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Hi,

Glance Back and the Magic of Flourish and Blotts

A tribute to the real bookshop
that may have inspired J.K. Rowling’s wizarding world

When readers step into Flourish and Blotts in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, they are transported to a shop where:
Books tower to the ceiling,
Volumes “as large as paving stones bound in leather” and others “the size of postage stamps in covers of silk.” It is a place of enchantment, chaos, and discovery.

Yet behind this fictional creation lies a real shop —
one that stood for decades at the bottom of Hocker Hill Street in Chepstow,
a medieval cobbled lane, with roots stretching back to the 12th century.

The World of Glance Back:

It was no ordinary bookshop.
Housed in a 16-room building dating largely from the 15th century, it contained seven or eight rooms dedicated to books — around 40,000 titles in all.

The collection spanned centuries:
volumes from the early 1500s, rare antiquarian treasures, and modern second-hand novels.
Elephant folios so large they rivaled paving stones, leaned against shelves, while miniature Qorans less than an inch square echoed Rowling’s later description of “books the size of postage stamps.”

Greg, always recognisable by his ponytail, and Lee, South African by birth, lived and worked together in the shop for forty years.
It was a life out of step with the transience of modern culture — almost entirely uninterested in television, soap operas, or celebrity gossip! Their existence was quirky, dedicated, and deeply entwined with the rhythms of books and history.
Lee sadly passed away in May 2025,
and the shop was sold a month later to Simon Field and his family.
Yet the memory of Glance Back remains vivid, not only for those who visited but for the way it may have touched the imagination of a young Joanne Rowling.

Inspiration for a Magical Bookshop:

Rowling grew up nearby, attending Wye Dean School and living close to her mother’s house near Tidenham School.
Both were within walking distance of Glance Back. It is easy to imagine her stepping into the shop,

speaking to Greg or Lee, and absorbing the sensory overload of ancient bindings, odd formats, and the sheer density of knowledge.
Later, when she conjured up ‘Flourish and Blotts‘, those impressions may have resurfaced.

The parallels are striking:

Even the name Flourish and Blotts carries echoes of antiquarian culture.
To sign with a flourish was to embellish a signature with sweeping penmanship; to avoid blots, paper was waved in the air or pressed with blotting paper until dry.
It is a name that captures both whimsy and tradition, perfectly suited to a shop brimming with magical tomes.

Memory Made Magic:

For Harry Potter fans, Flourish and Blotts is a place of wonder, chaos, and discovery. For those who knew Chepstow, it is also a reflection of a real shop — one where Greg’s ponytail and Lee’s warm presence anchored a labyrinth of books.
Rowling eventually bought back her mother’s house near Tidenham, returning to the landscape that shaped her imagination. In that sense, the magic of Flourish and Blotts is not only in the novels but also in the memory of a real place — a shop where a young girl may have stood, speaking to Greg or Lee, surrounded by books that seemed to defy the ordinary.

Timeline Sidebar: Glance Back 1983–2025

• 1983 → Glance Back opens in Chepstow, run by Greg & Lee Lance-Watkins.
• 1980s–1990s → J.K. Rowling attends Wye Dean School nearby; her mother lives close to Tidenham School. Rowling likely visits the shop during these years.
• 1998–2007 → Harry Potter series published; Flourish and Blotts becomes iconic in the wizarding world.
• May 2025 → Lee passes away from a cerebral haemorrhage.
• June 2025 → Shop sold to Simon Field and family after 40 years of Greg and Lee’s stewardship.

This story is both a tribute to Glance Back
and a reminder of how memory becomes magic:

For forty years, Greg and Lee lived and worked among books, creating a world that was quirky, timeless, and rich with history. And somewhere in those shelves, perhaps, a spark of inspiration lit the path to ‘Diagon Alley‘.

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Regards,

Greg_L-W..

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Regarding TWITTER:
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From 04-Jul-2022 until Early December 2022:
I was banned from TWITTER.
Allegedly I have broken a TWITTER Rule,
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As the corrupt & biased owners no longer use their lies,
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as Elon Musk has purchased the platform:
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TWITTER BAN 04-July-2022

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Violating one of our Rules.

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They sexualise children as young as 5 at school. But #Prince_Andrew paid £12M for NOT having intercourse with a minor &; #Ghislaine got 20yrs. but not a single #Epstein client has been charged, let alone prosecuted! https://t.co/ckGbEMFxVf

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