Hatchards has been selling books on Piccadilly since 1797. By its own account it has closed to customers exactly once in that time, and it was not for a war.
The shop stayed open through the Napoleonic wars, through the Victorian period, and through both world wars. The only closure in its history was the COVID-19 pandemic, and even then it carried on posting books abroad.
That is the kind of detail this city’s bookshops publish about themselves and almost nobody repeats. Here is what the two that matter most actually tell you, taken from their own pages.
Hatchards, 1797
The oldest bookshop in the United Kingdom, established by John Hatchard and on Piccadilly ever since.
It predates the rest of the street trades this city is famous for. Truefitt & Hill, the oldest barbering business in the world, opened in 1805. Henry Poole, the house that made Savile Row, began in 1806. Hatchards had been trading for eight years before either of them opened a door.
The founder was 29 when he opened it. Apprenticed to a printer at fourteen in 1782, he left to work for a bookseller named Mr Ginger until 1789, then spent seven years at Thomas Payne’s Literary Coffee House before setting up on his own.
His first act as a bookseller was to publish a political pamphlet called Reform or Ruin!, which succeeded well enough to put the shop on a financial footing.
Three things that happened in the shop
The Royal Horticultural Society was founded at Hatchards. A national institution begun in a bookshop, which is not a sentence you expect to read on a retailer’s own history page.
William Wilberforce was a regular, and Hatchards published much of the anti-slavery writing of him and his contemporaries during the years the Slavery Abolition Act was being prepared.
Queen Charlotte became a customer, and the shop says it has sold books to the Crown for its entire history. Walter Scott and Byron were customers. Jane Austen, the shop says carefully, potentially was. Oscar Wilde frequented it under the manager Arthur L. Humphreys.
The party with no prize
Hatchards has held an Authors of the Year Party every early summer for sixty years. It was started by Thomas Joy, a former President of the Booksellers’ Association who became general manager of the shop at sixty.
There is no prize awarded and minimal media present, deliberately, so that writers and booksellers can talk to each other rather than perform. Attendees in the first year included John Le Carré, Edna O’Brien and Iris Murdoch.
In a literary culture built almost entirely on prizes and photographs, a sixty year old annual party that refuses both is worth knowing about.
Practical
Three shops: Piccadilly, St Pancras station since 2014, and Cheltenham since 2022. Click and collect works from any branch.
Delivery is free over £25 and £3.99 below it.
Daunt Books
Marylebone is the one people mean. 83 to 84 Marylebone High Street, W1U 4QW.
Open 9am to 7.30pm Monday to Saturday, and 11am to 6pm on Sunday. That is a ten and a half hour weekday and a genuinely useful Sunday, which is more than most of Oxford Street manages.
Ten shops, and three of them do not carry the name. Alongside Marylebone, Holland Park, Cheapside, Hampstead, Belsize Park, Notting Hill and Summertown in Oxford, Daunt also runs the Owl Bookshop, Hart’s Books and The Marlow Bookshop, each still trading under its own name.
That is worth knowing if you like independent bookshops on principle. Three of the ones you might visit are owned by the group and have kept their signs.
The events sell out. Of five talks listed at Marylebone when this was checked, two were already marked sold out, including one a fortnight away. If an author you want to hear is appearing, book on the day it is announced rather than the week before.
The subscription is the gift worth knowing about. A year of books, one title posted each month, chosen to the subscriber’s taste and adjustable as it goes.
The canvas tote is the other thing they are known for, and it now comes in children’s sizes.
What to know
Hatchards is the oldest in Britain and says so plainly. 1797, Piccadilly, eight years older than the oldest barber and nine older than Savile Row.
One closure in two hundred and twenty nine years. Not the Blitz. The pandemic.
Daunt Marylebone is open until 7.30pm six days a week and from eleven on a Sunday, which makes it one of the more civilised places to end an afternoon in W1.
Book Daunt events immediately. Two of the five on the board were gone when this was written.
Three of Daunt’s ten shops trade under other names. Owl Bookshop, Hart’s Books and The Marlow Bookshop.
Both run subscriptions, which is the answer to the person who has read everything.
Everything here was taken from each bookshop’s own published pages and rechecked on 28 September 2026. Opening hours and event availability change, so confirm before a special journey.
Where to go next
The British Museum is on the edge of Bloomsbury, and it is open until 8.30pm on Fridays.
Jermyn Street is two minutes from Hatchards and is the same idea applied to shirts and cheese, including a cheesemonger that has been trading since 1797, the same year the bookshop opened.
Savile Row and the best barbers are the two older trades that turn out to be younger than the bookshop, by nine years and eight.
Harrods and Oxford Street are the other end of London shopping, open seven days and considerably louder.
Things to do in London in the rain covers the rest of an afternoon indoors, and the best coffee shops cover where to read what you have just bought.
Questions we get asked
What is the oldest bookshop in London?
Hatchards on Piccadilly, established by John Hatchard in 1797 and described on its own site as the oldest bookshop in the United Kingdom. It has traded from Piccadilly ever since. By its own account the COVID-19 pandemic is the only occasion in its history that it closed to customers, having stayed open through the Napoleonic wars and both world wars.
What are the best bookshops in London?
Hatchards on Piccadilly for history and for rare books, trading since 1797 with further branches at St Pancras station and in Cheltenham. Daunt Books for the shops themselves and the events programme, with Marylebone the flagship at 83 to 84 Marylebone High Street. Both run book subscriptions, which is the most useful thing either of them sells to somebody who already owns plenty of books.
What are Daunt Books Marylebone opening hours?
9am to 7.30pm Monday to Saturday, and 11am to 6pm on Sunday, at 83 to 84 Marylebone High Street, W1U 4QW. That is a longer weekday than most London shops keep and a Sunday that opens later but runs to six. The telephone number for the shop is 020 7224 2295.
How many Daunt Books shops are there?
Ten. Marylebone, Holland Park, Cheapside, Hampstead, Belsize Park, Notting Hill and Summertown in Oxford trade under the Daunt Books name. Three more are owned by the group but keep their original signs: the Owl Bookshop, Hart’s Books and The Marlow Bookshop. It is worth knowing if you are choosing bookshops on the basis of independence.
Was the Royal Horticultural Society founded in a bookshop?
Hatchards states on its own history page that the Royal Horticultural Society was founded at the shop. Botanists were part of its early customer base alongside politicians, historians and theologians, and for decades afterwards Hatchards ran stalls at the Chelsea and Hampton Court Flower Shows. William Wilberforce was also a regular, and the shop published much of the anti-slavery writing of his circle.
Do London bookshops run author events?
Daunt Books Marylebone runs a regular programme of talks and conversations, and they sell out: two of the five listed when this page was checked were already gone, one of them a fortnight ahead. Hatchards has held an Authors of the Year Party every early summer for sixty years, deliberately with no prize and minimal press, so it is a trade gathering rather than a public event.
Written by Robert J Wills, no. 148 in the guide.
Last checked 28 September 2026 against the venues' own published information. Nobody pays to appear here and we take no bookings.
