London’s best and most beautiful libraries

Standing on the busy intersection outside Bethnal Green tube, you might think you've stumbled across an out-of-place stately home in the middle of east London. The gorgeous building is actually the home of Bethnal Green Library, which has been serving up reading material to the good people of east London since 1922. Today, it boasts a fully-stocked library of treasures for both adults and children, as well as two hireable rooms for up to 100 people each, for any bookworms planning a literary wedding. 

Cambridge Heath Road, E2 0HL. Open Monday-Wednesday 10am-6pm, Thursday 10am-8pm, Saturday 9am-5pm, closed Sunday.

How to join: Turn up at the library with a form of photo ID and a bill sent to your home address within the last three months.

This dramatic bronzed hexagonal monolith is one of the newer arrivals on London's library scene, but it's quickly grown in popularity over its decade in action, with visitors lured in by its sensuously curved interiors and its gorgeous views over the water. As well as tons of books, DVDs and CDs for your lending pleasure, it also boasts live music, theatre, author events and writing groups in its culture space, plus areas to study in and rooms you can hire for meetings.

21 Surrey Quays Road, SE16 7AR. Open Monday-Friday 8am-8pm, Saturday 9am-5pm, Sunday 12noon-4pm.

How to join: Turn up at the library with a form of photo ID and a bill sent to your home address within the last three months.

This public library was the final building designed by English architect E Vincent Harris, who also built the damn fine-looking Manchester Central Library, among many other civic beauties. With nearly 50 years' worth of experience behind him when the project began in 1958, it’s no surprise his swansong is such a stunner. Its authoritative pillars aren’t the only eye candy to be found here, though. Head outside to the south of the building and you’ll find sculptures of a lion and a unicorn, created by Scottish artist William McMillan.

12 Phillimore Walk, W8 7RX. Open Monday, Tuesday and Thursday 9.30am-8pm, Wednesday 10am-5pm, Friday and Saturday 9.30am-5pm, closed Sunday.

How to join: Turn up at the library with a form of photo ID and a bill sent to your home address within the last three months.

Bill Bryson, Sebastian Faulks, Joanne Trollope: nope, not this year’s Man Booker shortlistees, but a rundown of famous writers who are all members of The London Library. It’s the Shoreditch House of book stacks: you pay a subscription fee (around £575 per year), but you don’t have to talk to anyone. It’s no new endeavour, though – the library was founded by Scottish essayist Thomas Carlyle in 1841 as a reaction to policies at the British Museum Library that he disagreed with. Members can borrow books from its 17 miles of shelves for an absurdly long time (or until another member requests the same one). For those not on the bestseller list, the library hosts free evening tours one Monday a month: just keep an eagle eye on its website to book a place.

14 St James's Square, SW1Y 4LG. Open Monday and Tuesday 9.30am-9pm, Wednesday-Saturday 9.30am-5.30pm, closed Sunday.

How to join: Standard membership available at £575 per year, or £287.50 for ages 16-29.

Poetry fans will fall in love with this free to visit library on the fifth floor of the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, overlooking the Thames. Its rainbow-hued shelves house the largest public collection of modern poetry in the world. It's got an impressive pedigree too: founded by the Arts Council in 1953, it was opened by none other than TS Eliot, before relocating to this site in 1988, where Seamus Heaney had the honour of opening its facilities.

Fifth Floor, Royal Festival Hall. Belvedere Road, SE1 8XX. Open Wednesday-Sunday 12noon-8pm; Tuesday 12noon-6pm.

How to join: Simply turn up at the library with a form of photo ID and a bill sent to your home address within the last three months. 

This hidden library isn't just for professional film buffs: it's free to enter, and its wood-lined interiors are as Lynchian as anything you'll see on the BFI's big screens, with bright red chairs and a fringe of rusting chains hanging from the ceiling. Drop in, and study by the light of a pristine white angle-poise lamp. 

Belvedere Road, SE1 8XT. Open Tuesday-Saturday, 11am-7pm.

How to join: Simply drop in, or pre-book a research session online.

From the outside, you wouldn't necessarily describe this hulking red brick behemoth of a library as beautiful. But it's definitely awe-inspiring. Architect Sir Colin St John Wilson's design for this library took a whopping 36 years to build (longer than many cathedrals) thanks to the substantial challenges involved in housing a copy of over 170 million library items. Underground, a five storey-deep basement houses this gigantic collection, which includes every work printed in the English language. And above ground, the scale of this library's holdings is referenced by the majestic towering bookshelves that reach up over the heads of visitors. You can't actually borrow books here unless you're doing research, but bibliophiles will love its regular exhibitions celebrating the printed word in all its forms.

Euston Road. NW1 2DB. Open Monday-Thursday 9.30am-8pm; Friday 9.30am-6pm; Saturday 9.30am-5pm; Sunday 11am-5pm.

How to join: You can use the library's public spaces to work. Or apply for a free Reader's Pass if you are researching a specific topic and wish to request library items. 

This gorgeous library is hidden away within the V&A, but once you've been in you'll wonder how you never noticed it. Its collection is packed with tomes on subjects relevant to the pieces you’ll find across the museum, including everything from prints and drawings to woodwork, textiles and metalwork.

Cromwell Road, SW7 2RL. Open Saturday-Thursday 10am-5.30pm, Friday 10am-10pm.

How to join: Turn up at the library with a form of photo ID and a bill sent to your home address within the last three months. 

Visitors to the British Museum come out blinking into the glass-ceilinged brightness of its glass atrium and fix their eyes on one thing: its gorgeous, round-walled reading room, topped with a magnificent copper dome. Unfortunately, it's not easy for casual passers-by to get a peek inside, but plan ahead to join one of its weekly Tuesday tours and you'll get to marvel at its historic curved interiors, illuminated by high castle-like windows.

44 Great Russell St, WC1B 3DG. Open Saturday-Thursday 10am-5pm, Friday 10am-8.30pm.

How to join: To make a research visit, fill in an online form at least four weeks in advance. Or book a weekly guided tour here. 

You'll find pretty much everything a human needs to live a cultured existence in the labyrinthine expanses of the Barbican Centre, from theatre to film to restaurants to horticulture. So of course there's a library here, with rough concrete walls and a wonderfully hushed atmosphere to read in. Seek out the Music Library for its old-school wooden listening booths, perfect for listening to new and classic vinyl sounds. 

Beech Street, EC2Y 8AE. Open Monday 9.30am-5.30pm, Tuesday 9.30am-7.30pm, Wedneday 9.30am-5.30pm, Thursday 9.30am-7.30pm, Friday 9.30am-5.30pm, Saturday 9.30am-4.00pm.

How to join: Turn up at the library with a form of photo ID and a bill sent to your home address within the last three months. 

If there’s any confusion as to what this copper-clad minimalist beauty of a building is, the word ‘library’ is helpfully written in huge letters on its roof. The alien-like structure won the Stirling Prize for architecture in 2000 – the only local library to win so far. Inside, you’ll find yet more architectural delights, like the space-age pods and bulbous wooden desks, but also a unique collection that will give you a new perspective. It boasts a vast range of works by Black authors, the most extensive collection of African CDs in the borough and a great choice of graphic novels.

122 Peckham Hill Street, SE15 5JR. Open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday 9am-8pm, Wednesday 10am-8pm, Saturday 10am-5pm, Sunday 12noon-4pm.

How to join: Turn up at the library with a form of photo ID and a bill sent to your home address within the last three months.

If you’re a fan of symmetry, you’ll love the brutalist exterior of the Swiss Cottage Library, while the inside will please Wes Anderson heads, with every element of its interior looking like a shot from one of the great director's films. It’s a dramatic swirl of mirror-image staircases and 1960s curves. The collection is strong on the philosophy and history front, and there’s a big open space where you can swot up in comfy chairs.

88 Avenue Road, NW3 3HA. Open Monday-Thursday 10am-8pm, Friday and Saturday 10am-5pm, closed Sunday.

How to join: Turn up at the library with a form of photo ID and a bill sent to your home address within the last three months.

It’s been a Ministry of Information (during World War Two) and a Court of Justice (in ‘Batman Begins’) but this magnificently authoritative-looking building just north of the British Museum is also home to the central library of the University of London. The library, which spans the fourth-to-eighteenth floors, is mostly frequented by students. But don't let that deter you: grab a £5 day ticket and take advantage of some of the latest opening hours you'll find anywhere in this city, perfect for writing a dystopian novel inspired by its imposing interiors.

Senate House, Malet St, WC1E 7HU. Open Monday-Friday 9am-11pm, Saturday and Sunday 9.45am-9pm.

How to join: Buy a £5 day ticket by registering online, then paying at the library desk. Annual memberships available for £130 per year. 

Full of squishy floor cushions and hanging copper lamps, the Wellcome's Library is a supremely comfortable spot for book worms, whether or not they're diving into its collection of fascinating-but-unsettling tomes on medical history. The mezzanine library – free for those who sign up for membership – holds scientific treasures including an Ancient Egyptian prescription and the papers of scientist Francis Crick. Meanwhile the Reading Room below is a wonderland of cosy study spaces and gallery exhibits, while events like workshops and poetry readings are also held here from time to time.

183 Euston Road, NW1 2BE. Open Monday-Wednesday 10am-6pm, Thursday 10am-8pm, Friday 10am-6pm, Saturday 10am-4pm, closed Sunday.

How to join: Apply online, then bring in a form of photo ID and a bill sent to your home address within the last three months.

Greenwich is so full of grand historic public buildings that you could easily miss this lovely library, which has been a haven for local readers for over a century. But that would be a mistake. Step inside and you'll discover a magical domed gallery space (pictured), which displays the work of local artists, as well as the usual computers and books. Want to get your creative juices flowing? Join one of the library’s writing groups or other activities and get inspired.

146 Greenwich High Road, SE10 8NN. Open Monday 2-7pm, Tuesday 9am-5.30pm, Thursday 9am-7pm, Friday 2-5.30pm, Saturday 9am-5pm, closed Wednesday and Sunday.

How to join: Turn up at the library with a form of photo ID and a bill sent to your home address within the last three months.