Since opening in 1998, Persephone – a bookseller and publisher –
has dedicated its shelves to 20th-century literature penned
(mostly) by women. Expect to find historical memoirs, cookbooks and
feminist fiction among works that have been largely forgotten or
under-appreciated by mainstream bookshops. It might be wrong to
judge a book by its cover, but Persephone’s signature grey jackets
and artful endpapers have us smitten. Like this? Visit Soho’s
pink-floored The Second Shelf next.

When Gay’s the Word was opened by socialist activists in 1979, it was the UK’s first bookshop dedicated to LGBTQ+ writing from around the world – and it’s now the last surviving of its kind. It has become something of a literary haven for the queer community, without doubt thanks to its impassioned manager Jim MacSweeney, his knowledgeable staff and the shop’s doubling up as a meeting place for collectives such as TransLondon and the Lesbian Discussion Group.

A tote bag from Daunt Books is the standard uniform for any
bibliophile worth their weight in hardbacks. It has a handful of
locations across London – in Holland Park, Hampstead and Cheapside,
to name a few – but the original Edwardian bookshop on Marylebone
High Street is our favourite. It lays claim to being the world’s
first custom-built bookshop and the travel section is second to
none. Under non-pandemic circumstances, the calendar of events is
particularly good here.

In 1973, Tower Hamlets had no bookshops. Four years on, after a
few successful pop-up stalls, the Tower Hamlets Arts Project opened
in Watney Market, selling locally produced books, prints and
community newspapers. More than 30 years later, it has been reborn
as Brick Lane Bookshop on the eponymous East End street,
specialising in London-based literature alongside fiction,
non-fiction, poetry, travel and more. Its annual Short Story Prize (and the subsequent anthology of
entries) is a great way to discover emerging writers. While you’re
in the area, take the five-minute walk to Libreria in
Spitalfields.

Dulwich Books has a dedicated local following and several awards
under its belt – it has been shortlisted by The British Book Awards
as Independent Bookshop of the Year (BrOOK’s in
Pinner snagged the 2020 prize). The booksellers here really know
their stuff, so do ask for recommendations – several of them are
publishing-industry veterans. If you’re mooching around the area,
try Village Books too.

Perhaps London’s most idiosyncratic purveyor of books, Word on
the Water takes shape as a 1920s Dutch barge floating on Regent’s
Canal. There’ll often be music playing on deck as you creek across
its dark-wood floorboards to find new titles rubbing shoulders with
second-hand reads. Better still, dogs are welcome inside. And even
better than that, it offers a subscription package and pre-loved book boxes.

Headed up by veteran bookseller Tim West, this community-run,
cooperative bookshop and event space opened after Wood Green’s Big
Green Bookshop closed its physical premises in early 2019, leaving
a literary hole in the area. Browse shelves of new fiction,
non-fiction and classics before making tracks to sister shop The
All Good Bookshed in nearby Blue House Yard for second-hand reads.
Buy a share in the shop and you’ll receive a lifetime discount of
10 per cent on all books and events.

Spread across three small, 18th-century shops on the narrow
Blacklands Terrace, a library card’s throw from King’s Road and
Sloane Square, John Sandoe has been peddling page-turners since the
late 50s. Shelves sag under the weight of titles – generally those
of an arts-and-humanities persuasion. Find a cosy window seat or
pull up a stool to have a leaf through between the crooked cases
and knotted floorboards. This is a textbook bookshop.

When John La Rose and Sarah White opened in this publishing house and bookshop in 1966, it was the UK’s first of its kind to specialise in Black British, Caribbean, African, African-American and Asian literature. It closed in early 2017, but reopened a few months later after the volunteer-led New Beacon Development Group launched a successful crowdfunding initiative. It’s never been just a bookshop, however; New Beacon has been a launchpad for many political and social projects such as the Caribbean Artists Movement and European Action for Racial Equality and Social Injustice.

Opened by the London Review of Books magazine in 2003, a
(Rosetta) stone’s throw from the British Museum, this is a place
for bibliophiles to peruse more than 20,000 titles including
classic literature and modern poetry. If you’re of the
insatiable-reader ilk, sign up Diverted Traffic newsletter for a
daily fix of writing from its archive “chosen for its compulsive,
immersive and escapist qualities, and also for its total lack of
references to plague, pandemics or quarantine”.