The UK’s first black bookshop, located in Finsbury Park, is set to avoid closure after raising £75,000 in one week.

New Beacon Books, which opened on Stroud Green Road in 1966, announced last month it was going to close its physical site in the new year and move online because of financial difficulties.

Yet, the success of its Crowdfunding campaign organised on December 29 by artist and academic Francesca Gilbert means the bookshop has got a “lifeline”. It could even expand its outreach initiatives and restore its publishing platform, perhaps in new and bigger premises.

Its directors said in a statement: “We have been overwhelmed by the positive response.

“We want to emphasise that all the funds received will be accounted for transparently and coherently.”

Among those who supported the campaign are Bridgerton actor Adjoa Andoh, Jeremy Corbyn, and postcolonial academic Priyamvada Gopal.