Leaf through London with 10 bookshops that are bound to please 

Few cities have as lofty a literary legacy as London. The city has been home to some of the most celebrated writers in the English language – from Shakespeare and Dickens to Woolf and TS Eliot. And London has also provided the backdrop for stories that have travelled far beyond its cobbled streets, and deep into readers’ imaginations. 

London’s bookshops continue to be places of quiet refuge – somewhere to step out of the hubbub and adopt a more contemplative pace. Spend time browsing and one thing becomes evident: the ritual of choosing a book in person – of plucking one from a shelf and leafing through – is hard to beat. Ebooks are convenient and online vendors helpful in a pinch but they’re poor substitutes for the scanning of spines and perusing of pages. And now many of London’s independent bookshops are finding ways to go beyond bookselling by acting as publishers, festival hosts or community hubs. From Bermondsey to Broadway Market, this is Monocle’s guide to 10 of the best establishments for bibliophiles. 

Hatchards, St James’s

“But what was she dreaming as she looked into Hatchards’ shop window?” the narrator of Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway asked of its titular character. The answer a century ago was, no doubt, the same as those staring through its curved bay windows today: the dream of finding the perfect book with which to escape from the quotidian. And there are few places better suited to do so.

There’s an opulence about the dark-fronted shop in the middle of Piccadilly’s high street, currently managed by Francis Cleverdon (pictured above). Hatchards has been serving London since the late-18th century, longer than any other bookshop in the capital. From the curving central staircase to the hand-selected fiction and non-fiction subscription services or the frighteningly knowledgeable, well-dressed booksellers, Hatchards’ exudes competence. Chart-topping authors regularly drop in to shop and sign their new titles. Meanwhile, the oft overlooked stock of rare books behind the ground-floor desk and the dedicated top floor hold all manner of pristine first editions from the beloved to the unlikely: perfect for sourcing gifts or acquiring a personal favourite in its original dust jacket.
hatchards.co.uk

Burley Fisher Books, Haggerston

In a landscape where literary sales are dominated by Amazon, Burley Fisher in the creative enclave of Haggerston in east London wears its independence with pride. Founded in 2016 by erstwhile Camden Lock Books colleagues Jason Burley and Sam Fisher, the venture aims to be what the pair have described as a “communitarian” bookshop. Fisher has a deep motivation to promote small publishers – alongside the shop, he operates the independent Peninsula Press. His passion for small presses is evident across the store, starting with the front table covered with stacks of poetry from Bloodaxe Books, queer titles from Cipher Press and translated fiction from Fitzcarraldo Editions. 

Fancy starting your own press? The shop hosts zine-making workshops and has an in-house Risograph printing press for use by earnest, prospective publishers. “You can come in, we talk about what it is that you want to publish, you print it, and then we put it on the shelves,” says Fisher. Those DIY publications fill a dedicated section of the two-floor space, alongside experimental prose, secondhand fiction and a considerable selection of rare photography books. A downstairs basement equipped with a bar hosts book launches with writers such as Olivia Laing and Vladimir Sorokin. Burley Fisher’s collaborations with Arts Council England and the Palestine Festival of Literature entail hosting events in and around Hackney – proof that independent publishing in the right hands is anything but a dying art.
burleyfisherbooks.com

AA Bookshop, Bloomsbury

Occupying the ground floor of a Grade I-listed terraced townhouse in one of the city’s oldest Georgian squares, the AA Bookshop is London’s only literature retailer dedicated exclusively to architecture (following the closure of the RIBA bookshop in 2025). Established by the Architectural Association – one of the UK’s oldest and most influential schools of architecture – the bookshop has become what Andrew Whittaker (pictured below), who has managed the space for more than a decade, describes as “rare resource support” for students, practitioners and designers alike. 

Stocking more than 4,000 titles, of which all but a few are orientated towards the built environment, the shelves offer technical studies and critical texts covering everything from mid-century British modernism and icons of the city’s brutalism to architecture’s most exciting contemporary voices. For collectors, a generous selection of rare titles not commonly available online can be found – aided by donations from the personal collections of the AA’s own members and alumni. Dedicated shelves for architectural editions such as Harvard Design Magazine, alongside theory, art and photography titles round off the offering.

Contemporary practices spark the most curiosity with customers, with works by 6a architects, Níall McLaughlin and the highly influential collective Archigram remaining the most consistently sought-after titles. With events every Wednesday and an in-house publishing team, AA Bookshop is the foremost purveyor of texts on the buildings we spend our lives in and around.
bookshop.aaschool.ac.uk

New Beacon Books, Finsbury Park

In the 1930s, writers and activists CLR James, Alfred Mendes and Albert Gomes founded The Beacon magazine to promote Caribbean literature and art on the world stage. In 1966, after moving from Trinidad to the UK and drawing on his close intellectual engagement with James, John La Rose established New Beacon Books alongside his partner, Sarah White, as well as the first black British publishing house – specifically to “reprint books as a way of making information available to future generations”. Recognising that colonial policy had deliberately withheld knowledge across generations, La Rose envisioned a bookshop as something more: a “liberated space” in which poetry, literature and historical writing from Africa, the Caribbean and the Americas could be accessible to London’s communities.

New Beacon Books is now led by La Rose’s son, Michael (pictured above). In its intimate Finsbury Park home, murals adorn the walls and the welcoming atmosphere invites discussion to flow between the shelves. New Beacon’s in-house press continues to champion independent writers and as it celebrates 60 years, a year-long programme of cultural events marks its heritage. New Beacon is sustained by the goodwill of volunteers and readers guided by the shared principles of its founders. “We aren’t businesspeople,” Michael says. “We are people – activists – in business.” 
newbeaconbooks.com

Libreria, Spitalfields

Perusing a typical bookshop’s alphabetised shelving and successfully discovering your next big obsession can, on occasion, feel nigh-on impossible. But Libreria, found just off Brick Lane, does not seek to be comprehensive in the same way as other stores.

Despite a large, mirrored wall at the shop’s far end that gives a brief impression of infinity (and draws inspiration from the never-ending library in Jorge Luis Borges’ 1941 short story “The Library of Babel”), the shop’s organisation fights back against traditional, formulaic organising principles. “We want to focus on discovery,” shop manager Aaron Hicklin tells Monocle. “And to make you consult yourself a little bit.” Their solution, which has captured buyers’ attention, is shelving titles through slightly more ambiguous categories: Enchantment for the Disenchanted, Bad Feminist and, most recently, Talking Animals. Across Libreria’s distinct yellow shelves you’ll find recognisable classics alongside small-press favourites. 

Founded in 2016 by former Downing Street policymaker Rohan Silva, Libreria sits opposite Silva’s other venture, the bohemian co-working space Second Home. When demand for Libreria’s popular monthly events outgrows the shop’s intimate space, Second Home opens its doors to accommodate – giving the small bookshop the ability to platform authors in a manner that punches well above its physical footprint. As the bookshop turns 10 this year, it’s the youthful London creatives populating Libreria’s reading nooks who still inspire Hicklin. “They’ve renewed my belief that books and reading will always have an audience and a place.”
libreria.io

The Photographers’ Gallery, Soho

The sophisticated counterpart to the renowned Photographers’ Gallery (TPG) is their bookshop on Ramillies Street. Sometimes it’s okay to judge a book by its cover – and TPG knows this well. There is no spine-by-spine reading to be done here. Instead, each title is face out, inviting visitors to pick it up for a flick through. Many of the works in stock are by current and past exhibitors, which turns the shop itself into an archival space of sorts – and an extension of the gallery proper upstairs. 

Like the gallery, the bookshop is open seven days a week and its programme includes talks, workshops and courses. Thanks to its speciality and renown there is a revolving door of photographers who drop by to celebrate new releases, sign books or to find some reading material themselves. There are few other bookshops in London that manage to balance curation in such a way that appeals both to uninitiated first-time visitors and lifelong camera aficionados.
thephotographersgallery.org.uk

Archive Bookstore, Marylebone

On a quiet backstreet in Marylebone there’s a rare retail experience to be had. Stacks of floor-to-ceiling shelving and the smell of dry, aged paper lets you know that you’ve entered Archive Bookstore. Despite seeming as though you’ve stepped into the den of a particularly bookish hoarder, there’s a charm that you certainly won’t find elsewhere on the polished high street. 

“Since the start our customers have ranged from those popping in for a paperback on their lunch hour to the types who will spend hours searching until they find exactly what they want,” Archive Bookstore’s owner, Tim Meaker (pictured above), tells Monocle. He established the shop back in 1979 with his wife Michèle, a bookbinder – and the shop has evolved to become the haven of literature it is today. Featuring stock made up entirely of secondhand books both donated and purchased – and one of the capital’s most significant archives of sheet music, which accompanies a baby grand piano downstairs that is open to be played by customers – there’s a guarantee that you’ll come away with something unexpected. This is a bookshop for sourcing a wildcard.
archivebookstore.co.uk

Pages of Hackney, Hackney

Ask any bibliophile what separates indie bookshops from the chains and the answer is almost always the same: the relationship with those behind the counter. Pages of Hackney on Lower Clapton Road is no different. “We get to know our regulars really well and they quickly become our friends,” says Jo Heygate, who has managed the shop for 12 years. Founded by Eleanor Lowenthal in 2008, when championing writers from the global majority was less common in high-street bookshops, Pages of Hackney has spent the better part of two decades adhering to the principle that its “stock should reflect the community it serves”. 

The latest staff recommendations are proudly displayed behind the till, where a list of more than 10 choices from each of the five members of the Pages of Hackney team – Eleanor, Jo, Ollie, Seb and Beth – change with new releases and older discoveries. The political and social justice section, now the shop’s best-selling category after literary fiction, commands a substantial share of the inventory. 

Downstairs, lovers of marginalia can explore a sizeable second-hand collection housing 1960s Penguin crime classics and a trove of vintage art books in the same intimate basement space that hosts Q&As and author events. A book club even gathers at the owner’s home twice a month: a reminder that, for Pages of Hackney, the community extends well beyond the shop floor.
pagesofhackney.co.uk

Artwords, Hackney

Artwords’ quaint exterior on the corner of Broadway Market beckons marketgoers away from the food stalls and into its hub for contemporary visual culture: specialising in design, fashion, film and photography. “Our shelves follow the zeitgeist,” says Jess Young, the shop’s co-director and shop manager. “They’re constantly in flux.” The selection – currently – includes wide ranges of monographs with spotlights on directors and photographers such as David Lynch and Helmut Newton, as well as critical essay collections exploring the shifting language of visual culture over the past century. From the thoughtfully designed covers of literary fiction and cookbooks to independent magazines, much of the stock is chosen, as Young describes it, for being “beautiful things”. 

Artwords’ founder, Ben Hillwood-Harris, opened its first location on a small site on Rivington Street in Shoreditch in 2001 before moving to Broadway Market. Today, however, the shop boasts another East London outpost: the Clarence Road store opened last year and has a more conventional appeal in terms of stock – but prioritises that same ability to adapt thanks to the modular timber shelving throughout. 

“We’re open to all. You don’t have to be ‘in the know’ to peruse our shelves,” Young adds. But when a weekend visit flaunts a full house of engrossed readers, it’s clear that Artwords has earned a following among those who are.
artwords.co.uk

Morocco Bound, Bermondsey

Morocco Bound in Bermondsey is the perfect all-rounder. Equal parts shop, bar and arts venue, the space is adaptable to suit all manner of visits – from a weekend drop-in to browse the shelves after a long lunch on Bermondsey Street to an evening’s drinks perched on its outdoor seating. 

Being smaller than most bookshops, the team is forced to be selective – of both books and beverages – which has turned into a strength. Approximately 500 titles across genres feature on the shelves and its craft beers are sourced from Bianca Road Brew Co on the fêted Bermondsey Beer Mile: a staple of the area’s nightlife and within walking distance of the shop. “It’s not the case that we’re a bookshop first or a bar first,” Soniya Ganvir, one of the shop’s co-owners, tells Monocle. “We’re very much both. Our list of titles is as curated as our wine list.”

The team of five enthusiastic young partners who co-own the shop each handle different facets of the business alongside their own creative endeavours – prioritising small-press works and independent magazines. But the spotlight on lesser-known artists doesn’t stop at the stock on the shelves. Every night of the week the team stages in-store events; jazz nights, acoustic gigs, poetry readings and stand-up comedy are peppered across sold-out weekly schedules. “Everyone that works here has such a genuine passion for the arts,” co-owner Cahal Bakaya says, “and being so invested in our respective scenes helps deliver better programming of events for the shop.” While an accomplished bookshop on the surface, between the pages it’s clear that an evolution is happening: the transition from retailer into a crucial community arts hub.
moroccobound.co.uk

Further reading?
– New York’s 10 best lesser-known bookshops
– Monocle’s full guide to London