Bookshops of Bloomsbury
Five independent bookshops and the ghosts of the writers who browsed them. Walked and written by the editor. https://walkwalk.org/london/walks/bookshops-of-bloomsbury

1. Persephone Books
A press and shop that reprints forgotten 20th-century women writers, mostly. Every book comes wrapped in the same dove-grey cover with a patterned endpaper chosen to match. It is the most quietly confident shop in London.

2. Skoob Books
Basement secondhand stack, the kind where the shelves go higher than is strictly safe. Everything is 50p–£5. Go with an empty tote and an hour to spare and you will find something you didn't know you wanted.

3. London Review Bookshop
Attached cafe does the best cake in WC1, which on its own would be enough. The fiction selection is opinionated; if a title is on their front table, buy it unread. They're almost always right.

4. Foyles
The Charing Cross flagship is now big-chain bookshop polished, but the top-floor gallery and cafe are the consolation. Go for the architecture and the children's floor, which still feels handmade.

5. Gay's the Word
The oldest LGBTQ+ bookshop in the UK, going since 1979. Small shop, staff who actually know the stock, and a window display that consistently surfaces books you'll kick yourself for having missed.

Bookshops of Bloomsbury