South London Bookshop Review: Herne Hill Bookshop

289 Railton Road, South London, SE24 0LY

Where?

On the corner just as you come out of Herne Hill Station, a cheery green façade welcomes you into this small but savvily stocked bookshop. On Sundays it is a fitting piece of the jigsaw of shops that frame Herne Hill Farmers Market, which offers organic food and trinkets to complement a discerning reader’s taste in literature.

What?

Its somewhat bare shelves first imply a poor collection or a struggling business, and create an atmosphere of slight dilapidation. But on closer inspection there is quite a range of works for such a small place – a medley of contemporary and classic fiction, plus a line in local interest and children’s books. They’ve clearly stocked for the local demographic, including the yummy mummies of nearby Dulwich.

Reason to visit?

If you’re indecisive. Here lies a pared-down selection of good books, so a certain amount of the fearsome choice that faces you in larger bookshops has already been made. All you have to do is pick up pretty much anything, from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein to Donna Tartt’s The Secret History or Benjamin Zephaniah’s Refugee Boy – and you’ll find a book worth reading.

What’s missing?

Lots. But as I say, that’s not always a bad thing. If you want something specific, it’s likely you’ll need to order it in (as the smaller sister of Clapham Books, you can request anything they don’t have from down the road). It's a shame that instead of stuffing their shelves there are some gaping holes, which feels almost embarrassedly naked. But this bookshop works wonders as a place for a quick pop-in and browse when you’ve got five minutes to spare while the butcher wraps up your joint of beef for Sunday lunch.