The store was founded in 1903 by two brothers, William and Gilbert Foyle, who were inspired to start a second-hand bookstore after their attempts to sell their used textbooks from a failed civil service exam garnered a flurry of offers. They were quite successful in their efforts and quickly became known as a top notch bookstore.

The ownership of Foyles eventually passed to William’s daughter, Christina Foyle, and it was under her stewardship that Foyles gained its notoriety as a quirky and difficult place to shop. Books were arranged in an arcane system based on the name of the publisher, which made locating books extremely time consuming and tedious.

There were no modern conveniences of any kid, such as a cash register or calculators.

Anyone who wished to purchase a book would need to locate a salesperson who would write an invoice for the item, and then send the customer down to the basement cashier to pay for their item; the customer then could come back and collect their book.

That Foyles survived this ridiculous arrangement is testament to the tremendous collection of books it has under its roof; the sheer size and range of their holdings made even the most onerous payment system irrelevant to those who needed that one very special volume.

Following the death of Christina Foyle in 1999, ownership passed to her nephew Christopher who undertook a complete modernization of the premises. Now Foyles has the best of both worlds, an organized and modern store that still holds vast amounts of unusual and treasured books.

The booksellers are experts, and department heads are also the book buyers, so you can be sure they know the subject inside and out.

Foyles is also host to a variety of events, everything from book signings and literary lunches to debates and live jazz concerts.

Foyles Book Shop is the ultimate destination for the bookworm lurking in us all.

Foyles - Charing Cross Road

Address: 113-119 Charing Cross Road, Soho, WC2H 0EB

Telephone: 020 7437 5660

Opening Times

Monday to Saturday 9.30-9pm, Sunday 12noon-6pm | Bank Holidays 11am-8pm

Pricing

Monday to Saturday 9:30 - 21:00, Sunday 12:00 - 18:00, Bank Holidays 11:00 - 20:00

Photo courtesy: Ewan-M

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