In the mid 1990s, Bernard Black, with the help of his friend Gerald, found a small building at 13 Little Bevan Street, Bloomsbury. Bernard was rented the downstairs and a part of the upstairs of the building by Ms. Hanley, the then-owner, who lived in the flat above the shop. Bernard moved in and turned the back room into the kitchen, the front room into a bookshop, and left the upstairs as living quarters. It is unknown what condition the shop was in then, however, it is likely that Bernard treated the shop with ill-respect, littering the floors with rubbish and piling books scruffily on the shelves.