Bath, the Georgian spa city in the West Country of England, has the bulk of its used-book hunting within roughly half a mile of the Abbey. Skoobs keeps a paperback stall inside the Guildhall Market on the High Street, Oxfam keeps a shop for books and music on Lower Borough Walls, and Dorothy House, the local hospice, gives a whole shop on Broad Street to books, records and DVDs. Antiquarian stock sits at both ends of the centre: George Bayntun's bindery and bookshop by Bath Spa station, and Bath Old Books on Margaret's Buildings, a lane off Brock Street between the Circus and the Royal Crescent. Expect every price you see quoted below in British pounds.
Two general Oxfam shops add shelves of donated books, one on George Street and one on Argyle Street just over Pulteney Bridge. Up in Larkhall, out on the city's north-eastern fringe, The Beaufort Bookshop mixes new and second-hand titles. Further out, Ex Libris trades on The Shambles in Bradford on Avon, a short drive away over the Wiltshire border, and the Somerset market town of Frome, some ten miles to the south, adds an antiquarian bookshop on King Street and an Oxfam on Market Place. The antiquarian dealers also have a fixed date in the diary: the next fair from the PBFA and the ABA is set for the end of July 2027 in the riverside Pavilion, with George Bayntun organising.
By October 2026 a few older listings had gone stale. The web address once given for Bath Old Books redirects to an unrelated Romanian bookseller, so its Facebook page is the one to follow. Fact or Fable in Peasedown St John, which also trades as BookLovers of Bath, has closed its shop to browsers during a refit, says its own site, and sees people by arrangement only.
Antiquarian bookseller and binderyGeorge Bayntun
23 Manvers Street, Bath BA1 1JW
Roughly 500 yards south-south-east of the Guildhall, the bookshop and the Bayntun-Riviere bindery fill a listed building put up in 1901 as the city's post office sorting office, and the binders still work at the benches once used for sorting mail, according to the firm's website. Fine bindings, first and illustrated editions and English literature line three floors, while a second-hand department in the basement takes in all subjects, leaning towards 19th- and 20th-century writing. On 20 August 2026 its news page invited visitors to come in and see the prize-winning bindings from the Society of Bookbinders' International Bookbinding Competition 2026, then on display in the shop. The doors shut for an hour at lunch, and anyone travelling in with books for an opinion or a repair should book by phone or email first.
Hours: Mon–Fri 9am–1pm, 2pm–5pmWebsite Second-hand and antiquarian bookshopBath Old Books
9c Margaret's Buildings, Brock Street, Bath BA1 2LP
Tucked into the pedestrian lane off Brock Street, about 800 yards north-west of the Guildhall, a dealers' shop that the Solosophie travel blog's Bath bookshop guide, last revised in March 2026, credits with a particular line in books about Bath itself. Its Facebook page showed off window displays and new stock during 2026, from a National Year of Reading shelf on 3 January to a post of 2 May headed simply 'New books in'. A notice of 6 October 2025 set closing time at half past four on every day the shop trades, Monday to Saturday, with Sundays kept shut, and the partners ask anyone making a special journey to ring 01225 422244 on the day; on Wednesday 24 June 2026 they announced a one-day heatwave closure for the next day.
Market book stallSkoobs Book Stall
40-42 Guildhall Market, High St, Bath BA2 4AW
Inside the covered market hall that adjoins the Guildhall, this stall has traded for more than 40 years by its own account on the market's website, as archived in September 2026. The racks are mostly paperback fiction in every genre, crime, sci-fi, fantasy, sagas and classics among them, with biography, travel writing and military history alongside; round the curve of the same stall you'll find mats and rugs. Skoobs buys second-hand paperbacks in good condition and invites sellers to ask at the counter how its buying works.
Hours: Mon–Sat 9:30am–5pmWebsite Oxfam Books & MusicOxfam Bookshop Bath
4/5 Lower Borough Walls, Bath BA1 1QR
Oxfam's dedicated book-and-record branch, a short walk south-west of the Abbey on Lower Borough Walls, opened in 2001 according to its shop page, which was unchanged when archived in June 2026. That page claims no single specialism, though it says history titles and vinyl often do particularly well; discs on CD and DVD complete the range, and local book banks keep the shelves supplied. The Solosophie guide's March 2026 revision adds sheet music to the mix; no opening grid is published, so call 01225 469776 before a special trip.
Charity bookshop (Dorothy House Hospice)Dorothy House Book and Media Shop
37 Broad St, Bath BA1 5LP
Dorothy House, a hospice charity whose shops stretch from Bath out into Wiltshire, lists this Broad Street branch as its book and media shop, selling donated books, vinyl records, DVDs and music to pay for end-of-life care. Solosophie's guide, revised in March 2026, calls it a charity bookshop stocked with what local people have read and passed on. The hospice's page showed Sundays as closed when archived in May 2026, but its October 2026 grid adds Sunday opening.
Hours: Mon–Sat 9:30am–5pm, Sun 10am–4pmWebsite Where can I find cheap used books in Bath?
Start in the Guildhall Market, where Skoobs racks up second-hand paperback fiction in every genre, then cross Pulteney Bridge to the Argyle Street Oxfam, whose branch page mentions books for children as well as adults. The Broad Street hospice shop and the Lower Borough Walls Oxfam are both given over to donated books and music, and the George Street Oxfam keeps a books section among its clothes. For older or scarcer titles, the basement at George Bayntun covers every subject, and The Frome Bookshop starts its range at £2 for Penguin paperbacks.
Where do I sell used books in Bath?
Skoobs buys good-condition second-hand paperbacks at its Guildhall Market stall, so pop in and ask about terms. George Bayntun offers valuations, and rebinding or repair work, to anyone who books a slot first, and the Peasedown St John dealer Fact or Fable takes selling enquiries by email, though it has stopped buying paperback fiction; The Frome Bookshop wants photos by email first and asks sellers not to arrive with books unannounced. Got a whole carton of mixed stock? Fan it out with the spines facing up and photograph the lot in one go: BiblioScan then pins a second-hand price on every title whose spine it can place, sorting out the keepers for Vinted or the UK Amazon and eBay sites from the bags bound for a local hospice shop.
Which charity shops have books in Bath?
Two are built around books: the Oxfam bookshop on Lower Borough Walls, trading since 2001, and Dorothy House's book and media shop on Broad Street. The general Oxfam branches on George Street and Argyle Street both name books and music on their own pages, as does the Oxfam on Market Place in Frome, which mentions an eclectic mix of books. Other Bath charity shops, the British Heart Foundation and Mind among them, may have a shelf or two, but only the charities' national descriptions mention books, not any page for a Bath branch.
Are there any used book fairs in Bath?
Yes: the PBFA, working with the ABA, has its Bath fair down for 30 and 31 July 2027, a Friday and a Saturday, in the Pavilion on North Parade Road, with doors open from noon until six on the first day and from ten until four on the second, for £2 a head. The 2026 edition used the same hall at the end of July, and both antiquarian shops in town promoted it ahead of time.
Which day is best for book hunting in Bath?
Tuesday to Friday, when every shop above that publishes hours is open, George Bayntun and The Frome Bookshop included, and Bath Old Books trades until 4:30pm. Monday loses only the Frome shop, while Saturday keeps Skoobs, Bath Old Books, Frome and the two Bath charity shops with posted hours but loses Bayntun, which works weekdays only. On Sunday the Dorothy House book shop opens from 10am and the George Street Oxfam from noon; Skoobs, Bath Old Books and Bayntun stay shut, and the Frome shop usually joins in only when the monthly Frome Independent market is running.