I've lived in Bristol all my life and always enjoyed going in BOTL. Although it smells of mould and…read morehas had many of the same books on the shelves for years, the prices are very reasonable and there is a wide selection of material. The owner is always polite and helpful, which made it rather depressing to overhear him enjoying a tediously racist and homophobic conversation today with a friend at the front desk. Once they'd set the world to rights about the perils of representation in media of 'ethnic minorities' and gay people being able to live openly, they went in for trans folk. 'Middle aged men dressed as women' was the sneering phrase. As I paid for my copy of the NRSV Apocrypha, thanked the owner and wished both gentlemen a good day, I thought 'what a shame, I suppose they don't want my type or our money here'. In the interest of balance, I should repeat that this is a lovely little bookshop, and a Bristol classic. Perfect for those who have a soft spot for out-of-date and unloved items

Whenever I go to a second hand book shop, I am reminded of Helen Hanff's philosophy in 84 Charing…read moreCross Road. She believed it was selfish to keep hold of books that you'd read and were unlikely to read again. You were better to pass them on to friends or give them to shops like Beware of the Leopard. So whenever I look through the crates and crates of books I think how fantastic it is people have paid their books forward. It's worth taking your time to search every nook and cranny of this shop to find the hidden gems. Because there's a complete mix of genres in Beware of the Leopard, I love going iin with an open mind and coming out with something completely unexpected. Beware of the Leopard is spread over two sheltered units so don't miss out by forgetting to pop across the walkway.

I do adore bookshops and this one is a real treat for the eyes. There are paper cuttings directing…read moreyou to the fiction section and even free cake offerings! This place is almost my perfect bookshop (more comfy sofas to sink in to please)! I think they even have gigs here which is just a thing of dreams! Can't wait to return to actually purchase something, as last time i got extremely distracted with photographing every corner of it.

Rare and secondhand books are my thing, so I was bound to like it. I didn't know that it would be…read morelove at first sight though. Off the beaten track from the city's main shops, Colston Street is rapidly becoming the new cool, lined with retro boutiques, classy bars and one-off jewellery shops. The perfect location for a super cute second-hand bookshop, with a few other interesting kitsch bits and bobs thrown in for good measure. The space is compact, but I am drawn across the smooth wooden floors by the magnetic appeal of ALL THE BOOKS. For a mish-mash of different subjects (fiction and non-fiction) they're all well organised and some costs just a few quid. I suspect the selection is so good because of the proximity to a. University of Bristol English Literature department and b. University of Bristol Drama department. The quality classics, playtexts and poetry anthologies stand testament to that. The proprietor is too cool for school and is heard to blast out Dylan or Joni Mitchell from his laptop whilst reading and drinking coffee (exactly what I aim to do when I own my second hand bookshop). Saying that, he's enthusiastic and helpful (despite his nonchalant demeanour) and has been known to offer you a free slice of cake with a purchase.

All my life I have greatly enjoyed reading books but almost as much as I enjoy reading them I enjoy…read morefinding them. Never been one to peruse the clean cut aisles of W H Smith or Ottakers for instance, or to click through pages of Amazon - oh no, I prefer the real mc coy. Book shops like this one are a dying race and it's a shame. These books are all pre-loved and you can really feel it; the notes in the margins, the underlining of key points or simply the messages in the inside cover. Avon Books is an old fashioned affair complete with well spoken gent behind the till and a musty smell of ciggies. The stock is mostly on the subjects of war, espionage, natural history and philosophy but you can root out a few gems too. Recently I found the entire Gray's Anatomy for just a quid! Try and beat that.

It was the owner sitting outside having a quiet smoke that made me want to have a look inside this…read moreshop. A proper old bookshop, run by a proper bookish booklover, it's lovely for browsing, and is well organised if you're looking for something specific. I love buying books this way, rather than brand new from shiny big high street bookshops, and Avon Books does a good job of providing a classic library atmosphere to satisfy the old-fashioned among us. True to its local name, it stocks a good section of books about Bristol's history, which I'm sure get picked up by tourists on their way back from the Suspension Bridge. The classics section is large, so students of English Literature, take note: this is a good place to come if you need to stock up on books from your reading list.

There aren't many branches of Foyles, so when you see one, grab a book, take a seat on a very…read morecomfortable chair and wile away a slow day with a cuppa. When the upstairs cafe first opened a few months ago, it felt like a trial, with takeaway cups and little else in the way of snacks. There's now more on offer, and if you're a coffee snob (like me), you can enjoy drinking from a bit of crockery rather than a cardboard tumbler. You would think a bookshop is a bookshop, but I've found books here I haven't seen elsewhere. I confess, most of my books are on my iPad these days, but this is a great place to find giant coffee table books that would look great on the giant, industrial-looking coffee table I wish I owned. Local books are here, too, and there's a space for authors to do talks and book readings, plus a modest gallery. And if you're looking for unique cards and wrapping paper, though sometimes pricey, look no further.

Everything in this shop is gorgeous, including second-hand books, vintage clothes and accessories,…read moreleather-bound notebooks, local postcards. "Booty", with its definition "treasure", is exactly the right name for the place; anything you pick up here feels like a little prize, something you uncovered by happy accident when wandering along this quirky street. This is the sort of shop I remember dreaming about as a teenager, yearning for a shop that would have the ideal combination of brilliant things all in one place. It's a great place to come for gift-shopping, as you're likely to find something far more original and meaningul (and easier on the wallet) here than you would in a conventional, specific "gift shop". The shop is very at home here in this part of Bristol, with a dozen unique small businesses along one stretch leading towards yet more as you start down the Christmas Steps.

Booty! The name says it all - this shop is pretty much like a car boot sale (this particular car…read morewould have a very big boot). There are tonnes of books, vintage jewelery, vintage flick out fans, sunglasses, clothes, leather bound Indiany books, cards, hats, records.. the list goes on, and boy does it go on. You feel like you're transported to many different shops while you're in here. You could be in the aisles of an old library in the book section, and suddenly you're in your grandmother's closet, and a few steps later, you're in a really old school record shop! It makes it feels so fun to shuffle around in here, peering at every item as you go along. A great shop to wander in on a lazy afternoon, when you feel like immersing yourself in some great vintage retail therapy.

Thank you Anna for your help with helping finding books that were autism,diverse and inclusive for…read moremy daughter she is absolutely thrilled my bank account maybe not haha. you were amazing and a absolute asset to the store as Alice really appreciated your help and it made the end of our day she is looking forward to using the book for her art.

Where am I? Where am I going?…read moreWhat shall I do when I get there? Stanfords can help. The place to go when you are going places, Stanfords houses maps of a trillion kinds from sightseeing in Las Vegas to walking in Andalucian hills (check out the staircase down to the lower floor for a huge map of Bristol as wallpaper) as well a wide selection of travel literature including all the Lonely Planet/Rough Guide series. They also handle the OS customised map service here - where you can have a map made of anywhere - say you want your favourite walk but it usually takes two maps to see the whole thing? You can get a customised map of the area you need. Also good to use as a moving-in present as you can get a map centered around your house! They often have authors signing books and talks by travellers and writers in store - David Attenborough is there next week, I'll be the one weeping in the corner too afraid to say anything to him.

The Arnolfini Bookshop is a great find for unusual art and architecture books, off-beat novels and…read morejournals, and niche greetings cards you won't find in conventional high street shops. Most of the products aren't cheap, but being attached to an art gallery that comes as no surprise. On my first visit, I managed to pick up a book of Arabic short stories with English translations for a friend who's studying the language, and some quirky gift postcards I'd never seen in any other card shops. Since then I've been back many times and have found some weirdly entertaining novels and discovered periodicals I never knew existed. It's the sort of shop you could browse around for hours, despite being miniscule - and being part of the Arnolfini art gallery you can enjoy the current art exhibitions on the same visit.

I simply love this small store, which is located on the left inside the main Arnolfini Gallery,…read morejust beyond the central reception. It stocks an amazing array of periodicals, mags and amateur zines that you just can't get anywhere else. I can literally while away hours inside here, looking at all the crazy art that is displayed in these publications from all over the world, including many from cultural hotspots such as New York and San Francisco. There is also a decent selection of art books, from high-brow stuff about the masters to the grimiest urban graffiti and political stuff in cities all over the place. It may be expensive, but there's plenty of great present ideas here, just because it's so different from other stores. Check it out.

I love this place. I really wish waterstones would follow this shops example!…read more The stock usually rotates, but I have found quite a few steals here!!! It used to be the £2 book shop and now the £3 bookshop. But again, that's still a steal. On occasion, they do stock rare editions, but you will probably be in there for a couple of hours before you find one :p

I was out Yelping in town the other day - by which I mean I had to do some chores so I took my…read morecamera with me and took some photos of various shops in the centre, not that I was standing outside the Tesco Metro where the nutters congregate shouting to myself. Anyway, this was all going fairly well and I'd established something of a routine - go to a shop, take a photo, go to the next shop, take another photo - you get the idea. This was all going swimmingly until I got to Smiths. For some reason, after I'd taken a pic, the manager came running out after me and demanded to know what the pic was far. I told her and she insisted that I write down the URL of this site for her to investigate. Out of respect for the privacy of Smiths, I've decided not to upload the pic, though, even without looking at it, I can easily describe it for you instead. It's a Smiths. As for a review of the store. It's a Smiths. I sincerely hope these revelations won't damage this secretive little store too much...

Yes, it's a Smiths, so expect a fairly standardised approach to the printed word, in magazines and…read morenewspapers. However, this place has a special significance for me, as I work for a magazine and it's always with special pride that I trot down to this store to make sure that all the hard work that me and the team put into making it each month wasn't entirely wasted. It's fairly niche, as magazines go, so this is one of the only stockists, and it's on this fact that I recommend this branch, especially now that Borders has been wiped off the face of the earth. Yes, this Smiths has two floors, so it's packed with printed goods. One of the better stores in the chain, for sure.

This places has been few a couple of different makeovers. Previously Zavvi, and before that Virgin…read moreMegastore, it's always been a big city centre record shop where you can get all the usual chart stuff plus a bit more (mostly in virtue of their need to fill all space I think) that's never looked like it's doing all that well. The impact of music downloading and Amazon seems to have continued to eat into the business here, with more and more discounts on offer. At the moment there's racks and racks of four pound CDs. So even if you're tech savy enough (and these days, who isn't?) to get it cheap off the net it's still worth coming down here to do a bit of impulse shopping. It isn't the most pleasant of retail experiences in my opinion. This might just be because the tastes of the staff (who get to put the music on pretty loud here) don't usually match my own. Though it does feel a lot more impersonal than any of Bristol independents. It isn't too oppressive though, and if you're in the city centre with a tenner burning a hole in your pocket then head to Head to see if you can find anything you like.

Sam was on to something when he said 'Doing well to stay open', because they did recentley close. A…read morefew weeks ago they had a massive closing down sale, everything was reduced to quite low prices, and when I went in all they seemed to have was countless copies of rubbish childrens films and Sylvester Stallone in a film called 'Stop or my Mum will shoot'! Sounds pretty bad. But recentley this store has re-opened, nothing is really any different other than a seemingly large re-brand. It's still called 'Head', and they have got rid of the horrible green that could be seen everywhere which I think was a good move. I think the DVD's are a little bit cheaper though.