Good bookshops are dangerous places, and Daunt Books is one of the most dangerous of all. You can…read morelose yourself for hours, browsing through the recommendations temptingly laid out on tables. And while you're queuing to pay, there are more temptations on your way to the till - for book junkies this is worse than the sweet counters in supermarkets! Daunt Books is a small chain of independent booksellers with an emphasis on travel and literature. I like the way they curate their shops and always succeed to find a gift here - but not without buying one or two books to keep myself.

A trip to Holland Park is in order when I feel like I want to treat myself to a view of upscale…read morehomes, eat fancy deli foods, and, a recent discovery, peruse the Daunt bookshop outpost tucked into the main drag there. Compared to the Marylebone locale--the only other Daunt that I've visited--this shop is smaller, quainter, and, on my trip, super quiet. Ahh. I found an interesting-looking book, 'Mendelssohn Is on the Roof', quickly bought it and went on my merry way. http://www.nytimes.com/1991/05/05/books/trying-to-murder-a-statue.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm

Visited The Notting Hill Bookshop during our trip to London and we loved the selection of books…read morethey offer. If you love the idea of "blind date with a book", this bookshop offers it and they have a lot to choose from and we were very pleased with the books we ended up getting. The staff is very knowledgeable and friendly. Highly recommend visiting this bookshop.

You won't be the only one trying to snap a photo in front of the store! What I love about this…read moreplace is that the shop is actually cute on the inside and although a popular tourist spot thanks to Julia and Hugh, it's a great bookshop on its own. What I was surprised about was that a number of other book shops have popped up in Notting Hill trying to catch the tourists, but this is the OG.

An adorable little book shop with a really great selection…read more With an abundance of charity shops, including the Oxfam book shop in Ealing Broadway I wondered why the Mrs wanted to come out to West Ealing (very yummy mummy area) to get a book for a relative. This small, but perfectly formed book shop was very open and welcoming. It was the type of place where you felt free to spend ages browsing through it's offerings and not being watched by the creepy owner. It has a very good Fiction and History collection. Lots of less common books by famous authors and interesting titles. I nearly walked out with all the Atwood books he had, but just picked a couple. Books are all in great condition. We found a book for me Mrs Auntie and overall a very successful find.

Awesome I genuinely love working with bookstores and…read moreauthors. There's something special about spaces filled with stories, creativity, and people who truly appreciate books. Even when bookstores are crowded and full of energy, they still carry that classic charm that reminds you of how real bookstores used to feel before everything became generic. Helping bookstores and authors grow through authentic promotion and marketing is something I truly enjoy because every book deserves the right audience and visibility.

Beautiful and charming old bookstore! Three floors with lots of books! Friendly staff! Love…read morevisiting this bookstore!

**Newly opened and currently open til 6pm but they are looking to expand their hours shortly. If…read moreyou're unsure about opening hours and you want to visit, I recommend firing off a tweet to @SECONDHOMELDN ** Popped in to Libreria last night for a quick reconnaissance mission. New independent bookshops aren't exactly ten a penny. It also happened to be World Book Day, I have just realised. It was meant to be. I love how it looks from the outside. Like a portal to another world. You go down Hanbury Street, think you must've missed it and then...suddenly it's there. Stylish black shopfront with a nice inviting glow. This was only a very quick visit but I like how they do things in Libreria. First, I have to note that there was a Riga RP-1 record player with Velvet Underground & Nico on the turntable so...good start. No espresso bar here. No mobiles allowed. Comfy seating and little nooks to sit down and check out a book. Tick tick tick. Sally, Libreria's director, introduced herself to me and explained how things were laid out. Very friendly and helpful. Books are largely organised alphabetically, fiction on the left and nonfic on the right. However, within that, books are clustered into themes or ideas, in order to promote interesting combinations of books nestling next to each other. Great idea. Pure A-Z is so 2015. Also, they have asked celebs to do a mini-curation of their favourite books. Shami Chakrabarti's faves are currently on display. I think the idea is to change everything round every quarter. Events are also gonna happen here. I dutifully added my email to the mailing list on the front desk. Waterstones can do one.

A quaint independent bookstore in the eastern part of London…read more https://prashantmudgal.wordpress.com/2019/08/07/the-cost-of-living/

Oxfam Bookshop specialises in second hand books donated by the public. There is a decent selection…read moreof offer considering the shop's size, from mainstream fiction to humor and gift books at knock down prices. I have managed to get hardback books for as little as £2. The condition of the books varies but all are on good enough condition to make use of and you definitely get value for money. The store's layout is very clear and everything is organised making the books you're looking for easy to find. If you are going to visit the shop I would recommend taking a short cut through the shopping centre to avoid being bugged by the charity chuggers which line the main street on the route to the Oxfam Bookshop.

Buy books cheap and give money to charity…read more Can't argue with that can you. A little Oxfam bookshop just along the road from the Oxfam music shop just behind the Ealing shopping centre. This is a cracking little find with a good collection of first editions and special finds. There must be a lot of globe trotters in Ealing because there's always some really good travel novels and guide books. It's defiantly worth popping in to see what you can find.

I have spent too long now in thrall of the mighty conglomerate that is Borders Books and Music. I…read moreadmit, when I first discovered it in California about 10 years ago, I thought that we would be so lucky if we ever get a book store of this size in England. Now that they are popping up everywhere I find myself increasingly drawn back to the smaller, individual book sellers. Visiting Richmond recently, where I spent my university years, I popped into the Open Book, and was pleased to say that it was quite busy, and still a great place to while away an afternoon. Although the outside of the shop gives you the impression that it is a small book store, it is deceptively big. It rambles back deep into a larger room. There were many books on offer; an indication that all booksellers are all to aware of the cut price competition they face from Borders, and Amazon. Open Book is a long standing resident of Richmond, and has a section devoted to Richmond life, and history. There are also postcards for sale by the front of the shop which are to do with the area, including Richmond Park, and the River Thames. Do stop by when you are next on a search for a good read, you will be glad that you did.

This is long, narrow train carriage of a bookshop on a good little street in Richmond. They pack…read morebooks in like Victoria Beckham packs and David Beckham packs. It's crowded at Open Book, not just on the shelves but on the floor and in piles everywhere. It actually brings quite a bit of charm to the place though, it feels fertile and a land of literature plenty. The selection is really impressive and they do the more mainstream thing of grouping books around few topics. Slightly formulaic perhaps but it's good for present buying and the like. I've always found everyone in here to be quite helpful and the tables with suggestions always feature something that takes my interest. One of the best to go to if you're in the area.

Best bookstore in London for language books (Celtic, German, English, Italian, Spanish, French,…read moreHebrew, Arabic, Ukrainian, Polish, Russian, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Greek, Dutch, etc.!!) and it has a cafe upstairs as well as a huge kids books area.

In 2018, after 115 years of independent bookselling, then-Chairman Christopher Foyle and the Board…read moreof Directors sold the company to Waterstones, with the proviso that the Foyles name must endure. Based on our recent visit, let's now call this place a chain on steroids. I just wonder how much the inevitable Corporate culture has robbed the old independent Foyles of its soul. Gayle and I spend a fair amount of time on various floors and sections. I found a nice Judaica book, a BBC publication for an upcoming PROMS program, and some filing folders. Gayle found a book she was looking for and a gift for back home. It was a fun and good outing, but not a great one. The place was clean and shiny, and with attentive and helpful employees. That's good and sometimes not. And if given more time, I'd would have preferred to be in a dusty independent specialty bookseller.

Great store of a dying art of brick and mortar antiquarian bookstore. It's one of those places…read morewhere you can spend hours browsing.

Close to the entrance gates of Osterley Park is this wonderful and eccentric little second-hand…read morebookshop. The shop's tagline, the shop that has fans, not customers seems very appropriate: the interior is cramped and chaotic, and many of the shelves are lined two-deep with books, making this a place to rummage rather than browse. But that's part of the charm, and also makes it possible to find the odd bargain, hidden away (as I did). They also sell an extensive line of reasonably-priced greetings cards, a selection of small antiques - and their own honey. Eclectic indeed. The staff are helpful in a nice, laid-back sort of way. Eagled-eyed visitors will spot of the unusual design of the building: from 1884 until 1934 this was 'Osterley Park and Spring Grove' station on the District Line, until replaced by the present Osterley station, half a mile away. The bricked-up access to the footbridge can be seen at the back of the shop, and the platforms are still in place.