90 years ago, at Exeter St. David’s station, Allen Lane was inspired to create Penguin Books after he couldn’t find a good book to read. In 2023, Exeter City of Literature continued this decades old mission by introducing the Penguin Books Vending Machine at the station, in partnership with Penguin.

Now in 2025, Penguin and Exeter City of Literature are collaborating once again to celebrate the joy of reading 

We're incredibly excited to share that Penguin will be hosting a Silent Book Club takeover in July 2025! Our regular sessions at Topsham Brewery (Wednesday 2nd July) and The Hour Glass Inn (Tuesday 15th July) will feature literary gifts, sweet treats and more, as we wish Penguin a very special 90 years!

Our Silent Book Club is free to attend and runs from 6pm - 8pm, but for these special editions in July we'd recommend joining us a little before 6pm to guarantee that you'll get a space!

If you would like to attend and would benefit from a book token to purchase a new book to read at Silent Book Club, please fill out this form, and we'd be happy to help. Please note we only have a limited number of book tokens available each month.