Situated in a major metropolitan city, but with the quaint charm of a Miss Marple mystery, comes Village, a bookstore and publishing house that’s not only a thoroughly commendable enterprise but an extremely attractive one in the visual sense. Former Leeds students Benjamin Holmes and Joe Torr welcomed their brainchild into the world in December, offering all kinds of publications revolving around art, design and creativity in a lovely Corn Exchange premises, mixing the rough with the smooth; scaffolding shelves and claret Chesterfields.

The pictures you see with throngs of people clutching beer bottles is not a typical day at the office though, they were taken at the No Culture Icons photography exhibition – the kind of event Village will be hosting more of in the future. The publishing side of the business, Village Press, is out to champion independent art and they’ve already turned out their first zine, Copied #1. If that wasn’t enough to keep the lads busy, there’s also a coffee shop in the pipeline this year, and a web-store on its way. Good job those sofas look so comfy, they’ll be needing a sit down after all that…