Bookstores in Plymouth
Bookstores reward the browsers. Plymouth, England has 21 mapped right now. That's 21 bookshops mapped around Plymouth, each with its own shelves and specialties. The used sections are where the real bargains hide.
This guide covers every bookstore we could verify in and around Plymouth (within about 40 km), built from OpenStreetMap's community-maintained data. Names you'll run into include Cotehele Bookshop and The Harbour Bookshop, plus Bookends of Fowey. If a bookshop's missing from Plymouth's list, it probably just hasn't been mapped yet.
The Plymouth bookstore lineup
21 mapped within about 40 km:
Cotehele Bookshop
BookstoreRun by National Trust
Cotehele Bookshop is Bookstore run by National Trust.
The Harbour Bookshop
Bookstore
The Harbour Bookshop is Bookstore. The Harbour Bookshop also notes on the map: the map lists its hours as Mo-Fr 09:00-16:00; Sa 10:00-16:00.
Hours: Mo-Fr 09:00-16:00; Sa 10:00-16:00
Bookends of Fowey
Bookstore
Bookends of Fowey is Bookstore on 4 South Street, Fowey. Bookends of Fowey also notes on the map: the map lists its hours as Mo-Sa 10:30-17:00; it has a website with more detail.
4 South Street, Fowey, PL23 1AR
Hours: Mo-Sa 10:30-17:00
The Old Hall Bookshop
Bookstore
The Old Hall Bookshop is Bookstore. The Old Hall Bookshop also notes on the map: the map lists its hours as "by appointment"; a phone number is listed — worth a call before a special trip.
Hours: "by appointment"
Phone: +44 1503 263700
Second hand book shop
Bookstore
Second hand book shop is Bookstore.
Browser
Bookstore
Browser — Bookstore, found on 3A Foss Street in Dartmouth. Also worth knowing about Browser: the map lists its hours as Mo-Sa 09:30-17:30; Su 11:00-16:00.
3A Foss Street, Dartmouth
Hours: Mo-Sa 09:30-17:30; Su 11:00-16:00
Waterstones
Bookstore
Waterstones — Bookstore. Also worth knowing about Waterstones: it has a website with more detail.
Castle Books
Bookstore
Castle Books — Bookstore on 4 Castle Street.
4 Castle Street
WHSmith
Bookstore
WHSmith is Bookstore on Duke Street, Tavistock. WHSmith also notes on the map: it has a website with more detail.
Duke Street, Tavistock
Astors Bookshop & Art Materials
Bookstore
Astors Bookshop & Art Materials — Bookstore.
Compass Books
Bookstore
Compass Books is Bookstore on 24 Lower Street, Dartmouth. Compass Books also notes on the map: the map lists its hours as Mo-Sa 10:00-16:00.
24 Lower Street, Dartmouth
Hours: Mo-Sa 10:00-16:00
Dartmouth Community Bookshop
Bookstore
Dartmouth Community Bookshop is Bookstore.
Dartmouth Communtiy Bookshop
Bookstore
Dartmouth Communtiy Bookshop is Bookstore on 9A Foss Street, Dartmouth. Dartmouth Communtiy Bookshop also notes on the map: the map lists its hours as Mo-Sa 10:00-17:00; Su 11:00-16:00; it has a website with more detail.
9A Foss Street, Dartmouth
Hours: Mo-Sa 10:00-17:00; Su 11:00-16:00
Rowan Tree Bookshop
Bookstore
Rowan Tree Bookshop is Bookstore on 46 Fore Street.
46 Fore Street
The Works
Bookstore
The Works — Bookstore, found on 15 Cornwall Street in Plymouth. Also worth knowing about The Works: it has a website with more detail.
15 Cornwall Street, Plymouth, PL1 1NL
The Book Cupboard
Bookstore
The Book Cupboard — Bookstore, found on 18 Parade in Plymouth. Also worth knowing about The Book Cupboard: a phone number is listed — worth a call before a special trip.
18 Parade, Plymouth, PL1 2JW
Phone: +44 1752226311
The Works
Bookstore
The Works — Bookstore. Also worth knowing about The Works: it has a website with more detail.
The Works
Bookstore
The Works — Bookstore, found on 45 The Broadway in Plymouth. Also worth knowing about The Works: the map lists its hours as Mo-Sa 09:00-17:30; Su 10:00-16:00.
45 The Broadway, Plymouth, PL9 7AF
Hours: Mo-Sa 09:00-17:30; Su 10:00-16:00
St Lukes Hospice Bookshop
Bookstore
St Lukes Hospice Bookshop — Bookstore, found on 33 The Broadway in Plymouth.
33 The Broadway, Plymouth, PL9 7AX
Book Stop
Bookstore
Book Stop — Bookstore.
Flux Books
Bookstore
Flux Books — Bookstore on 17 High Street. Also worth knowing about Flux Books: the map lists its hours as Mo-Sa 10:00-17:00; Su 10:00-16:00; it has a website with more detail.
17 High Street
Hours: Mo-Sa 10:00-17:00; Su 10:00-16:00
What the map tells us about bookstores in Plymouth
8 of the 21 list their opening hours on the map, which is genuinely useful — bookshops keep civilised hours, so the listed ones are usually reliable.
7 have websites listed. Worth a look for events — readings and signings get announced there first.
The Plymouth bookstore crawl
The efficient Plymouth bookstore crawl strings these together: Cotehele Bookshop, The Harbour Bookshop, Bookends of Fowey on 4 South Street, The Old Hall Bookshop, Second hand book shop, Browser on 3A Foss Street, Waterstones, and Castle Books on 4 Castle Street — 21 stops, one logical order. 13 more are listed below.
Bookstore tips for Plymouth
The regulars' playbook for Plymouth's bookshops:
- Magazines and journals matter at Cotehele Bookshop. The little-magazine rack is where new writers appear first. Cheap, weird, and full of discoveries.
- Don't skip the small press section at The Harbour Bookshop. The weird, wonderful stuff lives here. Small presses take the risks the big publishers won't.
- Support the shop's own publishing. Some independents publish local authors or print their own anthologies. Buying them funds the ecosystem directly.
- Learn your editions. A first edition, first printing is the collectible one. Booksellers will show you how to check the copyright page.
Good to know
We searched about 40 km around Plymouth — that covers the town itself plus the surrounding communities you'd reasonably drive to. Listings come from OpenStreetMap, mapped by local volunteers, so a brand-new bookstore in Plymouth can take a while to appear. If you spot one of the 21 that's closed, or a great bookstore we missed, the fix is to update the map itself — that's where this guide reads from.
We don't list prices — they change constantly and vary by edition. What we list is the where: real shops, verified by real mappers, in alphabetical order with no favourites.
If you run one of the 21 listed here and something's wrong — a closure, a move, new hours — the fix is the same: update the shop on OpenStreetMap and the correction flows through to this page on the next daily refresh.
Bookstore listings for Plymouth: 21 mapped from OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). Photos from Wikimedia Commons contributors; individual photo credits appear in captions. Listing data was last refreshed automatically — verify hours before visiting.