Gatehouse Books - Literacy & ESOL specialist. Need help? Email or call us on 01925 267778

About Us

Our Mission

To make learning to read easy, accessible and enjoyable for adult learners.

Our Ethos

“A beginner reader is not a beginner thinker.”

What We Do

We publish and distribute books and resources for use in post-14 and adult basic education - Skills for Life - Literacy and ESOL. We publish the Gatehouse Books imprint. We are also the sole distributor for Brown & Brown Publishing and a number of other specialist literacy and ESOL publishers.

For further information, please contact us at:

Gatehouse Books Limited
PO Box 965
Warrington 
WA4 9DE

Tel: 01925 267778
Email: info@gatehousebooks.com

Gatehouse Books

We promote writing by and for adult learners by publishing and distributing their work in the form of high quality adult beginner readers. Our collection of adult beginner readers, many of which have been written by adults who are themselves developing their literacy skills, is known as Gatehouse Books. Gatehouse Books are a source of inspiration to all who read them. The underlying principle of a Gatehouse Book is that the writer is involved in all aspects of the publication. This ensures that the finished book 'belongs' to the writer. Adults who are learning to read are inspired to read about someone like themselves and this can make their engagement with reading a richer and more memorable experience. With their authentic, everyday adult themes and content, Gatehouse Books are also useful for stimulating discussion and often inspire readers to recall similar experiences of their own, which they may then write or have scribed for them to produce their own initial texts.

Our inclusive approach

We encourage the involvement of tutors and their students in a number or ways: participation in selecting and evaluating publications; trialling resources; contributing ideas; submitting work for consideration for publication.

Core Curriculum

Many of our books are suitable for readers at the Core Curriculum Entry Levels 1, 2 and 3, and even for learners at Pre-Entry Level, particularly if used in conjunction with audio version or with the support of a tutor. 

Gatehouse beginner readers provide an integrated context for meeting all elements of the Core Curriculum. They can be used to develop text, sentence and word-focussed reading skills. The line-broken layout of many of the books can be used to demonstrate clearly the purpose and principles of sentence structure. Examples of colloquial grammar can be used to highlight the differences between Standard English and the syntax of regional dialects, speech and more informal and creative uses of writing. 

Gatehouse Books can also be used to build and evidence a student’s capabilities in all three subsections of the Speaking and Listening standards: Listen & Respond, Speak to Communicate and Engage in Discussion. 

Audio books can be used as aids for dictation, to practise spelling, punctuation and grammatical skills. 

About Brown & Brown

Brown and Brown began publishing in 1987, to provide material for adults wishing to improve their basic skills in reading, spelling, writing and maths. Their publications are now widely used in many areas of education and are very popular in schools.

All of the material is written and designed by the publishers, Margaret and Hugh Brown, who aim to produce relevant, clearly printed books at the lowest possible cost. Many of the publications are in the form of workbooks and worksheets which could be used independently by students, with guidance when needed. Brown and Brown publications are distributed solely by Gatehouse Books Limited. 

Brown & Brown publications are used in the following areas of education:

  • Adult Basic Education / Basic Skills / Key Skills / Skills for Life
  • Further Education (Learning Support; Special Needs; A.B.E.)
  • Schools (English; Maths; Special Needs; Learning Support)
  • Pupil Referral Units
  • English for speakers of other languages (ESOL)
  • Adult and Youth Basic Skills Training
  • Open Learning and Family Learning
  • H.M. Prisons and Young Offenders Institutes
  • Dyslexia
  • Speech Therapy
  • Dysphasia Support (work with stroke patients)
  • Head Injury patient rehabilitation
  • Work with adults and children with learning difficulties
  • Teacher Training