The Telegraph picks up on the findings of the Bookseller’s survey of independent publishers last week, which concluded that a quarter of independent booksellers say that they will not stock the final Harry Potter book when it is published because they claim they cannot make a profit on it. The main reason? No way to match deep discounting by Tesco, Asda and the main UK chain bookshops. Charles Hampton of Boarderman’s bookshop in Bishop’s Stortford said: “We made a loss on the last one and I am not prepared to make a loss on this one. Independent bookshops are being discriminated against and being offered a lower discount and are being cut out of the market.”

The majority of independents asked said, however, that they would stock the title in order to retain customer loyalty. A Bloomsbury spokeswoman said: “We don’t give extra discounts on Harry Potter to anybody. We are the largest independent publisher left in the UK and we will do everything we can to support independent bookshops.”