Showing 1-20 of 20 results
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Blackwell's
Once a specialist in academic titles, this has now branched out into travel and other general-interest books.It is still, however, the favourite haunt for those hunting for academic textbooks and it's perfect for anyone starting a new course.
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Blenheim Books
Formerly a gardeners' bookstore, Blenheim now specialises in design, architecture and photography, though its garden section is still extensive.
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Borders
This is one of London's bigger bookshop chains, with five floors of books, magazines and newspapers from around the world, plus CDs, tapes and DVDs.
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Charing Cross Rd
The road with bookstores, including Borders, Foyle's (with the famous Ray's Jazz Shop), Murder One (for thrillers) and Shipley (for art books).
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Daunt Books
An original Edwardian bookshop, with oak panels and gorgeous skylights, Daunt is one of London's loveliest travel bookstores. It has two floors and the ground level is stacked with fiction and non-fiction titles; the lower ground is where to head if you're travel focused.
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Fopp
You don't need to spend a fortune at CD-cum-DVD-cum-bookshop Fopp. In fact, its prices are quite surprisingly reasonable alongside Virgin Megastores and HMV. This flagship store has an extensive range, plus signings and performances by stars. Other London branches can be found at Westbourne Grove and Shaftesbury Avenue.
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Forbidden Planet Megastore
A massive trove of comics, sci-fi, horror and fantasy literature, this is an absolute dream for anyone into Manga comics or off-beat genre titles.
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Foyles
London's best and most legendary bookshop, where you can bet on finding even the most obscure of titles. Music store and lovely café at Ray's Jazz Shop are on the 1st floor.
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Gay's The Word
London's excellent and much-loved gay and lesbian bookshop is on a quiet Bloomsbury street where it gets relatively little walk-by custom. So much so that in 2007 it announced it was to close imminently unless it could raise emergency funds to pay for rising rents and to offset losses created by the internet. At the time of writing its 'sponsor a shelf' campaign had been successful and imminent closure ruled out, but this could change. There's a great range of gay and lesbian books and magazines as well as a real community spirit here - let's hope it survives.
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Gosh!
Draw up here for graphic novels, manga, newspaper-strip collections and children's books like Tin Tin and Asterix. It's also perfect for finding presents for children and teenagers.
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Grant & Cutler
This is London's best-stocked foreign-language bookshop, running the gamut from Arabic to Zulu. However, sometimes staff aren't as knowledgeable as you'd hope in recommending specific books.
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Housmans
Great radical store, which stocks books you won't find anywhere else. Also has a good stationery section. It's worth chatting to the owner here for some unadulterated insights into the area's past and present.
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London Review Bookshop
The bookshop of London Review of Books lit magazine doesn't believe in piles of books, taking the clever approach of stocking wide-ranging titles in one or two copies only. It often hosts high-profile author talks.
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Magma
Books, magazines and more on cool, cutting-edge design. There's a smaller branch in Covent Garden (tel: 7240 8498; 8 Earlham St) which now includes a small design sale shop that is the perfect place for present shopping.
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Murder One
Crime fiction from the likes of Harlan Coben, Carl Hiaasen, Elmore Leonard and Alexander McCall Smith join true crime, Sherlock Holmes and romances (including Mills & Boons), with a (freaky) Sherlock mannequin greeting you from the shop window.
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Stanford's
As a 150-year-old seller of maps, guides and literature, the granddaddy of travel bookstores is a destination in its own right. Ernest Shackleton, David Livingstone, Michael Palin and even Brad Pitt have all popped in here.
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Tracey Neuls
A great-looking shoe shop - with bookshelves full of knick-knacks, and boots, shoes and sandals hanging on strings from the ceiling - this is the place to come for unique footwear. Canadian designer Neuls doesn't really follow the latest fashions, and yet her output is somehow perfectly timely.
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Travel Bookshop
Still known as the bookshop on which Hugh Grant's was modelled in the movie Notting Hill, this is crammed with guidebooks, travel literature and antiquarian gems.
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Waterstone's
The chain's megastore is the biggest bookshop in Europe, boasting knowledgeable staff and regular author readings. This is London's biggest Waterstones, with four floors of titles, a café in the basement and a nice rooftop bar.
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Showing 1-20 of 20 results
