Best Libraries in London

Barbican Library offers a 30-minute mindfulness and meditation session every Tuesday lunchtime, focusing on breathwork and present-moment awareness.

A friendly council library that is perfect for settling in with a novel or notebook, and which hosts book clubs, a DVD collection, and a reliable printer.

A stunning library at the V&A museum, only open Tuesday to Thursday, with giant shelves and an aesthetic that makes you feel like you’re inside a book.

A library on the sixth floor of the LSE old building, featuring creepy portraits, squashy armchairs, a terrace with a lovely view, and choir rehearsals on Tuesday evenings.

A cosy space with curiosities and odd medical objects, where quiet conversation is encouraged and the lighting is perfect for reading, sketching, or staring at strange objects.

The British Library is hosting an event discussing Netflix's adaptation of Agatha Christie’s The Seven Dials Mystery and also Présencia & Resistencia: A Wasafiri Celebration of Latinx Writing.

Carnegie Library hosts Jack Fairweather discussing his book The Prosecutor and Elias Jahshan discussing the anthology This Queer Arab Family.

Highgate Literary & Scientific Institution is hosting a lecture by Grace Livingstone on the history of United States interventions in Latin America.

Brixton Library is hosting Professor Keon West and Dr Peter Olusoga to discuss The Science of Racism.

Highgate Library Hall is hosting Chalk Farm Railway Lands by Peter Darley and The Shortest History of Japan.

The London Library is hosting The London Library Emerging Writers Programme Showcase 2026, Art/Lit Salon: Gertrude Stein and The Mitfords.

Reference Point is hosting Royal Society of Literature: Inside Visual Storytelling.

Mayfair Library is hosting Mayfair Mini Book Fair.

A library that was worked in and enjoyed.

A library that was worked in and enjoyed.

A library that was worked in and enjoyed.

Spending an afternoon here is considered heavenly.