A poetry magazine editor who launched an appeal to fund a poetry bookshop in London has revealed that plans to open it will now be delayed for some time.

It had been planned to launch the bookshop in south London, near Waterloo station, in August 2015. But Paul McMenemy, editor of Lunar Poetry magazine, says on the magazine’s website: “We have had to find a new venue for the bookshop. The main reason we thought we could open the shop on a comparatively small budget was that the rent on the space we originally had in I’klectik Art-lab was very low.

“The rent on any new site will be far higher; this being the case, we’re going to have to do a lot of saving. We will be looking at the possibility of getting loans or grants towards these costs, but the chances are we will not be able to open a permanent shop this year.

“What we will be doing, though, is setting up shop temporarily in various sites over the year; there will be more news on this as we agree details with hosts. Although this is disappointing, what it does mean is that when we do eventually get a permanent site, we will be able to do exactly what we like with it, and not have to worry about our events clashing with those held by other businesses located on the same site. The goal is to have a permanent, visible home for poetry in London, and this is not something we could have done at I’klectik.

“To those of you who contributed to our Indiegogo campaign, thank you for your patience and support, and hang in there – this will happen, and it will be worth the wait.”

Lunar Poetry magazine, which was launched on a monthly basis in 2014, has been absent for a few months, but will be back in March, “and will once more run on a monthly schedule”, McMenemy said. “Again, thanks for bearing with us.”

Background: Frances Spurrier interviews Paul McMenemy