Owl Bookshop, Kentish Town, London

One of the best bookshops in Central London
& owned by Daunt Books.
This place has two special features for me :
first its childrens’ section which is large & good
& they have a great relationship with local schools;
secondly the travel section which is equally good
with a wide range of maps. But it also sells foreign
art DVDs,cards & stamps, & holds regular Author Events

What a great shop! I happened across this place when I had a bit of time to kill, and wandered around their lovely store for 20 minutes. They have lots of tables of books with different themes, as well as the usual by alphabet and genre around the walls. What I really liked is that they have a few nice chairs positioned around to be able to sit and read a bit.
Also, the childrens section is surprisingly large and looks more like a kindergarten with colourful displays and floor mats to sit on while reading.
The staff seemed ready to help and I overheard them giving gems of advice and trying to find specific books requested by vague individuals! Not the kind of service that you can expect from a large chain-store bookshop.
Stop in and spend a while.

Yet another Kentish Town Gem - which makes me wonder, has Kentish Town got the best high street in London with its collection of random and brilliant independent shops? Anyone know any other goodys out there?

Anyway, back to the Owl. It’s a lovely and well put together independent bookshop. It’s not huge by any stretch - but it has a great and carefully put together selection of new books in every category you could think of mixed in with some wisely chosen old favourites and a sprinkling of old titles you’d never have thought of.

It’s got a great atmosphere in there - very relaxing and a little like stepping back in time to gentler days, as you potter through the tatstefully selected cards and near genius DVD section which basically is what I wish my DVD collection looked like but doesn’t….

Served by some knowledgeable and very friendly staff - the last time I was in they were talking in a lot of detail to two 10 year olds about various different options once you have read all the Harry Potters. These same staff will also more than happily advise you if you are a bit older than 10 and also order anything they haven’t got in for you.

Go on - give the Owl a visit, go and spend your money with them and no Amazon or Waterstones and keep an institution going.