Guide by Vana

Book clubs and talk groups in London

15 book clubs and talk groups in London, each one on the Guide on merit.

1. Bookbar Book Club

   Reading & ideas in Highbury

   A bookshop and wine bar on Blackstock Road that hosts author events, book clubs and live readings. The space has bookshelves lining the walls and comfy seating. It offers a 'Shelf Medicate' service where you get a personalised book prescription based on your mood.

2. Conway Hall (and Skeptics in the Pub)

   Reading & ideas in Holborn

   The thinking person's village hall. Earnest, unfashionable, the point.

3. Cosy London Book Club

   Reading & ideas in London-wide

   A monthly book club that opens with speed book dating, short one-to-one rotations, before the group discussion starts. Ria Bhargava started it after her book account passed 70,000 followers, and it has grown from six people to more than fifty, aged 17 to late fifties.

4. Emilys Walking Book Club

   Reading & ideas in Hampstead Heath

   Everyone reads the same book, then walks the Heath discussing it for an hour and a half. Emily Rhodes has run it since 2012 and asks you to finish the book first, for the sake of the people walking with you. Fifty to seventy turn up on the Heath. Dogs are welcome.

5. ESEA Book Club

   Reading & ideas in London, in-person meets

   A reading group where the books, and the room, finally reflect you back.

6. Languages in London

   Making in Central/east/south/west

   The most introvert-engineered social in town. A host walks you in.

7. N16 Book Club

   Reading & ideas in Stoke Newington

   Running out of the Rose & Crown on Church Street since 2007, one Thursday a month, sessions numbered rather than dated. Number 185 was Octavia Butler. The group picks the book by vote and the range runs from classics to graphic novels.

8. Reading Rhythms

   Reading & ideas in Rotating

   Silent reading parties: an hour with your book in good company, then easy talk about what everyone is reading.

9. Running Late Book Club

   Reading & ideas in Hackney

   Last Sunday of the month, ten in the morning, from a coffee shop on Mare Street. In their words, they walk to the park, they sit, they discuss. The book is chosen by poll in the WhatsApp group, so the reading list belongs to whoever turns up.

10. Silent Book Club London

    Reading & ideas in London-wide

    A reading club where you bring your own book, share what you are reading over coffee or wine, then settle into an hour of silent reading. The format is simple: no assigned homework, no quizzes, just quiet company. Afterwards there is optional social time to swap recommendations, or you can leave.

11. South London Feminist Book Club

    Reading & ideas in South London

    The neighbourhood-scale option if the big girlie book clubs feel too influencer-coded.

12. The Common Press

    Reading & ideas in Bethnal Green

    London's first queer intersectional bookshop, with a cafe and bar attached, so a ten minute browse turns into a coffee and a talk you have signed yourself up for. Black, queer and trans owned, not for profit, and programmed most nights.

13. The Tooting Tavern Book Club

    Reading & ideas in Tooting

    Last Monday of the month at a Tooting High Street pub, six until eight, over pizza. It started in July 2026 with Yellowface, so the back catalogue is short and nobody is behind. Free, but ticketed, and over 18s.

14. Turning Pages

    Reading & ideas in London-wide

    An hour of silent reading followed by an hour in the bar, held in London buildings worth being inside. The anchor is RSA House on John Adam Street, where you can borrow from the library if you arrive empty-handed. There is no set book, so there is nothing to have finished.

15. WSET Level 1 Wine Course

    Making in Central and various

    Get a real, recognised intro wine qualification in a single relaxed day.

Every club and community in London