A Top Ten Rating for Hurlingham Books
A 'narcotically addictive' declutterer's nightmare by Putney Bridge
Hurlingham Books. Picture: Hugh Thompson
August 18, 2026
Last week The Telegraph cited Hurlingham Books by Putney Bridge tube station as one of London's top ten independent book shops. Local literary worthies Edward Gibbon, Leonard Woolf and J.R. Ackerley would have approved,
As The Telegraph stated, "London is the perfect city to become immersed in literature...
“In addition to places of literary significance, the city is home to many independent bookshops, each with its own charm. We’ve sought the opinion of The Telegraph’s travel and culture experts to highlight 10 of the best in the capital.”
The front of Hurlingham Books could make professional declutterers squirm, but it is a firm favourite of David Alexander, a regular culture contributor to The Telegraph.
“A visit to this tiny Fulham bookshop, next to Putney Bridge, is an overwhelming sensory experience,” he says. “Books are piled, teeming, around you, in front of you and above you.
“They wobble on piles and pour down slopes of their siblings. Their smell is almost narcotically addictive. I’ve literally had to be pulled away.”
Hugh Thompson a regular user not least of the £1 rack says, “This is an absolute local gem not least because of my neighbour Ray Cole the owner, a mad Fulham fan. If you want something exotic if it’s not in the shop, it’s in his two million book warehouse by Wandsworth Bridge. But beware, if you get talking to Ray that’s the morning gone, Delightful."
Ray Cole a trained surveyor opened the shop as a spin off from his property and clearance business in 1968. Now well into what for many are retirement years, Ray still can't stop wheeling and dealing and loving the social interaction that dealing in books brings. As he says, "Bookshops are not just about books but keeping the art of conversation and listening alive"
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