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

This is a reasonably sized branch of W H Smiths, hidden away in the Kings Mall shopping centre in…read moreHammersmith. (There's a very small one in the shopping centre next to the underground station, but that's too small to be of use for anything beyond sweets and newspapers.) This branch has the full range of magazines, with an audio and DVD section, as well as an extensive range of the expected stationery and cards. I fled there after fighting in vain with the excitable 14-year olds in the adjacent Clinton's for a Valentine card for my other half, and here found both better choice and a comparative oasis of calm. The only criticism is that they didn't have enough staff on the tills.

Small but perfectly formed. Not a full selection of the usual WH Smith stuff but a good selection…read moreof chocolate, books and a tiny tiny selection if cards. There is a scribbler if you need stationary or cards so this WH Smirh fills in when you need something as a gift or some chocolate :-)

Books for Amnesty are a small chain of well-stocked secondhand bookshops. Through the sale of…read moredonated books they raise money for Amnesty as well as generating awareness of Amnesty's work and campaign. Hammersmith is home of the London shop, their books are generally in a very good condition and they stock everything from a mix of easy reading and literature, new writers from around the world, foreign language fiction and non-fiction. They have hardbacks and paperbacks ranging from £1-£5, also interesting to check out their eclectic section of collectable books and vinyl records. The large biography section is particularly popular. They receive donations of books, dvds, and vinyl records on a daily basis, which means their stock is constantly renewed with new titles. Also bring any donation you would like to make and contribute to their cause.

Charity bookshops can be a bit hit-and-miss, but this one is excellent: it's well-organised by…read moresubject and they have a big table of particularly interesting or unusual books in the middle, as well as a cabinet of first editions and other higher-value items. Their philosophy and religion sections are quite impressive, with some lovely old copies of the classics for very reasonable prices. And they always pop a bookmark into your purchase on the way out.

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.

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.

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!

When one thinks of Waterstones in London, you can't blame them for thinking of the huge…read moremultiple-floor flagship branch the brand has in Piccadilly, London but there is another branch which is in my opinion equally as good in different ways, and although it might not be as big (who'd expect that for a mall bookstore anyway), this store stands out by adding a better personalised and modern approach. The store has the new Waterstones store format, I am envious of compared to my two local stores in Manchester, it is modern and a beautiful juxtaposition of books which are associated with being a thing of the past by some people, and a modern new layout, for example the store is all glass as you walk in, in a way it makes books seem more approachable and cool to all age groups in a cool, new environment in what surely must be a different concept store for Waterstones, in Westfield London, White City. The staff didn't stand out too much, they seemed to be hanging around at the till compared to around the store offering help, and perhaps advice to customers which for me is the true value of a book-store, we all know bricks and mortar books store charge more, and one of the reasons one pays it is to support the high street and for the personalised approach, such as to chat to the staff, ask for help or book recommendations, sadly the closest thing they had to recommend books there was a personalised note writing about the book, without any major spoilers, which still I feel was not just really nice, but also innovative, making the books more prominent, approachable and stand-out again. For a store of its' size, the selection was good, although it, of course, could have been better. In some ways this store is perhaps better than the flagship main Waterstones branch on Picadilly, albeit in terms of selection and going beyond a book store it still lacks, but this has to be partially expected again as it is located in Europe's largest shopping centre, Westfield London but still this new concept book store is rather cool, and despite some issues with price which are the same at most tangible book stores, and service, I feel a slightly generous four-star rating is in order.

what's not to like?…read more location is great, right on the high street. shop is bright and airy. their staff were really helpful. i was looking to buy an e-reader and had lots of questions! they were most patient with me and clarified most of the doubts i had. price wise, they were offering cash back discount too. they are not as cheap as some electronic stores in the bayswater area but i definitely felt they are more reliable and was therefore more confident buying from them. i guess they have to keep relevant in the ever so electronic world that we live in. the future of books is going the way of music and waterstones is right there with it!

I like this location more as it's more of a mom and pop feel compared to the picadfilly location…read more The people are more helpful and I appreciate the hand written quotes more to describe the diffferent genres. Even though this is smaller there are still tons to look at,

I love this shop! At first when it opened I thought it was a bit unnecessary as there was already…read moreSussex Stationers a few shops up, but this is a different kind of place. As another reviewer has already mentioned, everything in Buy The Book is 70% off, meaning that there are some real bargains to be had! Okay, not every single book on the market is available, but it is generally a decent selection of various categories, enough to make browsing interesting. There are some really good books (and some only a year or two old) to be had for great prices, so it is worth a look especially in the run up to Christmas.

This shop is great. They do all books at 70% off the retail price. The stock books from all…read moredifferent sections from childrens, fiction, non-fiction, travel, hardback and paperback. They might not be the latest titles but at the prices you cannot go wrong. Great for xmas coming up.