A couple came into the shop looking for science fiction. After they'd looked at what we had to offer, they said; "We were told to look for somewhere called Allstar, or Five Star? Any idea where that is?"
It was the association with science fiction that reminded me. "Golly, that's going back a bit! Five Star's long gone."
Originally, it was part of Richard Booth's empire - two floors of military books at the entrance to the Castle. It was called Five Star for Five Star General. By the time I got to Hay, the military books had gone to the Limited, and had been replaced by science fiction. That went on for a few years, and then the SF went to the Limited, and the building was divided - the staircase was taken out, and the lower half was rented out as a seperate bookshop, run by Alistair, and Uncle Graham's pet shop. George Greenaway has the bookshop part now, and the pet shop is now the storage for Nepal Bazaar, which moved in upstairs and is still there.
So that one building has had quite a checkered history over the past twenty years.
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