Not all cafés are literary cafes.

Some have music so loud you can’t hear yourself think. Others seem designed to encourage you to finish your coffee and leave as quickly as possible. And then there are the places where every table is occupied by somebody attending their fifth Zoom meeting of the day.

If you’re the sort of person who likes carrying a book around London, finding the right café can feel surprisingly difficult.

The good ones aren’t necessarily the ones with the best coffee. They’re the ones where nobody looks at you strangely for spending an hour with a novel. The ones with comfortable chairs, decent lighting, and an atmosphere that makes you want to stay for “just one more chapter.”

Here are a few of my favourite literary cafes and reading spots in London.

London Review Bookshop Café

If there were a headquarters for bookish London, this would be a strong contender.

Tucked behind the British Museum, the London Review Bookshop Café has become something of an institution among readers. The combination is hard to beat: browse the bookshop, inevitably buy something you weren’t planning to buy, then retreat to the café with your new acquisition.

What I like about it is that it genuinely feels connected to the bookshop. Plenty of places happen to serve coffee near books. This feels like a place built for people who love reading.

It’s also one of the few cafés where pulling a book out of your bag feels entirely normal.

Dillons at Waterstones Gower Street

Bookshops and cafés are a dangerous combination.

Particularly when the bookshop in question is one of the largest in London.

Dillons sits inside Waterstones Gower Street, which means there’s a very real chance you’ll arrive intending to buy one book and leave carrying three. Possibly four.

The café itself is bright, comfortable, and full of readers taking a break between browsing sessions. If you’re spending a morning around Bloomsbury, it’s an easy place to lose track of time.

The only real danger is remembering how much you’ve spent once you get home.

BookBar, Highbury

BookBar feels like somebody looked at the traditional bookshop model and asked, “What if people actually talked about the books they were reading?”

Part bookshop, part wine bar, part community space, it regularly hosts author events, book clubs, and discussions.

What makes it stand out is that it feels social without being overwhelming. Even if you’re visiting alone, there’s a sense that everyone is there because they love books.

Which, admittedly, is often my favourite type of crowd.

Swans Bar & Books

Swans is one of those places I hesitate to recommend because part of me wants to keep it to myself.

A bookshop-bar hybrid near Holborn, it occupies a pleasant middle ground between café, bookstore, and quiet refuge from central London.

The atmosphere is refreshingly relaxed. Nobody seems in a rush. People browse. People read. People linger over drinks and conversations.

It’s the sort of place that reminds you that reading doesn’t always have to be a solitary activity.

Sometimes books are simply an excuse for people to gather in the same room.

The Notting Hill Bookshop

Yes, tourists know about it.

No, I don’t care.

Sometimes a place becomes famous because it’s genuinely charming.

The Notting Hill Bookshop is small enough that you could easily miss it if you weren’t paying attention, yet it has become one of the most recognisable independent bookshops in London.

The surrounding cafés make it an easy stop if you’re spending an afternoon wandering around Notting Hill.

And let’s be honest: half the fun of a bookish day out is browsing without any particular destination in mind.

The Poetry Pharmacy

I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect the first time I heard about a poetry pharmacy.

As it turns out, exactly what it sounds like.

Books, poetry, recommendations, and the idea that sometimes a poem is exactly what you need.

Whether you take the concept seriously or simply enjoy the novelty of it, there’s something undeniably appealing about a place dedicated to slowing down and spending time with words.

It’s difficult to imagine anybody rushing through a visit here.

Foyles Café

Foyles is one of those places that most readers end up visiting eventually.

The café offers a welcome opportunity to pause before diving back into the labyrinth of shelves downstairs.

What I appreciate is that it’s practical.

You’re already surrounded by books.

You’re already likely to be carrying books.

You may as well sit down for a while.

Some of my favourite reading sessions have happened not because I planned them, but because I happened to have a spare hour and a book in my bag.

Foyles is perfect for that.

Honourable Mention: The Wellcome Collection Reading Room

Technically this isn’t a café recommendation.

But if you’re already carrying a coffee and looking for somewhere to sit and read, the Wellcome Collection deserves a mention.

The reading room has long been one of my favourite spaces in central London.

It’s quiet without being intimidating.

Interesting without demanding your attention.

And full of the sort of people who seem perfectly happy to spend an afternoon reading.

Which is often exactly the kind of company I’m looking for.

A Final Thought on Reading in Public

One of my favourite things about reading is that it turns waiting into part of the day rather than a gap between activities.

A delayed train becomes reading time. An early arrival becomes reading time. A spare half hour suddenly becomes enough time to make progress on a book.

That’s probably why I like literary cafés so much.

Not because they’re particularly literary. Not because they’re especially fashionable. But because they’re places where reading feels welcome.

And in a city that often feels as though it’s in a hurry, that’s reason enough to stay for another chapter.