by Patricia Herbig

When I have some time on my own, I tend to make my way to a bookshop. Not only are they usually warm, dry and usually not too crowded, but they offer a certain comfort that you don’t often get from other kinds of shops. Of course there is always a Waterstone’s – the huge, find-every-book-that-you-could-dream-of-wanting bookshop. There’s one in Picadilly, just off Picadilly Circus. But there is another very special bookshop just down the street, which, despite being owned by Waterstone’s has retained its olde worlde charm. Hatchard’s, at 187 Picadilly, comes by its charm honestly from being open since 1782. They have been offering the reader or browser a wonderful selection of books for over 200 years.

Hatchard’s books range over a multitude of topics and over several floors. The Ground Floor offers bestsellers, an extensive biography selection and travel-related books. The Lower Ground Floor has an excellent choice of nautical and military fiction (if you haven’t read the Hornblower series, it’s highly recommended – it’s a chance to read sea stories without having to deal with details of how to tie knots) and of course, the somewhat racy but very funny Flashman series. There is also a huge range of paperback fiction, crime novels, science fiction and classics.

The Second, Third and Fourth Floors cover such topics as wine and cooking, textiles and antiques, art and art theory, photography, gardening, sailing, hunting and golf. The children’s area is located on the top floor, and is lovely – hardback books of classics and old favourites as well as popular fiction for younger readers and early teens.

The staff is knowledgeable and nice and they actually read the books they work with all day, so they are happy to make recommendations. If they can’t find something for you, they’ll find a colleague who can!

For more information visit www.hatchards.co.uk.