The London Review Bookshop

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Bloomsbury has been regarded as the literary quarter of London for many years now. There may not be as many publishers and booksellers in this area as there once were, but one successful venue set up shop in 2003 and is a permanent fixture on the literary scene. This is the London Review Bookshop 'the most distinctive independent bookshop in London' as claimed on their website. It grew out of the London Review of Books, a fortnightly magazine that was founded in 1979 and now has the largest circulation of all literary magazines in Europe.

The bookshop is on a far smaller scale than chains like Waterstones, but its intimacy is its strong point. .

The shop is on two levels, the floors are bare wood and the shelves are crammed with books on topics from architecture to travel literature, via poetry, philosophy, children's books and many more. There are comfy chairs if you wish to browse at your leisure, and helpful and knowledgeable staff at hand to answer your questions. You can purchase limited editions and signed copies of books, book related merchandise and a selection of DVDs. Should you find yourself a mere visitor to London (or even if you can't visit the shop in person), you can use their worldwide mail order service.

As well as browsing and buying you can also treat yourself to a bite to eat in the London Review Cake Shop, which is joined to the parent shop by a passage. Here you will find soups, sandwiches, salads, homemade cakes, and speciality teas and coffees. You can carry on reading in here, or join in the conversation with others at the large central sharing table.

However this establishment does not just sell books and cakes; there are also bookshop events that take place throughout the year. These are in the evenings, outside of normal trading hours, when an admission charge of £7 is made.

is at 14 Bury Place, London WC1A 2JL, just a short walk from Oxford Street, Tottenham Court Road and the British Museum. Click here for their website, and the London Review of Books website can be found here.

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