Second-Hand Bookstores in Britain

Yes this is why there are so many charity shops. Most towns have an over supply of retail premises as so much has moved online or to out of town retail parks. Charity shops and money laundering operations (typically barber shops and hairdressers etc) proliferate.

Several of the bookstores still left looked worth a visit.

In the Lake District Michael Moon's bookshop in Whitehaven is well worth a visit for his vast selection.

What the list appended to the article fails to mention is that Michael Moon (yes, he is the owner of the shop and has been for 55 years) is also an author and publisher. He has written many books on the history of the area and continues to publish (or republish) several long out of print titles every year.
He is part of the fabric of the town, and is also very active in the Whitehaven Heritage Action Group- which works to protect and interpret the Georgian and other heritage of the town.
In fact it is not unusual to come across international visitors who first heard of Whitehaven through his bookshop.

Thanks for the added details. These are the "tourist attractions" I'd like to know about (and visit).

You may want to visit Hay-on-Wye, a town full of second-hand (and antiquarian, and collectors) bookshops in Powys, Wales.
Not charity shops, but a town with 40-plus book shops.
https://www.hay-on-wye.co.uk/
https://www.hay-on-wye.co.uk/tourism
The ideal place for a vacation if you love browsing second-hand book shops.
The town is just on the Welsh side of the border with Herefordshire, England.

In England, Sedbergh is England’s official Book Town. In Cumbria, about 10 miles east of Kendal.
https://www.sedbergh.org.uk/book-town/

List of booksellers and more:
https://www.sedbergh.org.uk/book-town/book-sellers/

Another place you may enjoy visiting is the the town of Alnwick, Northumberland, for its large used book shop in the old railway station there. Barter Books:
https://www.barterbooks.co.uk/html/About%20Us/The%20Bookshop.php
https://www.barterbooks.co.uk/html/About%20Us/Picture%20Gallery.php

The largest second hand bookstore in the UK, housed in the former railway station. It has a fireplace and couches where you can sit and read and has its own cafe in the back, The Station Buffet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sKV0-VisAo

You may enjoy visiting Alnwick Castle while in town.

as you are travelling around the National Trust properties almost every one has a second hand bookstore, all from donations and at very good prices. Several have been my go-to places for books, historic, travel - lots of travel -, cooking, fiction over the years.

I have donated dozens of travel books and especially railway books and videos (remember them?)

A lovely old movie with Anne Bancroft 84 Charing Cross.Road is a good read based on a true story of a relationship with an American journalist with a used book store in London over several.decades. unfortunately it closed.and is now a pizza shop. I was so disappointed to miss it. Have been lucky to find some Charity shops in most of the cities and towns we visited in the UK but nothing beats the feel and smell of a used book store.

@Rebecca: Yes, I've had Hay-on-Wye on my list for quite a while. The other location sounds lovely. I do enjoy those if I get a chance but being a traveler and not a resident, my ability to carry off the spoils is lacking.

I am spoiled by the local "Powells Book Store", which claims to be the largest second hand book store in the World. Wouldn't know but I do like wandering the aisles.

@Nigel: I have been collecting anew DVDs. The vagarities of the online World bother me increasingly.

I know Michael Moon does quite a lot of sales on E bay and I am certain if you went into his shop he would mail anything you selected to you. Of course that will cost, and cost a lot due to shipping costs.

I can't talk for whether Barter or any of the Sedbergh shops (or indeed the shops in Keswick or Carlisle who are on the list) do web purchases.

Stuart is, of course, right. Most (if not all) of these shops will mail your purchases home to you. Likewise, any seller of new books such as bookshops in London will do this. The National Trust properties with used books, mentioned by Nigel, are not able to do this, as I remember.

Speaking of new books, there are several museums in London that have outstanding bookshops in them. The Museum of London at their old location--I'm hoping it's even better when they re-open in their new location in 2026. The V&A Museum and the British Museum have book and gift shops.

The Tower of London has a great book and gift shop in the basement of the White Tower.

Westminster Abbey has a great book and gift shop; separate from the Abbey--to the right of the front entrance. You don't have to pay to go in there. They have CD's and DVD's of their music, too.

Keep in mind that all sales help these places with their operating costs and maintenance of their buildings; a worthy cause instead of buying books from Amazon. These places will ship your books home for you.

There is a used bookshop on a barge in London, on the Regents Canal behind the King's Cross area at Granary Square, London; although it has been based at other points along Regents Canal in the past.

He has a good selection of books. And it was such fun to browse in a bookshop on a boat!
If you haven't ever been to Little Venice, it's worth a walk around there to see all the narrowboats and then to walk east on the canal path to the King's Cross area to look for the bookstore barge.

Here it is....Word On The Water:

https://www.kingscross.co.uk/word-on-the-water-bookshop
https://www.wordonthewater.co.uk/

Visiting secondhand bookshops is a must for me when I visit Britain. I read a lot of British authors and the joy of a secondhand shop is that you never know what you will find. I always look up the secondhand shops for each city and town on my itinerary. This is year will be my first time in Hay-on-Wye, Sedburgh, and Barters Books, but many other cities have good bookshops. Till's in Edinburgh, Leakey's in Inverness, Skoob in London, Brendon Books in Taunton, and others are worth checking out as are charity shops such as Oxfam in London and Oxford.

Thanks for the tips. They all seem worth a visit if I get the chance. Bookstore visits seem more "slow travel" to me. I'd like to do more of that. But, at the moment, health issues stop all travel. I do have indications that might change shortly. Then, hopefully, off to a lot of backed up travel wishes.