Run by the neighbours.
In 1989 the city meant to close the library. The street formed a trust and took it over, with the hall. It has stayed open every day since.
The trust
Northbank Commons Trust is a charity with 1,300 members, most of whom live within a mile of Quay Road. Members elect nine trustees every two years; anyone over sixteen can join for £1.
We run four places on one street: the library, the advice desk, Canal Hall and Lock Gardens. Eleven staff and 84 volunteers keep them open. The city pays for the library’s books and its staff; everything else comes from members, gifts and grants.
We publish our accounts every June, and the trustees meet in public in Canal Hall on the first Tuesday of each quarter.
- 11,400visits a month, across the four places
- 84volunteers, from story hour to the soup kitchen
- £212,000a year to run it all: 58% the city, 27% members and gifts, 15% grants
The people you’ll meet.
Ruth AdeyemiHead librarianRuth has run the library since 2014 and still does the Saturday desk. Ask her for a book you half remember. 
Tomasz WróbelWelfare rights adviserTomasz has answered letters from the council, the landlord and the tax office for eleven years. He speaks English, Polish and Russian. 
Aisha RahmanCanal Hall coordinatorAisha runs Canal Hall: the soup lunch, the warm room and the bookings. If a group needs a room, she finds one. 
Gareth HollisLock Gardens lead volunteerGareth has had plot 14 since 1996. He leads the Saturday work morning and fixes lamps at the repair café. 
Mei-Lin ChowChildren’s and digital librarianMei-Lin runs story hour, the homework club and the Wednesday digital help, and keeps the printer working. 
Daniel OseiGrants and neighbourhood officerDaniel looks after the neighbour grants and helps a street turn an idea into one page. He runs the grants surgery.
A short history.
- 1898
The library opens on Quay Road, in the old grain office by the wharf.
- 1931
The lock keepers’ union builds Canal Hall behind it.
- 1989
The city plans to close the library. Neighbours form a trust and take it over, with the hall.
- 2011
The waste ground by the lock becomes Lock Gardens, forty plots and a glasshouse.
- 2019
The advice desk opens at the back of the library, two days a week.
- 2026
The reading room roof is mended, paid for by 1,300 neighbours.
Keep the doors open.
Twelve pounds keeps the warm room open for an hour. Members give what they can each month, and every gift stays on Quay Road.
Or give an afternoon.
Story hour, the soup kitchen, the repair café, the garden, the homework club: an afternoon a month helps. Tell Aisha what you like doing.