A Trip To London’s Oldest Bookshop

On Piccadilly you will find a shop that has been plying its trade for over 200 years. Hatchards is London’s and, according to their website, the UK’s oldest bookshop.

It was described by former MP Sir Alan Herbert as “like an Enchanted Island in the sea of noise”. Read on to have a look inside and for the history behind this London institution.

The History

In the late 17th and 18th centuries, Piccadilly, with the upper class garden squares and gentleman’s clubs of St James’s and Mayfair nearby, became London’s most popular shopping destination.

The name Piccadilly came from Piccadilly Hall built here at the beginning of the 17th century by a tailor named Robert Baker. He named it after the product that made him his fortune: ‘Piccadills’: stiff lace collars, very fashionable amongst the well-to-do at the time.

Hatchards was established by John Hatchard in 1797 at 173 Piccadilly and a few years later, in 1801, moved to its current location, a few doors down. Next door you’ll find Fortnum and Mason, established in 1707 and opposite is the beautiful Burlington House.

You can see a portrait of John Hatchard on the main staircase.

Famous Faces

Hatchards quickly became a fashionable place to shop and to be seen shopping. It was almost as much a club as a bookshop with, according the London Encyclopaedia, the daily newspapers laid on the table by the fireplace and benches set up outside for customer’s servants.

It was also a meeting place for societies. The Royal Horticultural Society met here in 1804 for their inaugural meeting, in the reading room at the back of the shop. The same room was apparently also used by William Wilberforce for anti-slavery meetings.

Hatchards has been a book-lovers destination ever since and boasts many big names amongst its clientele over the years, including, amongst others, William Gladstone, Lord Byron, Somerset Maughan and the Duke of Wellington.

It was also said to have been Oscar Wilde’s favourite bookshop. He would apparently sign his books on the ground floor table, today known as ‘Oscar’s Table’.

By royal appointment. ⁦@Hatchards⁩ in London’s Piccadilly holds 3 royal warrants & has been selling books since 1797. Here I am today signing my book about Prince Philip at a table at which Oscar Wilde sat to sign his book in 1890. I love a good bookshop more than anywhere pic.twitter.com/WZMypE8xxZ

— Gyles Brandreth (@GylesB1) April 30, 2021

John Hatchard died in 1849 and was succeeded by his son Thomas.

The shop was purchased by William Collins and Sons in 1956 and then Pentos in 1990. In the late 1990’s Pentos was acquired by Waterstones, who still own the shop today.

What To Spot

The shop is arranged over 5 floors around a central staircase.

The décor is, I would say, that of a slightly more upmarket Waterstones, with plenty of little nooks and crannies to quietly peruse the books.

There are a few details and pieces of historical paraphernalia to look out for in Hatchards.

Firstly, spot the royal warrants. A royal warrant denotes that the business supplies to the royal family and Hatchards has three of them.

The system of royal warrants has been in place since the 15th century but it was from the 18th century that businesses started to display their royal warrants to stand out from the increasingly competitive crowd.

There are a few vintage photographs to look for, including this one of a Hatchards delivery car.

This is a bill and receipt from 1815: the year the Battle of Waterloo was fought.

Bette Davis visited in 1987 to sign copies of her memoir: ‘This and That’.

So, next time you are darting down Piccadilly, duck into Hatchards and enjoy a lovely bookshop with a long and great history.

Visiting hatchards

Hatchards is open 9.30am-7pm Monday-Saturday and 12am-6pm on Sundays.

In 2014, they opened a second branch in St Pancras Station. You will find it right next to the little Fortnum and Mason shop, just like on Piccadilly.

Find out more on their website here.

Thank you for reading and for more of London’s historical gems, click below…