AN independent bookshop in Wood Green which opened to fill the gap left by Waterstones is fighting for its survival as it marks its three-year anniversary.

The owners of the Big Green Bookshop, in Brampton Park Road, a quiet side street off High Road, Wood Green, are having to find inventive ways of raising money to pay off a bank loan over the next nine months or could face closure.

It was set up by Tim West and Simon Key in 2008 using their severance pay after being made redundant when the franchise chain shut down leaving shoppers in Wood Green without a dedicated bookshop.

The shop, winner of Haringey's best new business award, has since built up a reputation as a community asset with a friendly bespoke service. As part of its outreach work, the bookshop also goes into Haringey schools to promote reading and boost literacy.

Simon said: "We absolutely love it here at the Big Green Bookshop. These have been the most rewarding three years of our working lives and we really don’t want it to end.

"We always wanted to be more than a bookshop and part of the community and so we have felt comfortable saying to people that we're in a tight spot. I don't know any other way to be than positive and have been overwhelmed by the support we've had from customers who don't want us to go.

"Our bank loan now has nine months until it’s paid off. This is our biggest single outgoing each month. Once the loan has been paid off we will be in a relatively stable position."

Over the past three years, it has supported local authors and played host to authors including Will Self, Mark Billingham, Karen Maitland. It also hosts weekly storytelling and singing for children under five, knitting and writer's clubs. The owners are now setting up a Big Green Bookshop Committee – a team of people to offer suggestions on how to improve the business – and have received up to 40 responses.

To mark their anniversary on March 8, the team are asking shopper's to buy a book during the week until March 12 and will be hosting a comedy night and a quiz night as part of its fundraising push.

For more information about the bookshop and its events, visit its blog Open a Bookshop, What Could Possibly Go Wrong at http://woodgreenbookshop.blogspot.com/