WHEN Bolton’s only dedicated Christian bookshop was threatened with closure just before Christmas, staff were close to despair.

But their prayers were answered when the Wesley Owen bookshop was one of six bought by another Christian bookstore chain Christian Literature Crusade, known as CLC.

The Wesley Owen store in Deansgate was one of 40 shops operated by the retail arm of the Send the Light group, which crashed with debts of more than £9 million.

The loss of the bookshop would have been catastrophic for the Christian community in the town as the store sells not just books to the public but is also a major supplier to more than 80 churches.

According to the manager Julian Gittings, the Bolton store was the first in a chain of Christian bookshops set up in the sixties by American evangelist George Verwer.

From its humble beginnings over a pub in Deansgate — now Sweetens bookshop — the store has grown into a major supplier of Christian literature across the North West.

Mr Gittings said the buy-out had saved the jobs of two full-time and several part-time and volunteer staff and ensured a good cross-section of Christian literature would still be available in the town centre.

He said the STL had been a global brand and had made a small profit the year before the massive loss.

He added: “Wesley Owen was in danger of closure just before Christmas as the parent company Send the Light (STL) had gone into administration, threatening the closure of up to 40 stores across the UK.

“STL was a global company and the largest distributor of Christian books in Europe.

“The retail arm, Wesley Owen, was faced with closure after it was announced that all the parts of the business were put up for sale.

“The bookshop in Bolton has a long history, being the original place where George Verwer, the founder of Operation Mobilisation (OM), an international missionary organisation, was based.

“From this place he had the idea of an ocean going ship that would be transformed into a ‘floating’ bookshop, enabling Christian literature and Bibles to be distributed around the world. Currently OM works in over 110 countries.

Of the 40 Wesley Owen stores put up for sale, CLC has bought six stores, including the one in Bolton.