Explore the UK’s most enchanting bookstores, where stunning architecture and timeless charm make reading a truly unforgettable experience.
With its centuries-old history of literary culture and abundance of gorgeous architecture, it’s no surprise that the United Kingdom has a ton of beautiful bookstores—and here are our picks for the top 15.
Daunt Books – London
Drop into Daunt Books for a taste of classic Edwardian architecture. Best known for its long, skylit gallery and long wooden shelves, the collection here is organized by country, taking readers on a journey through cultures across the globe.
Originally an antiquarian shop built in the early 20th century, it is often called one of London’s most beautiful bookshops and a quiet retreat near Regent’s Park. Alongside its renowned travel section, it offers strong fiction, non-fiction, and children’s lists.
Address: 84 Marylebone High St, London W1U 4QW, United Kingdom
Opening hours:
– Monday to Saturday: 9AM – 7:30PM
– Sunday: 11AM – 6PM
Barter Books – Alnwick, Northumberland
Opened in 1991, Barter Books is a secondhand bookshop housed in a former Victorian railway station, so you can imagine that the interior is both unique and spectacular. The decoration makes the absolute most of the high-ceilinged, spacious architecture with elaborate murals painted above the aged brick walls. Combined with comfy armchairs and literary snippets hung on banners, this shop has a timeless atmosphere.
Barter Books also features two different places to grab a bite: a buffet and an ice cream parlor, and a café selling cakes and coffee in addition to ice cream. Both offer a comfortable space for reading and relaxation.
Address: Alnwick Station, Alnwick NE66 2NP, United Kingdom
Opening hours:
– Monday to Sunday: 9AM – 7PM
– Note: Buffet and café hours may differ.
Word on the Water – London
This isn’t the first time we’ve mentioned this barge-bound bookshop, and no wonder: aside from a floating bookstore being a fun and unique concept, it’s a genuinely good source of books that cares deeply about its customers.
Sailing Regent’s Canal by Granary Square since 2011 and permanently moored since 2015, this 1920s Dutch barge has a cozy interior packed with new and secondhand titles, especially fiction, poetry, and children’s books. It’s also known for hosting live music, poetry readings, and other literary events, creating a bohemian canal-side hangout for London book lovers.
Address: Regent’s Canal Towpath, London N1C 4LW, United Kingdom
Opening hours:
– Monday to Sunday: 12PM – 7PM
Hatchards – London
Founded in 1797, Hatchards on Piccadilly stands as London’s oldest bookshop. With a collection spread across multiple floors, it has pretty much every genre and subject you can think of. It also holds multiple royal warrants, meaning it sells books to the British royal family.
It has an old-world, elegant atmosphere, with up-to-date furnishings belying its years. Backed by stately, historic architecture, it’s a place any book lover would go for.
Address: 187 Piccadilly, London W1J 9LE, United Kingdom
Opening hours:
– Monday to Saturday: 9:30AM – 8PM
– Sunday: 12PM – 6PM
Foyles – London
Foyles on Charing Cross Road is a vast flagship bookstore and London literary landmark, trading on the street since the 1900s. While it used to be infamous for its Guinness World Record of 30 miles of shelves winding across its space, it has since turned around with its new ownership, presenting an organized, light-filled, and spacious layout.
Its multi-level space offers hundreds of thousands of titles across all subjects, plus a decent selection of games, DVDs, and various other items. It also has a café on the top floor, perfect for kicking up your feet after a long reading spree.
Address: 107 Charing Cross Rd, London WC2H 0EB, United Kingdom
Opening hours:
– Monday to Saturday: 9AM – 9PM
– Sunday: 11:30AM – 6PM
Waterstones – Bradford
Housed in a 19th-century Gothic Revival landmark, Waterstones Bradford presents an image both imposing and awe-inspiring. With high ceilings, towering columns, and intricate metalwork over cathedral-like windows, there’s no question that this bookstore is visually impressive, and its on-site café grants visitors an excellent vantage point to admire the historic architecture.
On top of being just generally majestic, this bookstore also offers the expansive selection of fiction, nonfiction, and children’s literature you’d expect from one of the UK’s biggest bookstore chains.
Address: The Wool Exchange, Hustlergate, Bradford BD1 1BL, United Kingdom
Opening hours:
– Monday to Saturday: 9AM – 5:30PM
– Sunday: 10:30AM – 4:30PM
Topping & Company – Bath
This grand independent bookshop stands out with its Neoclassical architecture and outdoor Ionic columns. You’d think it was a former courthouse with its outward appearance, but it actually used to be a Quaker meeting house, complete with gallery walkways. Established in 2007, it is renowned for beautiful wooden bookshelves, rolling library ladders, and an extensive collection.
Visitors are often offered complimentary tea or coffee while browsing, and the shop hosts author events year-round.
Address: York St, Bath BA1 1NG, United Kingdom
Opening hours:
– Monday to Sunday: 8:30AM – 9PM
Leakey’s Bookshop – Inverness, Scotland
Welcome to Scotland’s largest secondhand bookstore. Though established in 1979, it has been housed in an old Gaelic Church since 1993. Though this 17th-century building has been modernized with a smooth, flat ceiling and calming pastel colors, it still retains touches of its historic origins, such as in the stained glass windows high on its walls.
The shop offers an immense collection of secondhand and antiquarian books, maps, and prints spread over two levels connected by a wrought iron, spiral staircase.
Address: Church St, Inverness IV1 1EY, United Kingdom
Opening hours:
– Monday to Sunday: 8:30AM – 9PM
Persephone Books – Bath
Here’s another one from Bath. Persephone Books is an independent publisher and bookshop renowned for reprinting neglected 20th-century works, mostly by women writers. Founded in 1999 by Nicola Beauman, it originally operated from London before relocating entirely to Bath in 2021.
The Bath shop is, in a word, charming, with white walls, shallow arched recesses with posters and bookcases, and shelves showing off its signature gray-covered editions. It emphasizes fiction, diaries, and memoirs, focusing on social history and women’s voices.
Address: 8, Edgar Buildings, Bath BA1 2EE, United Kingdom
Opening hours:
– Monday to Friday: 10AM – 6PM
– Saturday: 11AM – 5PM
– Sunday: Closed
Mr B’s Emporium – Bath
Mr B’s Emporium was established in 2006 and is housed in a restored Georgian building, and while you can see some of its age in the wooden floors, its creative interior design and colorful decoration pop.
Its children’s section is especially appealing, with cut-out animals and a stylized tree that make hanging out and reading a fun experience. It has even been named the UK’s best independent bookstore twice and was listed among the world’s top bookshops by The Guardian in 2015. And no wonder—on top of its unique design, the shop has wonderful, literature-loving staff, staying true to its mission of creating a book-loving community.
Address: 14-15 John St, Bath BA1 2JL, United Kingdom
Opening hours:
– Monday to Saturday: 9:30AM – 5:30PM
– Sunday: 11AM – 5PM
Richard Booth’s Bookshop — Hay-on-Wye, Wales
For anyone familiar with one of the most famous book towns in the world, this bookshop hardly needs an introduction. Richard Booth’s Bookshop in Hay-on-Wye was the driving force behind turning this small rural town into its current status as a veritable kingdom of literature.
Richard Booth opened his first shop in 1962 in the town’s former fire station and later purchased Hay Castle to house his vast collection of secondhand books. It has amassed millions of titles over the years and, to this day, is a must-visit in the famous book town, especially if you’re dropping by for the annual Hay Festival.
Address: 44 Lion St, Hay-on-Wye, Hereford HR3 5AA, United Kingdom
Opening hours:
– Monday to Saturday: 9:30AM – 5:30PM
– Sunday: 11AM – 5PM
The Gently Mad Bookshop – Edinburgh
This family-run independent shop is both a bookbinder and an antiquarian bookseller. It offers a curated selection of antiquarian, secondhand, and rare books, often with a focus on Scottish interest, folklore, natural history, and classic fiction.
It’s an absolute book lover’s dream, packed from floor to ceiling and even along the staircase with books of every genre you can think of. It also holds an authentic bookbinding and restoration workshop, perfect for sprucing up a well-loved volume.
Address: 2 Summer Pl, Edinburgh EH3 5NR, United Kingdom
Opening hours:
– Monday to Sunday: 11AM – 5PM
Blackwell’s Bookshop – Oxford
Blackwell’s Bookshop in Oxford has a subtle, modern beauty, with a clean-cut design that builds on the historic architecture rather than drowning it out. Though it began as a small, 12-foot square shop in the late 1800s, the store quickly expanded to multiple floors and now has many locations across the UK.
Known for its extensive collections catering to Oxford University’s students and scholars, it houses the Norrington Room, the world’s largest single room dedicated to book sales, with over 160,000 books.
Address: 48-51 Broad St, Oxford OX1 3BQ, United Kingdom
Opening hours:
– Monday to Saturday: 9AM – 7PM
– Sunday: 11AM – 5PM
Scarthin Books – Cromford, Derbyshire
Occupying a four-level former family home, Scarthin Books keeps that homey, welcoming atmosphere while still keeping the interior design creative and upbeat. Of note are the many colorful decorations strung across rooms, many of which consist of old sheet music on colored paper. Not to mention the one room lined with sheet music!
The shop offers about 100,000 new, used, and antiquarian books across 12 rooms (give or take). It even features a vegetarian café serving up tea, coffee, cheese scones, pies, and some delicious soups.
Address: The Promenade, Cromford, Matlock DE4 3QF, United Kingdom
Opening hours:
Bookshop
– Monday to Saturday: 9AM – 6PM
– Sunday: 10AM – 6PM
Café
– Monday to Sunday: 10AM – 5PM
– Note: Hot food only served 12PM – 3PM
Topping & Company – Edinburgh
We’re closing out with another Topping & Company Booksellers, this time in Edinburgh. Opened in 2019, it occupies a beautiful historic Georgian building with soaring ceilings and large bay windows.
The shop spreads across three floors with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, rolling library ladders, and space for over 70,000 books. It offers a wide selection of titles, author events, and a welcoming atmosphere that includes, similar to its location in Bath, complimentary tea and coffee.
Address: 2 Blenheim Pl, Edinburgh EH7 5JH, United Kingdom
Opening hours:
– Monday to Sunday: 9AM – 9PM
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K Lou
K. Lou is a writer born in the U.S. who found her way to Japan through a spiritual calling—or, more precisely, better access to tea. She writes about travel, culture, and the occasional creative piece, inspired by her enduring love of books. This love began in high school when K. Lou carried books around to avoid seeming odd while lost in thought. Once she started reading, she never stopped. With zero regrets, she continues to explore the written word and invites others to join her in celebrating its varied forms.
