27 Positively Lovely Bookstores in London You MUST Visit (and 7 More on My List)

If you’re planning to visit various bookstores in London, boy do I have both good and bad news for you.

The good news is that as a major hub for English publishing for centuries, this city is packed with unique bookstores and even the “franchises” have something special about them. The bad news? There are so many you’re going to need to live here for a year just to see them all! (Okay, maybe that’s not bad news.)

And… as much as I would love to eventually visit all the bookstores in London, it’s probably good to narrow down the list. Through my many visits to London over the years, I’ve put together some places you won’t want to miss as well as even more bookstores I want to visit on future trips!

27 Lovely Bookstores in London You Simply Must Visit

1-9. All the Bookstores in Cecil Court

Neighborhood: Covent Garden

Cecil Court has become known as Bookseller’s Row on social media because this one narrow alley is jam packed with not only tiny, independently-owned bookstores but other quirky antique shops. Around since the 1600s, it links Charing Cross Road and St. Martin’s Lane and is right by Covent Garden. If you have time to visit only one place on this list, come here!

• Alice Through the Looking Glass – everything about Alice in Wonderland
• Bryars & Bryars – antique atlases and maps and antiquarian books
• Goldsboro Books – has a ton of first edition signed books
• Marchpane – specializes in children’s and illustrstrated books
• November Books – fashion, design, etc type books
• Watkins Books – pretty spacious and all dedicated to tarots, crystals, the occult, and more. It’s the oldest bookstore in London to focus on esoterica and is the oldest continuous business in Cecil Court.
• Tenderbooks – focuses on contemporary art, fashion, design,e tc
• Tindley & Everett – lots of first editions of 20th century literature
• Travis & Emery Music Bookshop – everything related to music

10. Books for Cooks

Neighborhood: Notting Hill // Instagram: @booksforcookslondon

Books for Cooks is for all you cookbook lovers – a bookstore entirely dedicated to them. I popped in here while in Notting Hill and wound up picking up a book all about salads to try and get some greenery inspiration for the future. Cookbooks are part of how I’m trying to be “be less online.” Instead of looking up a recipe on Google, I want to be able to pull from my cookbook collection and go from there!

11. Bookmarks

Neighborhood: Bloomsbury // Instagram: @bookmarksthesocialistbookshop

Right by the British Museum, Bookmarks is the UK’s largest socialist bookshop and his been around since the 1970s. It stocks a ton of books related to every issue you can imagine from social justice to the environment and beyond.

12. Daunt Books

Neighborhood: Notting Hill // Instagram: @dauntbooks

Oh I fell in love with Daunt Books, especially their Marlyebone location. While they do have a general fiction, non-fiction, etc section, their real appeal is that they split up the rest of their books by destination. I mean – have you heard of anything more up my alley than that? While you’ll get typical travel guides on the upper shelves, the lower shelves are full of fiction and nonfiction reads.

I practically wiped the whole bottom shelf of the Vietnam section, thrilled I both found books I’d had on my list and brand new books I’d never heard of! The only reason I didn’t do the same to the Korea section is because I already owned a lot of them or they were so thick, I knew they wouldn’t fit easily into my suitcase.

Plus – I found the Moon Guides I’m featured in!! That was a really exciting moment!!

13. Foyles

Neighborhood: Holborn // Instagram: @foylesforbooks

Around for over a century, the Foyles in London is the largest bookstore in the UK. This place is massive, and I remember really enjoying their signed author collection.

14. Gay’s the Word

Neighborhood: Bloomsbury // Instagram: @gaysthewordbookshop

Gay’s the Word is another bookshop in Bloomsbury and has the honor of being the UK’s oldest LGTBQ+ bookstore in London! Since its opening in the 1970s, it’s also been a community center for the LGTBQ+ community and has an incredible selection. (I nabbed a signed copy of Chuck Tingle’s Bury Your Gays).

15. Hatchard’s

Neighborhood: Piccadilly // Instagram: @hatchardspiccadilly

If you only have time for one bookstore on your first trip to London, I’d have to recommend Hatchard’s. It’s not only the oldest in the country (since 1797!), it’s rumored to have been Queen Elizabeth’s favorite. It’s five-stories high, so there’s a ton of books to peruse and interior is so nice and cozy. I’m not gonna lie, it took a lot of restraint to not buy everything I wanted to!

16. Heywood Hill

Neighborhood: Mayfair // Instagram: @heywood_hill

I stumbled across Heywood Hill Ltd. because it’s literally right across the street from Maggs (below). Given I was going to Maggs to check out their antique book collection, I thought I’d pop into here too. I specifically wanted to see if they had an John Donne books but sadly they did not! However, of all the bookstores on this list, this is the one I wanted to work at the most. It’s small but chockfull of new, old, and antique books and just seems like such a calm, cozy place to spend your day. I remember chatting with the workers that day as they searched for any Donne, and, I don’t know, I just loved it.

Also a little fun fact, Nancy Mitford of the Mitford sisters lived in this building!

17. Libreria

Neighborhood: Spitalfields // Instagram: @librerialondon

Stopped into this gorgeous little bookshop while in Spitafields! It’s small but whimsical and has such a unique curation of books as well as a fun way of organization. Instead of typical genres, they’ll have sections like “Enchantment for the Disenchanted.” I wound up finding a Vietnamese book to add to my collection.

18. London Review Bookshop

Neighborhood: Bloomsbury // Instagram: @lrbbookshop

Like the name suggests, the London Review Bookshop was, in fact, opened by the London Review of Books back in 2003. It’s quite literally right on the corner by the British Museum and has a small but unique collection. They describe it as intelligent without pomp! I don’t think I wound up getting a book here but I did get what is currently my favorite tote bag. (You can see it in action here)

Sadly the cake shop is now closed!

19. Maggs

Neighborhood: Mayfair // Instagram: @maggsbros

I saw somewhere Maggs had a pretty robust antique and rare books collection. Since I was in London and, ya know, specifically studied British literature through high school and college, I thought I’d see what I could find! The shop is very small and, obviously, I could not afford a single book in there, but it as fun to browse.

20. Oxfam Books

Where: All Over London // Instagram: @oxfambookshops

I’ve run into Oxfam Bookshops quite a few times now as they’re all over London. They’re secondhand charity shops for books, and the deals are as good as you’re imagining. I like going in to see if I can find any authors or more obscure books I’ve been wanting. Plus all proceeds go to Oxfam, which is a group of 21 NGOs focused on alleviating poverty.

21. The Notting Hill Bookshop

Neighborhood: Notting Hill // Instagram: @nottinghillbookshop

Alright, fellow romcom lovers – The Notting Hill Bookshop is, in fact, the real life Travel Book Shop from the movie! (Don’t get fooled by the souvenir store called The Travel Bookshop). It’s absolutely packed with gems and some absurdly cute tote bags I had to stop myself from buying. I will say the aisles are pretty slim, so compared to other bookshops on this list, it’s not the most pleasant to browse. I almost imagine it’s almost always crowded given it’s Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts connection.

22. Skoob Books

Neighborhood: Bloomsbury // Instagram: @skoobbookslondon

If you can’t tell by now, every bookstore on this list located in Bloomsbury is both near the British Museum and under a 10 minute walk from one another. I did, in fact, take advantage of this fact and visit four of them in one afternoon! Skoob was one of them, and if I ever go back, I’m going to need to carve out a few hours just to peruse their giant selection of secondhand books! It’s a little hidden in the Brunswick Centre, so don’t be put off if you don’t see the entrance at first.

23. South Bank Book Market

Neighborhood: South Bank // Instagram: @southbankcentre

Does an outdoor book market belong on a list on bookstores in London? I say, yes only so I can tell you this funny (and only a little pathetic) tale. Back in 2012 when I was visiting London, we wound up at South Bank Book Market.

You see, I was tagging along with some sorority sisters who were visiting their baseball friends studying over in Royal Holloway. The girls wanted to ride the London Eye while the guys had either already been or were going when parents were visiting later. Being on a strict student budget, I opted to wait with the guys and while waiting we discovered this book market happening under Waterloo Bridge.

Now, as an English major in London for the first time, I was delighted as was another English major with extremely nice, floppy hair. Since the London Eye line was long, we had a lot of time to comb over all sorts of used books, and he came away with a giant book of Shakespeare’s completed works.

Anyway, imagining that he would fall in love with me, I volunteered to carry the book in my purse and spent a good part of that day lugging Shakespeare around London. He never did fall in love with me and the only thing I remember about him now is his Prince Charming hair.

That’s all to say, when I ran by the book market ten years later while on a run along the Thames, I was smacked with that memory and vowed to come back here to make a less pathetic one!

The market itself has been around since 1983 and has eight different stalls with all sorts of books, maps, and prints. It’s open daily from 10:00 AM – 7:00 PM and really quite close to the iconic view of Big Ben and Parliament, so it’s very worth coming for a browse. You never know what you’ll find – hopefully not a ginormous Shakespeare book you then have to carry around the city!

24. South Kensington Books

Neighborhood: South Kensington // Instagram: @southkenbooks

After visiting the V&A Museum, pop over to South Kensington Books to peruse their selection. This indie bookshop has been here since the 1940s and has quite a few gems. It’s another one that’s quite small but worth it for browsing. Check their shelf right at the entrance for some really good deals. I picked up a book for about 4£!

25. Walden Books

Neighborhood: Camden

I discovered Walden Books while in Camden because there was a little sign on the sidewalk that said “secondhand books 200m this way.” How could I say no?! (I should also emphasize that it would not be that difficult to trap me in a cult lol).

This place is the kind of cluttered used bookstore you hope to find so you can spend hours exploring every single spine while stifling a sneeze or two from the dust. It almost feels like someone decided to turn the bottom half of their house into a bookstore! Things are tight but there’s a huge section right in front of the shop which is where I found the two books I wanted. Honestly, such a nice find to avoid going into Camden Market itself!

26. Waterstones

Neighborhood: All Over London // Instagram: @waterstones

I feel like Waterstones is the UK’s version of Barnes & Noble. You can always find at least one in every city, and it’s a good place to go if you still can’t find that book you’re looking for but want to avoid ordering or going to Amazon. They’ve got a ton of locations in London but I popped into the one near Covent Garden.

27. W.H. Smith

Where: Airports & Train Stations // Instagram: @whsmithofficial

Okay, hear me out – no, I would not normally recommend W.H. Smith. There are a ton of fantastic bookstores in London – go to them first. But if you’re in one of London’s airports and find yourself wanting to throw hands with whoever runs the British aviation industry, I promise you a 20 minutes in W.H. Smith’s book shops will restore peace and order to your mind. At least it does to mine whenever I have to go through Heathrow. They usually have the latest releases and always will have a buy one, get one half off deal!

7 Bookstores in London still on My List

• The Atlantis Bookshop (Bloomsbury) – cool bookshop for anyone interested in magic
• Book Bar (Finsbury Park)– A book shop meets a wine bar.
• Bookmongers (Brixton) – The main thing I know about this shop is that it has a resident cat named Popeye. It also specializes in secondhand books.
• Foster Books (Chiswick) – Tell me that exterior doesn’t remind you of Honeydukes in Diagon Alley! Go here for rare and out of print books.
• New Beacon Books (Finsbury Park) – first bookshop dedicated to Black authors
• The Second Shelf (Soho)- Rare books about women by women
• Word on the Water (by King’s Cross) – literally a barge floating on Regent’s Canal

And there you have it – a giant list of potential bookstores in London to help you narrow down your own bucket list! Any I’m missing? Let me know below!

For more UK travel, read these next:

• First Time in… London? – A Quick Guide
• Afternoon Tea in London: A Guide
• How Plan a Day Trip to Seven Sisters Cliffs

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