Yesterday was the last day of Independent Bookshop Week! Been ordering (and pre-ordering!) from a few indie outlets but there’s nothing like stepping into an actual bookshop. I started profiling a few bookshops local to my home and office a while back but haven’t been able to visit many lately. Mostly due to a mix of lockdown and and the babies but pretty soon I expect to start paying a few visits again. I’m especially looking forward to visiting Round Table Books which I somehow missed the last few times I was in Brixton Village (looong time ago, feels like!) Here are 11 of my favourite independent bookshops in London, no particular order!
A few favourites I posted on previously….
Libreria London – Beautiful, beautiful bookshop from second home. Great events, wide variety of books. Wrote a bit about them here
Books Peckham – A brilliant little secret that I stumbled on by accident, lots of secondhand and some rare books
Chener Books – Lovely place on Lordship Lane Got a great rec from the bookseller for The End We Start From, would never have picked it up otherwise but loved it. Had a chat with the book seller
Some more favourites still to come….
Roundtable books – As mentioned above, I’m excited about visiting this shop. I love good children’s books with Black kids as protagonists and they’ve had some brilliant events in the past. Hope to be able to take the girls to some soon! Brixton Village, 97 Granville Arcade, Coldharbour Ln, London SW9 8PS www.roundtablebooks.co.uk
Second Shelf and Persephone books– Both specialise in books written by women and both gorgeous!
59 Lamb’s Conduit St, Holborn, London WC1N 3NB www.persephonebooks.co.uk; 14 Smith’s Ct, Soho, London W1D 7DW www.thesecondshelf.com
New Beacon Books– First Black owned independent bookshop in London…in the UK (opened 1966) and still going strong! I’ve had this on one my list for a while so hope to make it there soon.
76 Stroud Green Rd, Stroud Green, London N4 3EN www.newbeaconbooks.com
Pages Of Hackney – Would absolutely love to visit, great selection of books. Past events and author signings looked so good! Even over lockdown, they hosted an online event with Paul Mendez
70 Lower Clapton Rd, Lower Clapton, London E5 0RN www.pagesofhackney.co.uk
Herne Hill Books – Loved popping in here if I was at the market or Brockwell Park. Haven’t been in a while, that’s an old photo up top! 289 Railton Rd, Brixton, London SE24 0LY Twitter
Rye Books– Another local one, should have done a profile on this a while ago, been in there often enough! Small but very well stocked. Their online shop is great too
47 N Cross Rd, East Dulwich, London SE22 9ET www.ryebooks.co.uk
Southbank Centre Book Market – Just love this place on a sunny day ;
337-338 Belvedere Rd, South Bank, London SE1 8XT Website
There are so many more I want to visit and profile, could go on for ages but watch this space I will be adding posts! Hopefully more of them will be re-opening after the temporary Covid-19 closures
Which independent bookshops are you looking forward to visiting in your city?
