THERE was a midnight opening for excited youngsters at a Broadway bookshop last week, as they queued to be one of the first to get their hands on the new Harry Potter novel.

Blandfords Books of Broadway, owned by Andrew and Elizabeth Blandford, held the late-night opening because of the novels obvious popularity and high demand to get one as soon as possible. Over 100 people queued up in front of the store, some from as early as 5.30pm to get their hands on a copy of Harry potter and the Half-blood Prince.

The first in the queue were mother and son Katie and Robert Ingram of Inkberrow, who saw the article in last week's Journal, offering a free copy to the first in the queue.

Katie said: "As soon as I read the Journal I packed the picnic and headed for Broadway.

"Robert and I have certificates to prove to everyone that we were first in the queue."

Bookshop owner Elizabeth Blandford admitted she was taken aback by the number of people wanting a copy of the novel.

She said: "The whole event went very well indeed and I think we sold about 80 copies that morning."