Canterbury’s Best Bookshops

As well as being a beautiful city, Canterbury is also a place with deep literary connections, some of which span centuries. From being the birthplace of Christopher Marlowe and Aphra Behn to famously featuring in Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, Canterbury has been a beacon of creativity and talent for hundreds of years.

Keeping this literary heritage alive, the city has a great variety of bookshops for residents and visitors alike. So, in no particular order, here’s Instagram’s The Book Boy’s guide to Canterbury’s best bookshops.

1. Chaucer Books

The number one stop for vintage beauties. This labyrinthine bookshop is filled to the brim with stunning collector’s editions, leather-bound tomes and books that you simply won’t find anywhere else.

2. Catching Lives Charity Bookshop

Set in the amazing architecture of what many locals call the crooked/ bulging house (dating all the way back to the 1600s!), this wonderful charity bookshop offers a range of second-hand titles across two floors.

3. Burgate Books

Another excellent charity bookshop that always has a wonderful selection, Burgate Books covers two floors and has arguably the largest second-hand selection in the city with over 5,000 titles in stock at any one time.

4. Oxfam Books

Another shop for those who enjoy some guilt-free book buying, Oxfam bookshop carries an excellent selection of second-hand titles – but there are also specialist sections for music and foreign-language titles.

5. Waterstones Canterbury

Standing pride of place near the centre of Canterbury’s main shopping district, Waterstones Canterbury is so much more than your average bookshop. Three floors filled with new editions, a wonderful café, monthly author events – it is the perfect place to treat yourself to a new release, cosy up with a coffee and let your worries unwind.

Written by The Book Boy @thebookboy

Cool Canterbury book facts

The Crooked House - or Catching Lives book shop on Palace Street - inspired Charles Dickens for the book David Copperfield.

W.Somerset Maugham’s days at The King’s School in 1915 feature in his novel Of Human Bondage where Canterbury is rebooted as Tercanbury.

Rupert Bear’s adventures were created by Canterbury native Mary Tourtel in 1920 who studied at art school here.