Guleser Aysha Colak and Zafar Malik with books written by authors who live near their business

A DRY cleaners in Canonbury has been displaying books written by local authors.

The store started displaying work from Islington authors around two years ago, after Lord John Browne, asked if he could leave a copy of his book there.

Canonbury’s Dry Cleaner manager Zafar Malik said: “Lord Browne – he’s a very good customer of ours. When he retired, he said, ‘Oh, I’m writing a book – do you mind if I leave it here?’

“So, he left it and then there was another one and another one.”

Mr Malik and Guleser Aysha Colak work at the dry cleaners together and say they do not make any profit from selling the books. Ms Colak said: “It’s mainly about advertising and for people to get to know them.

“They get to know the people around here – what job they do and what they write about.”

All the authors live within half a mile of the store and they mostly know of one another, according to Mr Malik.

Customers are also able to get their books signed by the authors if they ask, and two former friends reconnected through seeing a book displayed in the store.

Mr Malik said: “We had somebody else come in and say, ‘Oh, I met her a long time ago.’ Then they got in touch and connected through the books.”

Over the past two years, Ms Colak said there have been around 15 books displayed in total – with 11 displayed at the moment.

“We have customers who want to add a book, but we just don’t have space – we’re thinking of putting a shelf up,” said Mr Malik.

A variety of work are on display, from history books to children’s books – to books on employment law.

Best-selling novel Queens of Jerusalem by Katherine Pangonis and On Board by former journalist Sir John Tusa are also displayed in the shop.

Mr Malik said: “You wouldn’t think that so many people write books.”