The crisis for independent bookshops shows no signs of abating as the inexorable rise of ebooks continues to cause problems for the beleaguered sector.

New figures from the Booksellers Association show that the number of independent booksellers fell to 1,094 by the end of 2011, down from 1,159 in 2010 and 1,289 in 2009.

The 65 casualties last year range from Dartmouth's famous Harbour Bookshop, founded 60 years ago by Christopher Robin Milne, to The Travel Bookshop in Notting Hill, made famous by the Hugh Grant film.

The Booksellers Association chief executive Tim Godfray called the decline "a cause for very real concern" and said that "competition from the internet and the arrival of ebooks are putting pressures on high-street and campus bookshops never before experienced".

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From The Guardian Online.