DARTMOUTH is to get a new bookshop and the man behind the venture says readers are coming back to 'the real deal'.

Bookshop owner Ron Johns already runs three independent bookshops in the West Country and will be opening his fourth in Foss Street before Easter. He also published books under Mabecron Books.

His confidence in the market comes at a time when many bookshops around the country are facing fierce competition from online sellers.

Only four years ago Dartmouth lost its precious Harbour Bookshop – once owned by AA Milne's son Christopher Robin – due to falling profits.

But Mr Johns, who has 40 year's experience in the trade, believes there is no substitute for real books and many people don't like e-books.

'High street booksellers are starting to fight back,' he said.

'People are coming back to proper books.

'We are finding many young people in particular don't like e-books because they spend enough time in front of the screen on other things.

'We are having a renaissance in the book trade with booksellers, who had surrendered in the ravages of the recession to Amazon, returning.

'The sale of e books has stalled and Kindles are getting consigned to the cupboard. The book is a beautiful creation and won't die.'

Mr Johns, who is also a glider pilot, owns the Falmouth Bookseller, one of the leading independent bookshops in the UK. He started bookselling with WH Smith Wholesale in 1968 and opened University Bookseller Plymouth in 1974, Falmouth Bookseller in 1996 and St Ives Bookseller in 2001.

He also published books under Mabecron Books and say it is his intention to support local authors in Dartmouth.

'I have been looking to expand for a while and Dartmouth was on the list, 'he said.

'I was born in Brixham and know the area well. I used to trade with Christopher Robin Milne in the late 60s. We go back a long way. I know the history of the town's bookshops.

'We are a family company and see this as an opportunity for us to do what we do in other seaside and harbour towns. I don't want to stir up a war with the community bookshop.'

The Community Bookshop opened in Higher Street, Dartmouth, in December 2012, as a direct result of the closure of the Harbour Bookshop to ensure the town retained an outlet selling new books.

The co-operative operation was the culmination of a community campaign and, thanks to a loan from an anonymous benefactor, the new shop was stocked with hundreds of books.

Mainly run by volunteers, the store was the brainchild of chairman and Dartmouth town councillor Tony Fyson and co-founder Kathy Stansfield, who is the group secretary. They came up with the idea of opening a community bookshop over a pint at Bayard's Cove.

Mr Fyson said this week: 'Like most people in the town, the team running the community bookshop first heard about the proposed new bookshop in Dartmouth when a job advert appeared in the Chronicle at the end of January.

'We started our community co-operative more than three years ago to make sure that there would be a bookshop in town following the sudden closure of the old Harbour Bookshop.

'The enthusiasm of our many friends and shareholders has thoroughly vindicated our initiative.

'We are now in the process of spending their not-for-profit investment by building an extension to increase our sales area.

'I telephoned Mr Johns, the bookseller from Cornwall who already runs shops in St Ives and Falmouth and now proposes to open in Foss Street. I asked him whether he was aware of our enterprise. He assured me that he was and that he knew our nearly complete building project.

'Mr Johns stated his opinion that "there is plenty of room for two bookshops in Dartmouth".

For his sake, I can only hope he is right, because the community bookshop is certainly here to stay. We are hugely encouraged by all the expressions of support we have received in recent weeks.

'We look forward to welcoming increasing numbers of customers to our enlarged shop very soon.'

The shop has always aimed to keep alive the connection with Christopher Robin Milne, who started the Harbour Bookshop with its Pooh Corner of Pooh-related books and prints.

Immortalised by his father in the beautifully illustrated Winnie-the-Pooh children's books, Christopher Robin Milne founded the bookshop with his wife in 1951.

The town's only independent bookshop was regularly visited by Winnie-the-Pooh fans who wanted to meet the original Christopher Robin, but Milne would often hide from them, preferring not to talk about his fictional alter ego

The Harbour Bookshop, which had been open for 60 years, eventually closed in September 2011.

The then owners, Rowland and Caroline Abram, blamed rising rents and increased competition from online booksellers and supermarkets.

The decision to close was 'devastating', Mr and Mrs Abram said.

Mr Abram said: 'There are various reasons. The book trade has undergone extraordinary changes in 15 years.

'Rent and rates have also gone up enormously, and we just can't afford to pay them.'

A devastating fire in Dartmouth in May the previous year, which destroyed eight shops and 15 flats and closed off parts of the historic town, also adversely affected sales, Mr Adams said at the time.

Christopher Milne, immortalised by his father as friend to Winnie-the- Pooh and his Hundred Acre wood chums, moved from London to Stoke Fleming in 1951 and set up the bookshop in Dartmouth.

Local publisher Richard Webb, who worked with Milne in the shop more 50 years ago, said at the time that it was the friendliest bookshop he had ever known and its closure was 'desperately sad' news.

'A town without a bookshop selling new books is like a town without a soul – we are all poorer for its loss,' he said.

'Sadly the last page of the Harbour Bookshop is now being turned and I have lost a life-long friend and companion and so has Dartmouth.'