It's been a year to remember for one of Swindon's most famous bookworms.

Alex Call aka 'Bert' set up the online bookshop ‘Bert’s Books’ in 2019 and is now living his long-term dream of opening a physical store.

It has been open for business since May and is currently based in the former InHouse offices in Godwin Court.

Speaking to the Adver back in February when he opened his shop, Alex said: “It’s been a long-held dream to open a real-life bookshop and finally, after a few false starts, I’ve gotten my hands on the keys to my very own shop.

"I’m looking forward to swapping book recommendations with the people of Swindon! It’s a little daunting, but I’m determined to make it a success."

Now 10 months later, Alex has been speaking about what it’s been like running his first physical bookshop.

He said: “It’s been a lot of hard work, but I’ve been enjoying it, it’s nice speaking to people and trying to find the right books.

“The feedback has been good, the Old Town community has enjoyed having us here.”

The owner explained how his business is giving back to the community.

He added: “We recently started a pay it forward scheme, so people can put money behind the till and they can pay somebody else to buy a book if they can’t afford one and that has been really popular."

Alex told the Adver he wanted to open his bookshop to fill a gap in the Old Town community.

“Swindon needed one, it’s been missing for a long time and it was to bring something a little bit different.”

Bert’s Books has had some famous faces visiting the store in 2022.

During Independent Bookshops Week, BBC Radio Two DJ Sara Cox visited the store where she signed copies of her debut novel 'Thrown'.

Other well-known authors who have visited include CL Taylor, Joanna Cannon and Sarah Winman.

In an earlier interview in August, Alex said: “That week was brilliant, a lot of people found us through that, and it was quite surreal. I picked Sara up at the station and instead of listening to her on the radio she was sat next to me chatting, saying how lovely Swindon was.”

Berts Books went viral in November after the store was transformed into a scene straight out of the musical film La La Land.

The video went viral amongst the Swindon community on Twitter, gaining 512 shares and 1,216 likes, and creating 130,000 impressions.