WHEN Fionn and Charlotte Duffy-Scott opened their first bookshop in Glasgow’s Southside 13 months ago, the humble Allison Street shop made history.

Category Is Books was Scotland’s first LGBT+ bookshop in 20 years and, since opening in Govanhill in September 2018, has since become a nirvana for the LGBT+ community.

Charlotte said: “We really couldn’t quite anticipate just how many people were going to come out and support us.

“We were shocked and ecstatic and overwhelmed at the level of support. We’ve spoken to people who have said that they visit us while coming holidaying in the city.”

Fionn and Charlotte have been married for three years and spotted a gap in representation for the queer community after an ex- furniture shop went up for sale in their Govanhill neighbourhood.

Charlotte said: “Fionn and I always really wanted to work together, to join forces at some point. We saw what was happening in the news with Trump’s inauguration and thought that we had to do something for the community.”

Charlotte and Fionn both grew up under Section 28 which was a British law brought in under Margaret Thatcher which prohibited local authorities from “promoting homosexuality”, making the couple often unsure of LGBT+ history because of this.

They said: “We really felt like there was an absence of history of queer people that we weren’t aware of so we frantically researched everything we could in our free time.

“We were trying to link it together to create a better picture of our history and we thought there’s probably a huge amount of value in how we can put that together on a shelf and illuminate the issue.”

Category Is Books – which has seen it’s stock more than double in one year – doesn’t just offer books with LGBT+narratives or by LGBT+ authors – customers can go for a quiet and peaceful read in their in-house library or even get their haircut in the shop’s pop-up barbershop.

They said: “We felt that the shop - if we did it right - would be filling in a lot of gaps that were being left. Another bookshop would have an LGBT shelf, but sometimes a shelf isn’t necessarily enough.

“A lot of gender-fluid people and trans people find it hard to get their haircut, especially if it’s a barbershop style of cut that they’re looking for, so we decided to open the space up. I’ve been turned away from barbershops because in their opinion, I’m a cis-woman.”

Category Is Books remains ever popular with the Southside of Glasgow – and further afield – and gives as much love to the community as it receives.

Charlotte said: “Particularly in the South Side, there are so many different groups and minorities struggling to get along. It’s wonderful when one group can come together and support one another.

“We’ve been supported by allies and other local businesses too, which has been brilliant.”