Jobs

Barista/bookseller

Full-time, Tuesdays to Saturdays

£30,000 salary

About the role

We are looking for a barista/bookseller to join our small and friendly team at our independent bookshop in Balham, south London.

In this unusual mixed role, you will take the lead in making hundreds of specialty coffees a week to a very high standard of taste and presentation for take away and drink in. You will also serve our selection of wines and beers, talking confidently and knowledgeably about them.

You will work closely with our bookshop manager and visual merchandiser on our plan to redesign and upgrade our bar, both seating and menu, making our excellent specialty coffee and our perfect wine and book pairings more central to everything we do.

At the same time, you will be an extremely enthusiastic reader, keen to share your love of the latest new releases and your favourite older titles with our customers. You will be as comfortable recommending a Rooney as a Rioja. 

The role is based at our bookshop, with no working from home. The successful candidate will need to be available to work until 9.30pm two evenings a week and until 7.30pm on the other two weekday evenings. They will need to work every Saturday from 8.30am to 4.30pm. 

Applications close at 11.59pm on 21st February. 

More information 

You will work with enthusiastic and book-loving customers and colleagues, meeting authors at in-store events, reading proof copies of forthcoming books and talking about your favourite reads. We love books, wine and coffee and want to share our love with others.  

We’re a very small team so tasks will be different from day to day. The successful candidate will be a good team player who can adapt to the changing requirements of the bar and bookshop.

You will be on your feet all day, every day. Enthusiasm, high energy and a good sense of humour are essential. 

Tasks will include:

• Warmly welcoming customers and serving them barista-standard coffees or excellent suggestions from our curated wine list;
  
  

• Swapping book recommendations with customers;
  
  

• Unboxing deliveries of books and shelving them;
  
  

• Assisting in hosting our evening author events.
  
  

About Backstory 

Backstory is an independent bookshop that offers next-day UK delivery on hundreds of thousands of books as well as our curated list of the latest bestsellers and Backstory’s all-time favourites. Our bookshop and bar is proudly based in south London. Our mission is to bring readers closer to the world’s most interesting writers. 

Through events, newsletters and conversations with our brilliant team and community of readers, we share the stories behind the stories, the backstory. 

Requirements for applicants:

Required:

• You must be over the age of 18 and have an existing right to work in the UK;
  
  

• You must have recent barista experience in a high-volume coffee shop;

• You must have exemplary communication skills and an extremely high standard of written and spoken English;
  
  

• You must be a very keen reader with a broad taste in books.
  
  

Useful but not essential:

• Bar/pub/restaurant experience;

• Events experience;

• Retail experience.
  
  

How to apply 

Please send the following, as PDF attachments with your name at the top of each page to baristaandbookseller@backstory.london by 11.59pm on 21st February:

• Your CV.

• In no more than 100 words, a description of a book you recently enjoyed. (Do not use AI tools.)
  
  

• Your top-three favourite genres/kinds of book.