The Best Bookshops to Visit in Bath
Over the last few years, Bath has become a literary hotspot. A beautiful city with heaps of history, Bath hosts many of the filming locations for Bridgerton, and is studded with wonderful bookshops.
Today I’m going to take you through the best bookshops to visit during your next trip to this gorgeous literary city.
Mr B’s Emporium of reading delights
Starting this list strong with one of my all time favourite bookshops, Mr B’s Emporium is a wonderful shop that you’ll want to spend hours in. Featuring their iconic book bath (pictured below), this shop is based in an old house and each room is kitted out with quirky decor. The children’s area is purple, and there are dedicated bibliotherapy spaces too for those who have booked sessions.
More importantly, however, the booksellers at Mr B’s are wonderful. They really know their stuff, and always give out great recommendations. It is easy to see why they have twice been named Britain’s best bookshop since opening in 2006 - they really are the best of the best.
Topping & Company
Longtime readers will know that I absolutely love Topping & Company, and their Bath store does not disappoint.
The photos here are actually of their old shop, as they moved into a beautiful new building in late 2021. Their new premises has been renovated to carry on that iconic Toppings charm, with its wooden interiors and sliding ladders. It’s larger than the last bookshop, boasting multiple floors with a gallery, and is open until 9pm every night including Sundays. My dream!
Persephone books
You might recognise this shopfront from Bloomsbury in London, which is where Persephone Books was previously based. In 2021 this shop closed its doors and marched over to Bath, which is its new home.
Persephone actually specialises in selling out of print female writers, and are the publishers of nearly all of the books that they sell. The covers are iconic in their uniform grey with bright endpapers, and all come with a matching bookmark. This shop is truly beautiful and you’ll come across loads of authors that you’ve never seen before, making it a real eye opening experience.
Bath old books
Here’s a bookshop that I didn’t purchase anything from personally, but I thoroughly enjoyed looking around.
Bath Old Books does what it says on the tin - they sell old books, and by old I mean fascinating antiquarian titles spanning from general fiction and non-fiction through to children’s books. If you have a few pennies to spend, I can’t think of anything better than a lovely old Jane Austen novel purchased from Bath itself, where the late author lived and based two of her novels.
skoobs Books
Here’s a recommendation for the second hand book lovers among you - and those who are not!
Skoob Books can be found in the lovely undercover Guildhall Market and stocks a varied selection of second hand books. Usually I gravitate more towards new titles, but I actually purchased a few books from Skoobs as they have a lot of very current modern fiction. It’s a great place to browse and definitely not a shop to miss. Plus the bookseller that I met during my visit was really lovely too, which is the cherry on top of the cake for me.
Enjoy your trip to Bath - it’s a place you’ll want to visit again and again!
more blog posts like this…
A Stay at the Roseate Villa, Bath