I love browsing in bookstores! What suggestions in London do you have?
Feb 27th, 2011, 11:10 AM
#1
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I love browsing in bookstores! What suggestions in London do you have?
The most recent thread about this I find in a search is from several years ago...
Last time I was in London, I had a great afternoon browsing through Daunt Bookstore. What other suggestions do you have?
Thanks!
annettetx
Last time I was in London, I had a great afternoon browsing through Daunt Bookstore. What other suggestions do you have?
Thanks!
annettetx
Feb 27th, 2011, 11:21 AM
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When I saw your post, I was planning to recommend Daunt books, which you already know. Then, I thought of Murder One but on checking discovered it closed in 2009, now online only.
Hatchards on Picadilly is good and there's a large Watertone's on Picadilly as well. Both near Fortnum and Mason.
Hatchards on Picadilly is good and there's a large Watertone's on Picadilly as well. Both near Fortnum and Mason.
Feb 27th, 2011, 01:35 PM
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I would always start with Daunts (much to the annoyance of my librarian friend) . the Stanfords. Then Foyles.
I know this is not what you asked for, but it's worth a good look
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008...bestbookshops4
I know this is not what you asked for, but it's worth a good look
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008...bestbookshops4
Feb 27th, 2011, 02:45 PM
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Peter Harrington on Fulham Road is quite high end, but may be worth a shot
http://www.peterharrington.co.uk/
Close to the Gloucester Road tube stop, Slightly Foxed sometimes offers interesting finds.
http://www.foxedbooks.com/
http://www.peterharrington.co.uk/
Close to the Gloucester Road tube stop, Slightly Foxed sometimes offers interesting finds.
http://www.foxedbooks.com/
Feb 27th, 2011, 03:21 PM
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Feb 27th, 2011, 03:30 PM
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If you care for travel book stores, Stanford in Covent Garden's mayhem is a worthwhile option.
http://www.stanfords.co.uk/
In the same category, the Travel Book Shop just off Portobello Road in Notting Hill on Blenheim Crescent isn't too bad either.
http://www.thetravelbookshop.com/
http://www.stanfords.co.uk/
In the same category, the Travel Book Shop just off Portobello Road in Notting Hill on Blenheim Crescent isn't too bad either.
http://www.thetravelbookshop.com/
Feb 27th, 2011, 09:42 PM
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Blackwells is mostly a run of the mill academic bookstore operator.
Its Charing Cross Rd London branch is, IMHO, just another chain bookshop (as, if we're honest, are its branches scattered round Broad St, Oxford these days): its other London branches, attached to universities, mainly sell books associated with curricula. If you're American and live somewhere with decent bookshops, you'll struggle to see what the fuss is about (as you will with Waterstone's and Hatchard's - and once you've been to one of these chains, you'll see there's really little point in visiting one of the others). Foyle's on Charing Cross Rd can be an ill-managed, chaotic, embarrassment to professional retailers and to anyone who like books, though when a number of small indies got hammerd by rents in 2008/9, Foyles gave them shelter. I honestly don't know whether Silver Moon is still there. London (or Oxford) has nothing to hold a candle to Portland's Powells.
The "best" chainstore, BTW, is the Waterstone's on Piccadilly
London's glory remains its quirky small booksops. Ebooks haven't damaged them: Amazon, supermarket discounting and rising rents have. Nonetheless, there are still a dozen or so smaller places along Charing Cross Rd, though there might not be when you're here. Several of the bookstores around Cecil Court, just SE of Leicester Square tube station, still survive.
Elsewhere: the real quirks are remainder/ second hand bookshops. Judd in Marchmont St (very handy to the oft-cited North Sea Fish) stands supreme IMHO - but look at the other Bloomsbury shops listed in the Guardian article cited by sheila, as well as (if you're flush) Collinge & Clarke, next door to North Sea Fish. Also Betram Rota, on the first (as we say) floor of 31 Long Acre in Covent Garden, and John Sandoe off te King's Road in Blacklands Terrace.
Its Charing Cross Rd London branch is, IMHO, just another chain bookshop (as, if we're honest, are its branches scattered round Broad St, Oxford these days): its other London branches, attached to universities, mainly sell books associated with curricula. If you're American and live somewhere with decent bookshops, you'll struggle to see what the fuss is about (as you will with Waterstone's and Hatchard's - and once you've been to one of these chains, you'll see there's really little point in visiting one of the others). Foyle's on Charing Cross Rd can be an ill-managed, chaotic, embarrassment to professional retailers and to anyone who like books, though when a number of small indies got hammerd by rents in 2008/9, Foyles gave them shelter. I honestly don't know whether Silver Moon is still there. London (or Oxford) has nothing to hold a candle to Portland's Powells.
The "best" chainstore, BTW, is the Waterstone's on Piccadilly
London's glory remains its quirky small booksops. Ebooks haven't damaged them: Amazon, supermarket discounting and rising rents have. Nonetheless, there are still a dozen or so smaller places along Charing Cross Rd, though there might not be when you're here. Several of the bookstores around Cecil Court, just SE of Leicester Square tube station, still survive.
Elsewhere: the real quirks are remainder/ second hand bookshops. Judd in Marchmont St (very handy to the oft-cited North Sea Fish) stands supreme IMHO - but look at the other Bloomsbury shops listed in the Guardian article cited by sheila, as well as (if you're flush) Collinge & Clarke, next door to North Sea Fish. Also Betram Rota, on the first (as we say) floor of 31 Long Acre in Covent Garden, and John Sandoe off te King's Road in Blacklands Terrace.
Feb 27th, 2011, 10:46 PM
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Silver Moon closed in 2001. It was one of my favourites, but I checked before I posted. I think they were priced out of the market, then one of the ladies who ran it dies of cancer aged 53.
I am sad enough to have considered going to Portland just to visit Powells.
I am sad enough to have considered going to Portland just to visit Powells.
Feb 28th, 2011, 01:19 PM
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Another vote for Judd Books on Marchmont here.
And if by chance you're fond of esoteric/metaphysical/alternative spirituality type books, I can highly recommend Watkins on Cecil Court (near Trafalgar Square) or Treadwells which has just moved to 33 Store Street (handy to the British Museum, I understand, although I've not yet visited their new shop location).
And if by chance you're fond of esoteric/metaphysical/alternative spirituality type books, I can highly recommend Watkins on Cecil Court (near Trafalgar Square) or Treadwells which has just moved to 33 Store Street (handy to the British Museum, I understand, although I've not yet visited their new shop location).
