Belfast, Northern Ireland, has several of its second-hand stops clustered just north of City Hall. Oxfam on Fountain Street, the Linen Hall charity bookshop at Rosemary and Lombard Street, Keats & Chapman on North Street, Oxfam Books on Ann Street and the Young Savage vintage shop on Church Lane all stand inside a 600-metre radius of it, and St George's Market, by the Waterfront Hall, lies at a similar distance to the east with a book stall among its Friday-to-Sunday traders. Oxfam's other book branch sits half a mile south on Botanic Avenue, Methodist College hosts the autumn book fair on the Malone Road, and the east of the city adds Oxfam shops on the Cregagh Road and in Ballyhackamore plus a Sunday car boot at Connswater. Holywood, five miles north-east on Belfast Lough in Ards and North Down, has two charity bookshops of its own. All prices are in pounds sterling.
The market is shrinking, and fast. The Irish News counted 15 bookshops left in the whole city on 21 April 2026, against 33 in a 1986 guide, and on 14 September 2026 the same paper reported that Keats & Chapman, the big second-hand shop on North Street, is to shut for good once October 2026 is over. In Dundonald, on the Lisburn and Castlereagh side of the urban area, Stacks Bookshop on the Comber Road has already gone, after the Belfast Telegraph reported its owner's retirement on 27 March 2026.
Two practical points save wasted trips. The Linen Hall moved its charity bookshop away from Royal Avenue to the old Caffè Nero corner on Rosemary Street in May 2026, so any listing that still says opposite CastleCourt is out of date. And Northern Ireland's Oxfam shops belong to Oxfam Ireland, registered with the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland as NIC100848, which keeps each branch's opening times on oxfamireland.org.
Library charity bookshopThe Linen Hall Charity Bookshop
Corner of Rosemary St and Lombard St, Belfast BT1 1RB
The fundraising shop of the Linen Hall library, trading from the former Caffè Nero on the corner of Rosemary Street and Lombard Street after leaving its unit across from CastleCourt; the library announced the reopening on Facebook on 27 May 2026. Every sale supports the library, and the stock it describes runs from popular fiction and classic literature through history, art and philosophy, with rare editions mixed in. Many of its rare and popular titles can also be browsed on the library's AbeBooks and eBay shops. Because space was tight after the move, the library asks donors to phone or email first instead of turning up with bags.
Hours: Mon 9am–5pm, Tue 10am–4pm, Wed–Fri 9am–5pm, Sat 10am–4pm; closed SunWebsite Oxfam bookshopOxfam Books Botanic
33 Botanic Ave, Belfast BT7 1JG
Oxfam Ireland's book branch on Botanic Avenue, half a mile south of City Hall, which its shop page says is run by a team of passionate book lovers and stocks books and media. The Irish News listed it among Belfast's 15 surviving bookshops on 21 April 2026. The shop's Instagram bio matches the hours on the Oxfam page, and that page adds that bank holidays follow the Sunday afternoon slot. Don't confuse it with the general Oxfam charity shop at number 88 on the same avenue.
Hours: Mon–Sat 9:30am–5:30pm, Sun 1pm–5pmWebsite Oxfam bookshopOxfam Books Ann Street
35 Ann St, Belfast BT1 4EB
Oxfam's second Belfast bookshop, on Ann Street in the shopping grid east of Donegall Place, where the Oxfam Ireland page accepts only books and music as donations. Its Instagram account, which bills it as the friendliest bookshop in Belfast, was recruiting volunteers with a Valentine's Day post on 14 February 2026. Like the Botanic branch, it trades on Sunday afternoons.
Hours: Mon–Fri 9:30am–5pm, Sat 10am–5pm, Sun 1pm–5pmWebsite Book fairBelfast Book Fair
Methodist College, 1 Malone Rd, Belfast BT9 6BY
A one-day book fair inside Methodist College on the Malone Road, roughly one mile from City Hall, close to Queen's University. A Facebook post from the fair, dated 4 September 2026, fixed the next edition for Saturday 24 October 2026, promising thousands of rare books and long out-of-print editions besides ordinary second-hand stock, prints and postcards. Admission is £2, and accompanied children get in free.
Hours: Saturday 24 October 2026, 10am–4pmWebsite Where can I find cheap used books in Belfast?
The charity shops are the cheap end. Oxfam runs two bookshops in the city, on Botanic Avenue and on Ann Street, both open on Sunday afternoons, while the Linen Hall's shop on Rosemary Street sells donated books to fund the library, at what it calls great value. Keats & Chapman on North Street sells CDs at £2 and DVDs at £1 and keeps upwards of 30,000 books on the shelves until it closes in late October 2026, as the Irish News reported. On a Sunday morning the Connswater car boot is the gamble, since its organisers say nothing about books.
Where do I sell used books in Belfast?
Just two places named in this guide talk about buying at all. The York Road shop Belfast Books buys by appointment against a World of Books valuation, adding a tenth more in cash or a fifth more in credit, but only within its list, and Keats & Chapman answers the question in its FAQ with a message-us-first, it depends on what you have. The Linen Hall shop and the Oxfam branches take donations, not purchases. Before splitting the pile, give BiblioScan one photo of the stacked spines: every title the app recognises gets its likely resale price printed beside it, and the high scorers are the ones to sell through your own account, whether that means Vinted, an eBay.co.uk listing or Amazon.co.uk, with the remainder bound for a charity bookshop.
Which day is best for book hunting in Belfast?
Saturday 24 October 2026, when the Belfast Book Fair fills Methodist College and each Belfast shop that posts its times opens that day too, with St George's Market trading until three. On an ordinary Saturday the Linen Hall shop shuts at four and Oxfam Cregagh at half past four, so do those first. Sunday runs in stages: the Connswater car boot until half eleven, St George's Market from ten, then the two Oxfam bookshops, Oxfam Fountain Street and Young Savage from one o'clock, while Keats & Chapman's website lists a Sunday afternoon that its Instagram bio leaves out. The Linen Hall shop, Ballyhackamore, Cregagh and the Holywood Oxfam bookshop are all closed on Sunday, and the market only opens Friday to Sunday, so midweek the book stall is not an option.
Are there any used book fairs in Belfast?
Yes. The Belfast Book Fair returns to Methodist College, Malone Road, on Saturday 24 October 2026, from ten until four, according to the organisers' Facebook post, promising thousands of scarce titles on the tables along with prints and postcards. Entry costs £2 and accompanied children go in free. Miss it and there is no second day.