History Of Rona Books

Rona Books was born after Literary Specialist Joanna Ponder created a haven for the books she loved within Rona Gallery in Eastbourne. When the books started to take over the gallery, it became obvious that something needed to be done.
Joanna couldn’t bear to lose her books, and Richard couldn’t bear to lose his gallery space; he’d worked hard to show the best artists in the best surroundings. So they did the only thing they could do – they rented a second shop. It was only a few doors down from the original art gallery, and it soon filled up with books. Not just the beautiful children’s books, but klutz and novels of every type from fantasy to literary, art to science, fiction to non fiction. Too busy to spend time together, it quickly became obvious they needed something else. A new approach. So when the hardware store across the road became available, they jumped on the opportunity to expand their business, and to spend less time apart.

Converting the building into the gallery space it is today, as is always the case, took more money and time than either Richard or Joanna expected. With hours to go before the opening a good number of the generous people of Eastbourne took up
paintbrushes to help meet their deadline on the 17th of June 2006. The opening. People raced to and fro with trolleys of books and art and fittings, but with a little help from family and friends everything was ready in time. And it was all worth it in the end. Rona Gallery is a spacious area where lovers of art, and the whole shop has a warm friendly atmosphere, and of course there is a large range of fantastic books. We often have customers compliment us that we have the best bookshop in the country.