10 independent bookshops to visit in the UK
The season of cosying up with a book is fast approaching, so there's no better time to celebrate the UK's best independent bookshops – or perhaps discover a new favourite spot.
Whether you're after a nature book to help you feel connected with the outdoors, some slow living inspiration or just a browse, there's no denying the simple pleasure of a meander around a well-curated bookshop.
We've rounded up our pick of 10 of the best independent bookshops around the country for all the bookworms and explorers out there.
From an art-lovers paradise in an old industrial mill to a Scottish sanctuary complete with deli, many have a colourful backstory of their own to discover too...
10 best independent bookshops to visit
Barter Books, Northumberland
Best for: Trainspotters
Based in a grand Victorian railway station, Barter Books is one of Britain’s biggest secondhand bookshops. Alight here for a unique reading refuge with more than 350,000 works of fact and fiction and a model railway chugging away above the generously stacked shelves.
Original features include North Eastern Railway cast-iron fireplaces, magnificent marble mantelpieces and a station buffet in the old boiler room (try the Northumbrian rarebit or a bacon butty). As its name suggests, the shop is run partly on a barter system, so you could swap some Shakespeare for Richard Osman or Sally Rooney.
Much Ado Books, East Sussex
Much Ado in Alfriston is any bookworm’s wonderland. Frequently voted one of Britain’s best bookshops, this former builders’ yard has two storeys crammed with classic and contemporary fiction, poetry and photography collections and special-interest titles. Anyone who appreciates the Bloomsbury Group (their rural retreat is just down the road in Lewes) will especially love the large assortment of volumes on Virginia Woolf, Vanessa Bell et al.
Outside, chickens cluck in front of the Book Bower, where you can bag a bargain: Penguin paperbacks sell for £2.50 a pop. Proceeds go to Prospero’s Project, a social enterprise supporting charities, care homes, community centres and more.
Salts Mill, Yorkshire
Best for: Art-lovers
Looming above the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, Salts Mill is an icon of the Industrial Age, built in golden sandstone. Based in the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Saltaire, West Yorkshire, this former textile mill – once the largest of its kind in the world – was designed by 19th-century philanthropist Sir Salt with workers’ wellbeing in mind.
Now a one-stop shop for arts and culture, the bookshop boasts an ever-changing selection of signed first editions, alongside collectable catalogues from local legend David Hockney. Visitors can see the artist’s Arrival of Spring and A Year in Normandie exhibitions in the galleries here, too.
Blue Bear Bookshop, Surrey
Best for: Dog owners
Farnham's Blue Bear Bookshop was opened as a “gift to the town”. After Nils and Sylvia Schüller moved to Surrey so their autistic son, Cameron, could attend university, they wanted to reward its residents for helping him do things they never thought feasible.
With a background in TV and film set design, the Schüllers created a 1920s-styled shop, with spectacular chandeliers suspended from the ceiling. Keen on community, they’ve installed a three-metre-long table in the café, so customers can converse over coffee and cake, and an area in the basement for boardgames. Canines are welcome, too – there’s even a section dedicated to dogs in books.
Maldon Books, Essex
Best for: Younger readers
Maldon Books opened just before the first lockdown. But, despite this far-from-fairytale timing, business has boomed ever since. Run by Olivia Rosenthall and her all-female team, it has wonderful window displays, a carefully curated children’s section and author events with writers such as Jacqueline Wilson and Essex native Sarah Perry.
In the summer, a pop-up shop in the form of a bright-blue shepherd’s hut trundles into Promenade Park, hosting book signings and storytime sessions. Earlier this year, the business branched out into the building next door, opening Novel Sounds, a record store selling new and old vinyl.
The Mainstreet Trading Company, Scottish Borders
Best for: Café dwellers
In the middle of rural Roxburghshire, tiny St Boswells has a pub, post office and bustling bookshop. A go-to destination for book-lovers, The Mainstreet Trading Company stocks more than 7,000 titles and has a brilliant roster of author events – Michael Morpurgo and Margaret Atwood have appeared here.
The perfect pitstop for younger readers, “book burrows” – cupboards under the stairs styled to look like Mr McGregor’s garden and Fantastic Mr Fox’s lair – are kitted out with audiobooks. For adults, there’s a café serving dishes inspired by the latest cookery books and a home store selling artisan products from the Borders and beyond.
FOLDE, Dorset
Best for: Woodland wanderers
One night, over a pint in the pub, friends and neighbours Karen Brazier and Amber Harrison decided to set up shop together. In 2021, FOLDE Dorset opened its doors – a bookshop specialising in nature writing and reflecting the pair’s deep-rooted connection to community and countryside.
Step inside their shop – on Shaftesbury’s cobbled Gold Hill, one of the most attractive streets in the UK – and you’ll find literature from the likes of Katherine May, Raynor Winn and John Lewis-Stempel, alongside handmade treasures from local makers. Customers can spend with a clear conscience, too – earlier this year FOLDE became a B Corp, a certification recognising a business’s ongoing commitment to people and planet.
Scrivener's, Derbyshire
Best for: Fans of Victoriana
Lose yourself in a labyrinth of literature at Scrivener’s Books & Bookbinding in Buxton. Set across five creaky floors, you’ll find 40,000 pre-loved titles, a Victorian museum in the basement and a working white harmonium – plus feline bibliophile Basil, who often snoozes in a book nook.
Also known for its restoration services (there’s a ten-week waiting list), Scrivener’s commissions come from all over the world and sometimes involve early editions dating back centuries. The shop is open seven days a week, with bookbinding available Monday
to Friday.
Green Ink Booksellers, Powys
Best for: Literary tourists
Hay-on-Wye – the trumpeted “Town of Books” in the Brecon Beacons – is home to more than 20 bookshops, including Green Ink, one of the more recent places for secondhand tomes. Venture beyond the petrol-blue and flint façade to find a small but considered collection of works featuring beautifully bound Folio Society hardbacks and artistic annuals from yesteryear.
Make your selection and carry it home wrapped up in the shop’s signature green paper packaging. If you bump into the owners, Joshua and Ellen Boyd Green, they may well entertain you with stories of their own – they once unearthed a proof copy of The Fellowship of the Ring in a box.
The Edge of the World, Cornwall
Best for: Folklorists
James and Rachael Howorth started The Edge of the World Bookshop about ten years ago, after James lost his job. They had been living in the Midlands, but decided to “run away to the seaside”. Their independent emporium in Penzance on the south coast stocks a variety of volumes, from cult classics to award winners and works with a Cornish connection.
For fans of folklore, a curated collection of local legends includes tales of mermaids and changelings, pirates and “piskies”’. A lively calendar of author events, often with local writers, offers an insight into the literary mind, too.
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