write an entry about the Poetry Library in the Southbank Centre for ages. So it was slightly irritating that a certain London listings magazine wrote an excellent piece about the library a few weeks ago.

The library was closed for a while when the Southbank Centre was having its makeover but it's now re-opened and evidently their press department are currently working overtime to bang up a it of publicity. It's located on the fifth floor of the Royal Festival Hall building which is a bit of a shame because it means that people don't generally seem to know it's there.

The layout of the library is slightly old fashioned. There isn't quite enough space available for the size of the collection they have. You have to move shelves around in order to access the various collections and it doesn't have the modern, revamped feel that the rest of the building now exudes. Nonetheless, it's a great way to spend an afternoon. The collection is excellent, with a wide variety of materials that are difficult to find elsewhere. But the real enjoyment of the library comes from browsing and finding something random that appeals. Once you do find something that takes your fancy, it's an extremely relaxing place to sit and read. As Time Out remark, it offers amazing views over the South Bank and a calm atmosphere in which to settle and lose yourself.

As a library, it's certainly not contemporary in outlook. There's none of the "Ideas Centre" style that many new libraries have taken up-in fact it's got quite a serious feel about it. Not that this is a bad thing by any means, it's just unusual to come across a library that seems to go to such little effort to make itself accessible. We'd definitely recommend it though-and there aways seems to be something interesting going on elsewhere in the Southbank Centre building too, so it won't be a wasted afternoon.