8 London Bookstores Worth Visiting
The gag is that all bookstores are worth visiting
As I’m sure you all noticed and were devastated by, there was no newsletter last week. This is because I was traveling. While I assured myself that said travels would not pose a threat to the timely publication of this post, I have once again been humbled by my overconfidence and ineptitude. Alas.
I love to travel, or I guess really what I love is being on vacation (something unique to me, surely). Unsurprisingly, travel does not curb my bibliophilia, but encourages it. In the same way that one plans hotel and restaurant reservations for a vacation, I look up bookstores in the cities I’m visiting and save them to a Google map. I also have a rule when I travel, which is if I see an independent bookseller, or even just a non-US chain, I have to go in and browse (twist my arm!)
I take this mania one step further by buying books in foreign bookstores. I could absolutely buy these same books at home, but the cheat code here is buying books and calling them souvenirs. Just write the location and date on the inside cover and boom, you’ll always remember that THIS was the book you couldn’t live without when you were reinventing yourself that summer in Portugal, or whatever.
To bring this missed-newsletter-due-to-travel-also-bookstores-abroad-are-fun thing full circle, London was where I was when I was blissfully ignoring my responsibilities to my readership. But I was doing RESEARCH, ok?!? Real boots-on-the-ground, investigative journalism for you good people by way of this newsletter. Here, I’m documenting the bookstores I visited in London and why, if you should find yourself across the pond, you should visit them, too.
UK-based chains:
Daunt Books (Marylebone):
This one is a must, if for the interior alone. Daunt is a chain of independent bookstores, all of which I’m sure are lovely, but the Marleybone one is the original, and it’s stunning. The shop itself was completed in 1912 and is said to be the home of the first custom-built bookshop in the world.
At this location, I was moved to make two purchases: Penance by Eliza Clark and Art Monsters by Lauren Elkin. I wrote previously about Eliza Clark’s first book, Boy Parts, which I found enthralling and disturbing and loved. I picked up Art Monsters because lately, I’ve really been digging fiction and nonfiction about the art world. Perhaps a post on this coming in the near future…?
Anyway, this place was a dream. I highly recommend stopping in if you’re in the area. Marleybone has great boutiques, restaurants, and shopping, too.
Waterstones (Picadilly):
I’m gonna be honest– I wasn’t wild about this one aesthetically. Was giving a little bit of posh hotel vibes: clean, high ceilings, but devoid of any substance. That said, they had really good recommendation tables with interesting and off-the-beaten-path titles, along with classics.
My personal feeling is that you can tell a lot about the bookstore (and, I guess, the type of clientele) by the recommendation tables. A table full of Colleen Hoover books? Count me TF out. The ideal rec table at a bookstore contains a smattering of books I’ve read and loved, nestled between books I’ve never heard of– this is how you discover the bangers. Waterstones delivered on this. No “as seen on book-tok” tables here, Mary! Also, they had great stationery and offered genre-specific book clubs.
Hatchards (Mayfair):
Hatchards at 187 Picadilly is the oldest bookstore in London, having been in operation since 1797. This place is the real deal, with five stories of wall-to-wall books and booksellers behind the register that look like they stepped out of a storybook themselves. I mean they’re practically wearing costumes, but they know their shit. These people live and die by literature – a legion after my own heart.
The interior is cozy, with patterned carpeting, dark wooden bookshelves, and grand staircases that allow you to gaze upon the books above and below you as you ascend. I talked myself out of a few purchases, but you could easily browse away for a few hours in here. It’s a quiet, welcome escape from the hectic streets of London. A booklover’s dream, really.
Independent, single-location sellers:
Brick Lane Bookshop:
This is one that was not on my list, but saw it and had to go in— my aforementioned rules at work, clearly. It’s in Shoreditch on the famous Brick Lane (duh), and it’s a cool, cramped-but-clean little bookshop in a gritty area. It’s been around since the 70’s and they have a subscription service that sends out new titles monthly to your home.
My recommendation: plan a Sunday morning in Shoreditch. Start with Columbia Road Flower Market (early!), head to Spitalfields for a coffee and breakfast, then hit Brick Lane Bookshop. A banner day, I can confirm.
Word on the Water:
If you only go to one bookstore in London, let this be the one. It’s a bookstore on a boat. Specifically, it’s a bookstore on a Dutch canal boat called Dianti, which dates back to the 1920s. It’s the stuff of your wildest childhood dreams, and it’s so fucking wonderful. The photos don’t do it justice, you have to experience it. They’ll source any book for you, and it’s the perfect place to enjoy a read on a sunny afternoon.
The Notting Hill Bookshop:
Also known as the bookstore that Hugh Grant’s character owned in Notting Hill, the MOVIE!!! I have seen this movie exactly once, and I didn’t even recall that it was about a bookstore, so that played zero role in my wanting to go there, but my London-based colleague filled me in on the backstory.
While this one is slightly annoying because there can be a million tourists taking Instagram photos outside, it really is adorable and quaint and perfect. Also, it’s situated (obviously) in Notting Hill, which is one of the most beautiful, charming neighborhoods I’ve ever seen. You’ll feel like you’re in a movie, too.
Specialty Bookstores
Stanfords Bookshop
Shoutout to my London local friend Tia for taking me here. It was not on my list, but I looooooved this one. It’s a bookstore that specializes in maps, travel guides, globes, and anything/everything related to travel related. It was so excellent and fascinating. Stanfords is one of the leading retailers of physical maps and map data, which are sourced by experts all over the world.
There were so many books I’d never seen or heard of, including tons of esoteric travel topic books. There was even a fiction and nonfiction travel section, as well as a British travel literature section. I picked up a copy of August Blue by Deborah Levy, as I read Hot Milk (incidentally, another book involving travel) by her last year, and it was one of my favorite reads of 2023.
Books for Cooks
The cookbook bookstore! Who doesn’t love to flip through the glossy pages of a cookbook? This place is small but darling and has a cookbook on every type of cuisine you could want. They also host cooking demonstrations, tastings, and cooking classes in their kitchen in the back! Genius, truly.
Obviously, this only scratches the surface of the excellent bookstores in London. Been to any of these? Any major ones I missed? LMK in the comments!
Books of the moment:
✨Heads up! I’m using my Bookshop affiliate link for all titles recommended in this newsletter. If you buy them through these links, I might earn a commission.✨
📖 Currently reading:
Do Everything in the Dark, by Gary Indiana
Anita de Monte Laughs Last by Xochitl Gonzalez (Bookclub pick)
📚Recently finished:
Appallingly, I have not finished a book since my last newsletter– but I am back with a vengeance!!!!! Watch this space!!!!
👉🏼You should read: Barnes & Noble Sets Itself Free
As a Londoner, I need to visit more of these!! Thanks for doing the leg work!
Now I want to go to London