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The little cluster of shops behind Goodge Street has felt forlorn ever since Pollock’s Toy Museum sadly closed in 2023, after delighting generations of children with its intricate doll’s house furniture and pop-up theatres. Now, the shop’s historic former building is housing a new retailer, one which is likely to encourage just as many fans to make the trip to Fitzrovia: the relaunched Persephone Books, a specialist bookseller focusing on works by neglected or lesser known female writers of the 20th century.
From 2001 until 2021, Persephone Books sat on Lamb’s Conduit Street over in Bloomsbury, on streets once trodden by London’s finest female authors. Where other bookshops presented a rainbow of colourful spines, piled messily together, stepping into Persephone felt tranquil. Neat piles of novels wore smart grey jackets, with muted endpapers in tasteful midcentury patterns, all designed and reprinted in house.
Its authors wouldn’t be familiar to most visitors, at first. But soon, names like Dorothy Whipple, E.M. Delafield or Katherine Mansfield built up fanbases that they hadn't seen since their heydays, many decades before.
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When Persephone Books closed its doors in London in May 2021, it didn’t abandon its readers. Its substantial catalogue of female authors has still been available online via its website, as well as in a newer shop in Bath.
Even so, there’s a real buzz of excitement about there finally being a London destination for Persephone readers, old and new. In an Instagram post on the weekend, its proprietors shared that they had taken delivery of over 8,000 Persephone books in 500 boxes, ahead of the shop’s big opening.
Persephone Books will officially open at 10am on Wednesday November 4. Still, don’t expect a big, flashy opening or the return for their former pale grey frontage. The owners don’t yet have permission to change the shop’s exterior from the faded red and yellow of the old Pollock’s Toy Museum, and have explained that customers should visit expecting the atmosphere of a pop-up: ‘there may be a slight air of chaos’. It’s unlikely that their avid London readers, who've been waiting five years for this moment, will mind one bit.
Time Out’s guide to 45 brilliant bookshops in London to visit in 2026.
This Balham bookshop has been awarded the title of London's very best.
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