Bookshop and café hopping day in London!

Without doubt, one of my favourite things to do in London is to take it easy and make the most of the city’s gorgeous bookshops. London is a haven for any book lover: there are decades-old antique and rare bookshops, comic specialty bookshops, secondhand bookshops and markets, and beyond. And, what I love the most is that all of them have their own sense of self – characterful (literally) and niche-focused shelves.

Phoebe and I had been talking about planning a ‘London book day’, as we coined it, for absolutely ages. We toyed with the idea of shoehorning an Edinburgh version in, if it turned out that we’d need to visit Edinburgh for Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour, but London is far closer.

So, on an otherwise-ordinary Tuesday in August (of course), we each caught trains into the city, armed with large bags and Kindles, ready for our London book day!

We started down at the South Bank Book Market to peruse secondhand books. Tucked under Waterloo Bridge, this open-air used book market has been around since the ‘80s and they always have an incredible selection of books. I was on the hunt for some Le Guin, but was unsuccessful.

Next, we hotfooted it to the Tube to venture up towards Soho to spend more than an hour at the glorious big Foyles on Charing Cross Road. I always love the displays in Foyles, as they encourage you to try books you likely haven’t heard of. Five floors of bookish goodness, beautifully curated and always full of new things to discover. I used to love popping here for a new-book-and-café-stop evening when I worked nearby. I left with three books in tow, and plenty of additions to my Goodreads TBR.

Since book browsing is exhausting work, we wandered across to Blank Street Coffee for an early afternoon pitstop. I was so excited, especially because I haven’t really perused many coffee shops since quitting coffee in November 2022. I can confirm their vegan vanilla Danish is just delicious, especially when chased down by their Shaken Chai Cold Brew.

Refuelled and refreshed, we headed back out into the rare and unabashedly great London sunshine.

Our destination? Well, it was Daunt Books on Marylebone High Street of course.

Daunt Books has long been one of my favourite bookish haunts in London. The travel theme, the famous stained-glass arch window… What’s not to love?

I really do adore the travel theme at Daunt, too. It makes sense, after all, when books transport you to far-flung places. Every time I browse a Daunt Books, I leave feeling full of both reading and travel inspiration. It’s a wonderful place to pick up a bookish gift if loved ones are going away, and also a great place to pick up new titles. Phoebe and I left with a further three books and infamous Daunt Books tote bag each.

After a lengthy Daunt Books session, you can probably guess our next activity.

Another pitstop! This time, we settled on gin-and-tonics at The Marylebone, just up the road from Daunt. I used to frequent this pub when I worked nearby around 10 years ago and it felt nostalgic to return. (Although I certainly don’t drink like I used to!)

Suitably refreshed – and after exchanging all of the Taylor Swift stories – we headed off to Regent’s Canal for an essential visit of Word on the Water, London’s very own book barge. I’ve always adored this swaying bookshop: my train home out of London runs from Kings Cross and so I love wandering here when trains are delayed or cancelled. Word on the Water has an eclectic mix, and a wonderful children’s selection.