Waterstones Piccadilly is to host a sleepover this Friday (24th October), following an incident last Thursday night (16th October) where a tourist got locked in Waterstones in Trafalgar Square.



Waterstones is running a competition on the Airbnb website for 10 guests to win the chance to spend this Friday night in the store, with each guest able to bring a friend.



The sleepover will last from 9 p.m. on Friday until 9 a.m. on Saturday. It will begin with a Waterstones bookseller giving a tour of the shop and the store will also provide food, entertainment and bedding, as well as “plenty of treats and surprises in store”, including Night School author Richard Wiseman giving tips on getting a good night’s sleep, midnight snacks from Graze Box and breakfast courtesy of Weetabix.



The event has been organised after David Willis from Texas got locked in Waterstones Trafalgar Square for two hours after it has closed last week and tweeted about it, attracting 12,000 retweets, lots of media coverage and discussion on social media.



Airbnb’s Holly Clarke said: “When the news broke on social media about David Willis we saw how many people would jump at the chance to spend a night surrounded by their favourite books. So we got in touch with Waterstones on Twitter to suggest they become an Airbnb host. Airbnb is all about offering unique accommodation experiences and this fits with that perfectly.”



Waterstones’ Rik McShane added: “We were overwhelmed by the support on social media for David Willis when he was unfortunately locked in our Trafalgar Square bookshop last Thursday. Amidst this however were a great many message from people exclaiming how much they would like to spend the night amidst the books they love. So, when Airbnb got in touch we leapt at the chance to give them what they asked for, with the promise that we’d let them out first thing in the morning. As Booksellers we already know what special places bookshops are, as our ten lucky winners and their guests will discover.”



Those wanting to win a place at the sleepover need to create an Airbnb account and tell Waterstones what book they would read if they were to spend the night in a bookshop, and why.



The Night at Waterstones competition closes at midday on Wednesday 22nd October.