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400 Kingsland Road, E8 4AA, London

Burley Fisher books in Kingsland Road is just past Dalston heading towards Shoreditch and you won’t be surprised to hear that it is one of the coolest independent bookshops we’ve seen on our travels. It’s got a bit of everything in it. There’s a little coffee shop in the back and it has a downstairs exhibition space with a list of pages and theses writers have created to put out connected ideas – the first word on the page links to the last word on the previous one – it’s not unlike the recent Christian Marclay exhibition at the Tate – ‘The Clock.’ Antony is one of the people running the bookshop, though they have two full time guys working there and a collection of other people, too. It was welcoming and friendly – certainly 100% less threatening than some of the other ones we’ve been to (not on this site!) who really have a slightly closed view about books, so we really felt positive about this one. They advertised many events at the shop, with many different writers in attendance including authors like Ben Okri. It was delightful to see a bookshop like that one that covered every area of social, political and general cutting edge fiction. If you love books and reading as well as a place that generates tons of ideas, you aren’t leaving this one for at least an hour after arriving!

Contact details

Address: 400 Kingsland Road, London E8 4AA
Phone number: 020 7249 2263
Website: burleyfisherbooks.com
Email: shop@burleyfisherbooks.com
Facebook: @BurleyFisher
Twitter: @BurleyFisher; @brokensleep
Nearest tube station: Haggerston, Dalston Junction (overground)
Buses: 149, 242 (Middleton Road stop)

6 Broadway, Broadway Market, Shoreditch, E8 4QJ

Broadway Bookshop is a fabulous little bookshop in Broadway Market, London Fields, between Haggerston and Shoreditch, specialising in literary fiction alongside a variety of non-fiction – mainly art, philosophy and politics – and it also has an impressive children’s selection. We spoke to Tom and Ilona who were both keen to establish connections with independent publishers and welcomed us with open arms, genuinely keen to receive a catalogue of our titles. They were making inroads into connecting with the local community with local events and a welcoming atmosphere. They were clearly both avid readers and more than ready to offer suggestions for subject areas that the casual reader might be interested in, offering many idiosyncratic titles and subjects.

Nothing seemed too much trouble, and the visit proved a lot more rewarding than a simple wander round a website. The shop was a cornucopia of modern fiction and offbeat new material, with the staff going out of their way to find titles the locals are looking for. The window display and layout of the shop is a reason in itself to visit – it is a serious challenge not to be drawn in for a long look around, so allow time for your stop over. Visitors were often people returning to collect books they had ordered and were returning to collect. We were only at the shop for twenty minutes but there must have been fifteen visitors in that time, all buying something. A tiny bookshop but with a well used space, it’s next to Regents Canal with the Market Café alongside and a couple of comfy looking local pubs in a pedestrianised zone, so all round definitely worth a trip out to.

Contact details

Address: 6 Broadway, Broadway Market, Shoreditch, E8 4QJ
Tube: Bethnal Green (central line), Haggerston (Overground)
Phone: 020 7241 1626
Website: broadwaybookshophackney.com
Closes: 6pm
Facebook: @thebbookshop
Buses: 26, 48, 55

59 Ebury Street, London, SW1W 0NZ

The window display is the first thing that draws you in towards this elaborate independent bookshop, but then your eye takes in a sign for Gallic Books. This is a publishing company based in the back rooms of the bookshop, and wholly-owned by Belgravia Books. Gallic’s books are sold in the shop along with a choice range of titles. Apparently espionage and thrillers are very popular in their locality. Didn’t Lord Lucan live around the corner?

The displays are attractive, engaging and informative with enthusiastic recommendations on cards placed over or next to the books. This bookshop positively welcomes works for new publishers despite, or perhaps because, they are one themselves. The hand written précis reviews draw the visitor in and seem to encourage spontaneous purchasing of, perhaps, previously unknown authors or titles. What is a good day for them? They have customers who come in once or twice a year and can spend up to £1,000 on books. The shop is located in a fairly residential area so it has become a destination bookshop. People seek it out. And its welcoming ambiance clearly makes such a journey worthwhile.

The shop has evening events such as author talks and readings that regularly attract up to 70 people, and there’s the late night opening on a Thursday for those ambitious customers who have just flown in from Ouagadougou en route to Rio. It enjoys an elite footfall but it is deserved as the welcome could not be warmer.

Contact details

Address: 59 Ebury Street, London, SW1W 0NZ
Phone number: 020 7259 9336
Website: belgraviabooks.com
Email: enquiries@belgraviabooks.com
Facebook: @gallicbooks
Twitter: @belgraviab
Instagram @belgraviab
Nearest tube station: Victoria Station
Buses: 2, 11, 13, 16, 24, 36, 38, 44, 52, 148, 170, 185, 211, 390, 507, C1, C10

60 Church Road, Barnes, SW13 0DQ

If you are looking for a bookshop that is embedded in its local community, look no further than this well-run shop. It’s been around for 35 years and our contact there, Sarah, told us that its origins are in children’s literature. Their nearby sister shop that offered children’s toys, games and outfits had recently closed, so they had subsequently widened what’s on sale to reflect this traditional demand, and successfully redress the slight drop in local visitors.

The area has a very wide community of people, with many children and locals schools, but though the many shops are universally excellent and bespoke, there is generally limited specialisms, so each has to provide an appealing and yet catch all service to be successful – quite a tricky ask in the modern retail world. To this day, the bookshop organizes the Barnes Children’s literature festival (in midMay, www.barneskidslitfest.com @bclf2019) with a range of big names and local sponsors.

Fittingly, the window display features children’s books and greeting cards. The display also makes clear it sells toys and stationery as well as books. Despite its initial alluring atmosphere of sleepy comfort, Barnes has quite a pull on tourists, particularly those interested in record and film, with Olympic Studios across the road, the venue for recordings from the 1960’s by the Rolling Stones, the Beatles and Jimi Hendrix and later by Madonna and Björk, the venue opened to the public in 2013, expanding its premises to house its own local arts cinema and excellent café and dining room. Just across the road in the bookshop, you can use the wicker chairs to peruse a potential purchase, as many were doing on our visit, and people watch with each page turn.

There’s a plentiful range of new and specialist titles throughout the shop in most genres, but particularly children’s literature, fiction and local interest. Birdwatching London was on prominent display when we visited, perfect for this corner of London. The store employees expressed genuine interest in new publishers and new writers, and had displays and selections to match such a focus.

They were interested in independent publishers and sold books by local writers along with material of local interest, and were clearly working at a local as well as national level in all their endeavours. The bookshop has a welcoming gentle weekend ambience, at one with the whole Barnes’ feel, underpinned by a genuine love of writing across all genres.

Contact details

Address: 60 Church Road, Barnes, SW13 0DQ
Phone number: 020 8741 0786
Website: www.barnesbookshop.co.uk
Email: books@barnesbookshop.com
Weekday opening hours: 09.30 – 17.30
Facebook: @barnesbookshop
Twitter: @barnesbookshop
Nearest tube station: Barnes, Barnes Bridge (overground from Waterloo, Putney, Vauxhall and Clapham Junction)
Buses: 33, 72, 209, 283, 419, 485