Charing Cross Road - London shopping

The name “Charing Cross Road” gets bibliophiles pulses racing. Together with offshoot Cecil Court (see left), it is London’s main centre of new, secondhand, specialist and antiquarian bookshops. Check out the commemorative plaque on the site of the defunct Marks & Co, whose address gave its name to the book and film 84 Charing Cross Road.



Recently refurbished, the famous Foyles stocks everything from popular fiction to academic texts on its five floors. It now also houses London institution Ray’s Jazz – a music shop, with a cafй attached where you can dig the tunes – and renowned women’s bookshop Silver Moon. There’s also an art gallery on the premises. Even if you’re not buying for children, go and have a look at the live piranhas in the children’s department. Across the street is a massive branch of Borders with the chain’s usual allembracing selection of magazines, books and CDs. It has a cafй and comfy chairs for lounging in, too. A large branch of Blackwell’s bookshop is at No. 100.



Of the second-hand bookshops on Charing Cross Road, many are appealingly ramshackle emporiums, where the pleasure comes from rooting out treasures from the packed, dusty shelves. Quinto at No. 48A and Henry Pordes at Nos. 58–60 are well reputed. For coffee-table art tomes and scholarly subjects, visit Shipley at No. 70. Its sister shop, Shipley Media, at No. 80 specializes in photography, film and fashion.