Pop star Dua Lipa isn't just topping charts — she's become an unlikely guide to London's book scene. Through her Service95 newsletter and book club, she has regularly shared the reading that shapes her, and the independent and iconic shops she browses around the capital have caught readers' attention. Secret London rounded up the spots she's name-checked, and they make a surprisingly good template for a bookish day out in the city.
The headline pick is the sort you'd expect from someone with a global platform: grand, wanderable institutions where browsing feels like an event. Daunt Books on Marylebone High Street is the classic — oak galleries, skylights, and travel writing arranged by country, a shop that rewards an hour of aimless browsing. Foyles on Charing Cross Road carries the weight of a century of London bookselling across several sprawling floors, and it sits conveniently near the West End if you want to pair books with a show.
What makes Lipa's list interesting for travellers is that it leans indie as well as iconic. London's smaller shops — the neighbourhood bookstores of Notting Hill, Soho, Peckham and beyond — are where you'll find staff picks, signed copies and a sense of the city's actual reading culture rather than its postcard version. Several now double as coffee stops or host evening author events, so timing a visit around a talk can turn a simple bookshop crawl into a proper night out.
Practically speaking, these shops cluster well for walking. Marylebone sits north of Oxford Street; Charing Cross Road runs into Soho; Notting Hill is a short Tube ride west. You could comfortably cover two or three in an afternoon, breaking for lunch in between. Book East London too if you have time — the likes of Shoreditch and Hackney have a strong crop of independents, and Dua Lipa herself grew up in the area, so it fits the story of how her reading life started.
Why should a visitor care? Because bookshops are one of London's most weatherproof pleasures. Rain outside, a shelf of new novels and a café inside — it's an easy, affordable way to spend a day, and it takes you into neighbourhoods you might otherwise skip. Pick up a copy of one of her book club titles and you'll come home with both a souvenir and a conversation starter.
