The best places to read books in London

During colder months, Daunt Books' Marylebone branch and its quaint, traditional travel section is the perfect spot to hide out until the sunshine returns. While there is an excellent selection of guide books, maps and travelogues for you to choose from, many people come just for the beautiful back room with its oak balconies, viridian-green walls and stained-glass window.

For more than 10 years, Pages of Hackney has been running an award-winning bookshop, and it’s always strived to do two things: connect the wider community through a love of books, and champion marginalised voices in the literary world. Aside from its vintage books collection (and floating record shop), it runs a monthly book group and author events around a particular theme.

For 40 years, Gay’s the Word has brought LGBTQ+ literature to London, providing a place for community and for people to see themselves reflected in a world that wasn’t yet accepting. As well as operating as a bookshop, it also runs events with authors doing readings, signings and celebrations of voices and imagery within the LGBTQ+ world.

There are several library bars in London, whether that’s the fancy tomes at The Malt Whisky Library in Bloomsbury or fantasy world of The Fable in Holborn. But the arguably prettiest addition to the group is Teatulia, a teashop in Covent Garden that serves tea-based cocktails while you browse its Living Book Shelf, regularly curated and updated by actors, writers and musicians.

The Riff Raff was set up by ‘lovely humans’ Amy Baker and Rosy Edwards and hits the motherload for book lovers. Not only does this writer's community run mentoring schemes for aspiring writers, but it also hosts events where debut authors read from their books and offer advice on how to get published. Even if you aren’t a writer, it’s a brilliant space to hang out with people who are as nerdy about books as you are.

BBG has been going for years. Every month, the group meets in a pub in Brixton to discuss a book and you can ‘pitch’ your selection for the following month. It’s informal with a relaxed vibe and never takes itself too seriously. The range of books is great too, from science fiction to the classics.

On the last Tuesday of every month, members meet to discuss the chosen book. You sign up for a monthly £15 membership, which includes a voucher to pay for the book, as well as a cocktail in a secret location. Members have said that it has improved their reading habits by over 60 percent: much better than a solo mission on a Kindle.

Let’s start with the fact that this shop looks like something from a literary fever-dream: undulating wall-to-ceiling shelves packed with books. Then let’s move on to the fact that rather than just ‘fiction’ or ‘self-help’, sections are labelled under words like ‘enchantment for the disenchanted’. Libreria runs monthly book-related events, as well as subscriptions where every month you get a hand-picked book. There’s even a risograph press in the basement that produces zines, books and cards if you fancy creating something papery yourself.