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159 High Street, Stoke Newington, N16 0NY

The Stoke Newington Bookshop at 159 High Street, Stoke Newington is run by Jo, a meticulously precise captain of this well-run literary corner of an otherwise barren high street. They were winners of the LBC/Independent Newspaper Best Bookshop in London in 2004 and a finalist in the Nibbie Best Independent Bookshop in 2006.

These days the advantage of its artistically oasis-like status is immediately borne out by the number of people in the shop. The main inventive window display was devoted to children’s books, though the fiction section was well-stocked and suitably idiosyncratic and oddball for local enquiring minds after an original read. At the time of our visit, novelist Amanda Craig was about to give a talk on her recent book ‘Hearts and Minds’, which was long-listed for the Bailey’s Prize for Women’s Fiction, and with Jane Harris and Lara Feigel in the offing, it is understandable just why this shop has community status as the place to get to meet successful modern writers.

The website, which has a 3D viewer of the shop to entice interested parties, also name checks and event lists other local events from Stoke Newington Library. But it’s not just worth a visit for its fiction section – art, local history and philosophy are also given prominent pride of place on display in this thoughtfully and clearly cherished and choreographed bookshop. The children’s toys and books shop is just a few doors away if the kids fancy the manual rather than the visual.

Contact details

Address: 159 High Street, Stoke Newington, N16 0NY
Phone number: 020 7249 2808
Website: stokenewingtonbookshop.co.uk
Email: staff@stokenewingtonbookshop.co.uk
Weekday opening hours: 9.30 – 18.00 (also Sundays 11.00 – 17.00)
Facebook: @stokenewingtonbookshop
Twitter: @stokeybookshop
Nearest tube station: Hackney Downs (overground – 24 minute walk)
Buses: 67, 73, 76, 149, 243, 276, 393, 476

22 Thurloe Street, London, SW7 2LT

This bookshop offers a motivational and thoughtful take on the business of selling books which runs centrally to understanding the needs and proclivities of those opting for a few minutes wander round the shop. Virtually next door to South Kensington tube station, it is easy to find and worth a few minutes of your day whenever you’re in the area. With such a prominent position, the footfall is guaranteed, but ephemeral, so the window display and vestibule area of the shop offers clear and focused information destined to take you to the shelves where your choice of preferred and stimulating reading matter abides. The bookfront promises a focus on ‘Art, History, Travel and Literature,’ but their main focus has recently turned from history to fiction, as Dave and Charlotte both explained to us.

If they like independent publishers they are always prepared to give them exposure at the front of the shop – it is truly an independent bookshop – though the latest bestselling writers like Ian McEwan are also in evidence. They have an informative stand outside the shop, which changes each week to lure the would-be bibliophile in with the latest books on offer. The latest children’s books had a decent share of the window display with books about London and a comprehensive selection of the latest fiction titles. A very friendly and welcoming atmosphere is immediately obvious – as we found – no request is too obscure or difficult to find. It is a shop that offers the kind of interest and service for the customer that you might associate with a more parochial and out of the way bookshop, providing a refreshing visit for the title hunter, and open on Sundays until 7pm.

Contact details

Address: 22 Thurloe Street, London, SW7 2LT
Phone number: 020 7589 2916
Website: kensingtonbooks.co.uk
Email: southkensingtonbookshop@hotmail.co.uk
Weekday opening hours: 10.00 – 20.00 (also Sundays 12.00 – 19.00)
Facebook: @southkensingtonbooks
Twitter: @southkenbooks
Nearest tube station: South Kensington
Buses: 14, 49, 70, 74, 345, 360, 414, 430, C1

375 Upper Richmond Road, East Sheen, SW14 7NX

This is the sister shop of Kew Books (just by Kew Gardens station) and it’s the quieter sister or remote cousin. Parking is an issue, but easily circumvented via a quick visit to Waitrose opposite where you can purchase a kumquat or two and two hours free parking is yours. Then you can pop back over the road for some brain food. There are well-stocked sections of books for children and teenagers, and they like themed weeks. Most recently, a theme of Japanese books prompted much interest.

We like to be proactive, we are told. There are probing recommendations for the curious and adventurous reader. If this is you, then you are certain to welcome that kind of approach. There is an excellent collection of the classics. Sarah was on shift for our visit and proved very engaged with the ethos of an active, community bookshop along with all due deference to their bigger sister in Kew. A quiet, rewarding bookshop.

Contact details

Address: 375 Upper Richmond Road, East Sheen, SW14 7NX
Phone number: 020 8876 1717
Website: hewsonbooks.co.uk
Email: sheen@hewsonbooks.co.uk
Weekday opening hours: Monday – Saturday 9.30 – 5.30; Sunday 11.00 – 5.00
Facebook: @SheenBookshop
Nearest station: Mortlake (overground)
Buses: 33, 337, 493, 969

207-209 Kentish Town Road, Kentish Town, London NW5 2JU

Owl Bookshop in Kentish Town Road first grabbed our attention for its many impressive talks and events. They also have a child-centred focus, offering a Sunday children’s reading at 11.30, where anything from one to eleven kids might turn up – but even if it’s only one, the lucky so-and-so will get a personalised reading all to themselves.
The shop has a dedicated Oyster card, necessary because they deliver books to local schools of which there are 10. Staff will carry orders on the local bus (if it’s too far to walk) and deliver them personally – a remarkable service in any age of bookshops, but especially now. The shop is in regular contact with all of these schools and many children from five to eighteen come to the shop on a regular basis, remarkable in days when young people are often accused of being more interested in their phones than reading books.
A special day for the staff was described as being one when children come round and actually buy books themselves without an adult in sight – one recently bought the Chronicles of Narnia and read them from beginning to end, returning with updates every so often.
The excellent connections with local schools are augmented by connections on Facebook and Twitter where the shop offers recommendations. If there is an age focus it tends to be the 60-plus and pre-teens audience. There was a regular footfall while we were there, even though there was only one member of staff in the shop. She was very busy at the till even though it was mid-morning on a school day. She spent a lot of time with a lady reader shopper who must have been around 80 years old, answering her questions with enthusiasm and dedicated patience.
The shop itself has been around since the 70s and is crammed with different kind of books, with the main content focus on children’s books, general fiction and politics. There is a dedicated children’s area of the shop which felt very welcoming, but not scrubbed so no one felt they could sit down or relax there. Their relationship with local schools is unique as the schools contact them and order direct rather than going to other places or ordering through Amazon – the relationships are sustained by that personal touch. For adults, as we found, currently everything seemed to be focusing on Brexit – there were lots of political books of all persuasions in a way that we had not seen for a while. The strong political element was also clear as the shop is in a Labour area in Camden. There were lots of books about Corbyn and Brexit and the current developing dystopian view of the world. Quite worrying in some ways – but good to see that it seems to be encouraging the enquiring minds of local readers.
The Owl Bookshop couldn’t have been more receptive in talking with us about their role in the community – it is clearly on many levels a very successful independent bookshop.

In terms of the people that do talks and events, Melissa Harrison (‘All Among The Barley’) was appearing that week. The shop does charge for their talks and events to cover costs, but £5 didn’t seem particularly excessive for the offering of direct contact with well-known and loved writers. The events tend to be 6.30 for a 7pm start, with the odd glass of wine thrown in, or probably passed to you gently, and the events seem to be very well attended from what we could see. They tend to get generally between 50 and 70 people. Some of the other events are free, some are £3 and some £5.
They offer a loyalty scheme where you get £5 for every time you spend £100 at the shop. They retain a list of books that people have bought so they can ask if they’ve already got the book if they can’t remember whether they’ve bought it before. I’ve never heard of a service like that, though I confess I have sometimes suddenly felt a desire to read something only to discover I had bought it two years ago and not yet got round to reading it (another example of focusing on the over-60s…) Online membership of the shop means you will always get information about forthcoming events in plenty of time to plan attending them. Their list of local regular readers and shoppers is at over 300 people so they don’t have to work nearly as hard to get people in there, and can take advantage of their immediate population. The great news I discovered before leaving was that Howard Jacobson will be doing an event on 29th July 2019 to publicise and talk about his new London-based novel, ‘Live a Little’.

Contact details

Address: 207-209 Kentish Town Road, Kentish Town, London NW5 2JU
Phone number: 020 7485 7793
Website: www.owlbookshop.co.uk
Email: enquiries@owlbookshop.co.uk
Opening hours: Mon-Sat 9:00am – 6:00pm; Sundays, Bank Hols 11:00am – 6:00pm
Facebook: @owlbooks
Twitter: @OwlBookshop
Nearest tube station: Kentish Town, Kentish Town West (overground)
Buses: 46, 88, 134, 214, 393

781 Fulham Road, SW6

A deliciously idiosyncratic bookshop on the Fulham Road, close to Parsons Green tube on the district line. Pauline is one of the part time staff, an ex-librarian who knows just about everything there is to know about books, and someone who has contributed fully to the life of this Anglo-French emporium. The first thing you may encounter is the reception bell by the main desk, if it is not staffed. On this occasion Pauline was deep in the catacombs of the shop through two other rooms, but soon emerged when she heard the politely tapped summons.

The woman who runs the shop and has done for many years is Aude Bolechala, a French woman, who has made the shelves access literature in both French and English, both children’s and adults. Aude likes ‘edgy fiction’ which accounts for the generous and multifarious display of fictional subject matter. The shop is bright with large windows, opposite a Parisian Estate Agents (Breteuil) and the feel of this section of Fulham Road if you’ve never passed through it, is very much of the Gallic dominion. This is reflected in the classy spaciousness of the displays and the subtle omniscient colours around the shelves and units.

There is a monthly bookclub, always oiled with a decent selection of wines. The Lycée Français Ecole Marie D’Orliac is close by, but the selection, whilst embracing the French oeuvre, is fully supportive of modern English literature and the classics, and particularly vibrant in its children’s book section. It was shortlisted for the Individual Bookseller Of The Year prize for 2019, which was sponsored by Harper Collins and hosted at the Grosvenor House Hotel on Monday 13th May, but narrowly beaten by Waterstones. The reach of the place was such that when I decamped to the coffee shop further up the road, two women were discussing their afternoon, and one said, “We mustn’t forget Nomad. I always like to reserve an hour for browsing there or the afternoon never feels complete.”

Contact details

Address: 781 Fulham Road, SW6
Phone number: 020 7736 4000
Website: nomadbooks.co.uk
Email: info@nomadbooks.co.uk
Instagram: @nomad_books
Twitter: @nomadbooks
Nearest tube station: Parsons Green
Buses: 14, 414, 424