Where to buy used books in Leicester

Updated 01/10/2026

Leicester, in the East Midlands, keeps every city shop listed here within about 1.5 miles of the Clock Tower. The densest patch is Clarendon Park, where LOROS and Age UK each run a book-only charity shop on Queens Road and Clarendon Books trades a short walk away on Clarendon Park Road. Tin Drum Books holds the west side on Narborough Road, and Got Enough Books sells art and design titles a few minutes' walk east of the centre. All sums quoted below are in pounds sterling.

Oadby, where Age UK has a second bookshop on The Parade, joins the city to the south-east. Blaby district, to the west and south-west, adds a village bookshop in Kirby Muxloe and two Sunday car boots, one off Desford Road near Thurlaston and one on Broughton Road near Stoney Stanton. Beyond them the trail runs north into Charnwood, through Rothley and Syston to Loughborough, and south-east to Market Harborough, 14 miles out, which fits two charity bookshops and a dealers' fair into its centre.

Old directories trip people up on Queens Road. LOROS swapped premises between its bookshop and its Spiral Scratch music shop in June 2026, so since then any listing that still puts the books at number 85 sends you to records, CDs and instruments instead. And Black Cat Bookshop, according to its website, shut its Charles Street premises in July 2007 and has traded by post and at fairs ever since.

Spot map

The best spots

Second-hand bookshops

Clarendon Books

144 Clarendon Park Rd, Leicester LE2 3AE

An open shop in Clarendon Park, 1.5 miles south-south-east of the centre, kept by a member of the Provincial Booksellers Fairs Association; its PBFA profile says the general stock leans towards history, especially Leicestershire and Rutland, plus literature and art, and that the firm is always keen to buy antiquarian, collectable and private press books. Visit Leicester picked it out on 18 July 2025 as one of the area's longest-running shops, a treasure trove of second-hand books, rare prints and first editions beside The Offie. The PBFA shop page promises Monday-to-Saturday trading until 5:30pm in its text, yet its timetable closes at 5pm, starts at 10:30am on Saturdays and marks Sunday closed, so phone 0116 270 1856 before a late visit.

Website

Second-hand bookshops

Tin Drum Books

68 Narborough Rd, Leicester LE3 0BR

A secondhand bookshop on Narborough Road, 0.8 miles south-west of the Clock Tower; its Facebook intro promises plenty of modern fiction, science fiction and thrillers with a good collection of poetry. The page keeps showing what comes in: Star Trek and Doctor Who titles on 24 February 2026, Victor annuals on 24 March and a batch of Marvel and manga on 3 June 2026. There is no published timetable, so call 0116 254 4607 before you make the trip.

Website

Charity bookshop (LOROS)

LOROS Bookshop

63 Queens Rd, Leicester LE2 1TT

The hospice charity LOROS runs this books-only shop on Queens Road in Clarendon Park, about 1.4 miles south-south-east, with fiction, non-fiction and a room set aside for children's titles. It used to trade at number 85; on 18 June 2026 LOROS reported that its Spiral Scratch music shop had reopened there and that the bookshop would take over number 63, the old Spiral Scratch unit, after a light refurbishment. The charity's shop page limits book donations to five boxes per visit.

Hours: Mon–Sat 9:30am–4:30pm, Sun 10am–4pmWebsite

Charity bookshop (Age UK)

Age UK Market Harborough Bookshop

16 The Square, Market Harborough LE16 7PA

In Market Harborough, a Harborough district town 14 miles south-east, this Age UK bookshop on the Square won the most public votes in the East Midlands bookshop category of the My Local Awards 2026, the Harborough Mail reported on 7 September 2026, and its manager pointed out that it had been up against other bookshops, not only charity ones. The charity promises low prices, a fast turnover of biographies, history, military and children's books, and staff who will run upstairs to check the stockroom for a title. On 1 October 2026 it offered old and new Beano and Dandy comics in bundles of ten for £5.

Hours: Mon–Sat 9am–4:30pm, Sun 10am–4pmWebsite

All spots by type

Second-hand bookshops

Second-hand art bookshop

Got Enough Books

LCB Depot, 31 Rutland St, Leicester LE1 1RE

Inside the LCB Depot in the Cultural Quarter, a quarter of a mile east of the centre, a shop for second-hand books on art, fashion, design and other corners of creative culture, sold beside art prints. Its Facebook page called it Leicester's second hand art bookshop on 4 August 2026 and asked visitors to call in Monday to Friday. The same page announced an adaptation book club with Phoenix Leicester, screening a film every two months from 3 October 2026.

Website

New and second-hand bookshop

The Gray and White Bookshop

47 Main St, Kirby Muxloe LE9 2AN

In Kirby Muxloe, a Blaby district village about four miles west of the centre, an independent bookshop next to The Royal Oak pub that described itself on Facebook on 29 August 2026 as selling new and preloved books, together with art supplies, local makers' work, crystals and cards. On 21 August 2026 it thanked the donors who had filled its preloved shelves and stockroom, and said it had to stop taking book donations for a while because there was no room left. Its website shows the door shut on Mondays and Tuesdays, so save the trip for later in the week or for Sunday.

Hours: Wed–Sat 10am–5pm, Sun 10am–4pmWebsite

Motoring literature specialist

Pooks Motor Books

Unit 4, Victoria Mills, Fowke St, Rothley LE7 7PJ

Over in Rothley, a Charnwood village five miles north, a specialist in old motoring paper whose website lists sales brochures, manufacturers' manuals, handbooks, marque histories, motor sport magazines and programmes, with stock dating back to 1896. The firm says its holdings run to millions of items, far more than it can list, and that visitors are welcome in a shop that goes back and back. Weekends are by appointment only, and its 2026 events page has it at the Stafford classic motorcycle show on 10 and 11 October and at the NEC Classic Motor Show from 13 to 15 November, so call before travelling on a show Friday.

Hours: Mon–Fri 9am–5:30pmWebsite

Charity shops

Charity bookshop (Age UK)

Age UK Queens Road Bookshop

74 Queens Rd, Leicester LE2 1TU

Across Queens Road from LOROS, Age UK Leicester Shire & Rutland keeps a second books-only shop in Clarendon Park. Its page lists graphic novels, art books, popular science and novels and says academic texts and classics are much in demand with students trying to cut the cost of a reading list; a copy of that page in the Internet Archive dated 12 May 2026 carries the same wording and hours. The organisation calls itself a local independent charity, and its shop pages on Facebook say every penny raised stays local.

Hours: Mon–Sat 9am–4:30pmWebsite

Charity bookshop (Age UK)

Age UK Oadby Bookshop

68 The Parade, Oadby LE2 5BF

In Oadby, within the borough of Oadby and Wigston about 3.2 miles south-east, Age UK runs a dedicated bookshop on The Parade, apart from its clothes shop in the same suburb. The charity pitches it at readers hunting for something special for themselves or as a gift, across a wide spread of genres, and an archived copy of its page from 13 May 2026 shows the same address and timetable. Ring 0116 271 8197 to ask about a particular subject.

Hours: Mon–Sat 9am–4:30pmWebsite

Charity bookshop (Age UK)

Age UK Syston Bookshop (The Old Bookshop)

The Old Bookshop, 1306 Melton Rd, Syston LE7 2HD

In Syston, in Charnwood five miles north-north-east, Age UK turned a unit still signed The Old Bookshop back into a bookshop, opening it with a party on Wednesday 13 March 2024 that Syston Town News covered. The reporter found children's and young adult fiction, study books and cookery among the donations, and a counter faced with the spines of old books. A copy of the charity's shop page archived on 17 February 2026 gives the same Melton Road address and Monday-to-Saturday trading.

Hours: Mon–Sat 9am–4:30pmWebsite

Oxfam Books & Music

Oxfam Books & Music Loughborough

53 Market St, Loughborough LE11 3ER

In Loughborough, the Charnwood market town almost ten miles north-north-west, Oxfam keeps its books-and-music shop on Market Street, where records, CDs and DVDs fill some of the racks too. Its Facebook page put a 1971 one-volume paperback of The Lord of the Rings in the shop at £30 on 4 July 2026, then posted fresh donations of classics on 7 July and art books on 11 July. Oxfam's page gives no timetable, so ring 01509 235072.

Website

Oxfam Books & Music

Oxfam Books & Music Market Harborough

8a High St, Market Harborough LE16 7NJ

A couple of minutes from the Square on High Street in Market Harborough, Oxfam's books and music shop stands close to the charity's general shop at number 5 and also carries vinyl, CDs, DVDs and cards. The shop's Facebook feed singled out, on 13 August 2026, a good run of local history on the town and its surroundings. A post of 3 June 2026 repeated an offer first made on 15 December 2025: free collection of larger donations within ten miles of the shop.

Website

Car boot sales & markets

Car boot sale

Croft Car Boot

Broughton Rd, Stoney Stanton LE9 4JA

In Blaby district, on Broughton Road between Croft and Stoney Stanton about eight miles south-west, a car boot that its organiser says is held on Sundays and on bank holiday Mondays, weather permitting. The website listed Sunday 4 October 2026 for its coming sale, with gates open from 5:30am and buyers paying £1, accompanied under-12s free. Books get no mention from the organiser, so a box of paperbacks is luck rather than a promise, and a 24-hour phone line on the site carries weather updates.

Website

Car boot sale

A47 Car Boot

Desford Rd, Thurlaston LE9 9JE

Also in Blaby district, on Desford Road near Thurlaston about six miles west-south-west, a car boot whose Facebook page describes a season of Sundays from March to October, weather permitting, from 6am. On Monday 28 September 2026 the organiser announced the following sale for Sunday 4 October 2026, with public admission at £1.50, under-12s free, and catering and flush toilets on the field. Neither that post nor the page itself says anything about books, so any paperbacks depend on what the sellers happen to load into their cars.

Website

Book fairs

PBFA book fair

PBFA Market Harborough Book Fair

Congregational Church Centre, High St, Market Harborough LE16 7JD

At the Congregational Church on the corner of High Street and Bowden Lane in Market Harborough, the Provincial Booksellers Fairs Association hosts a dealers' fair of around 20 stands selling second-hand, rare and antiquarian books, maps, prints and ephemera. The spring fair took place on Saturday 9 May 2026 with entry at £1, and the PBFA listing names Wednesday 30 December 2026 as the second date of 2026. Market Harborough station is just under a mile away, the same listing adds.

Hours: Last documented: 9 May 2026, 10am–4pmWebsite

Scan before you buy

At every one of these spots, snap the shelf with BiblioScan: the AI identifies each book and shows its real resale price. Walk out with profitable books, not random boxes.

Try BiblioScan for free

Local sourcing tips

James M Pickard (Rare Books), a member of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association since 2013 according to the ABA, deals from private premises on Grenfell Road in LE2 and receives visitors by appointment only, seven days a week. Arrange a visit through the ABA profile rather than knocking on the door.
Black Cat Bookshop, which started out in the Silver Arcade and later moved to Charles Street, has, by its website's account, a stall of old books and printed ephemera on Leicester Market on most Wednesdays. The latest fair list on that site covers 2025, so treat the stall as worth a look while in town rather than a reason to travel.
Loughborough has a second book-only charity shop: Age UK's bookshop at 9 Biggin Street, roughly 200 yards along from the Oxfam on Market Street, according to the charity's list of shops. Pair the two on one visit.
Kibworth Books, in The Barn on the High Street at Kibworth Beauchamp about nine miles south-east, is an independent seller of new titles whose website also carries a Secondhand, Rare & Antiquarian section online. Ask at the counter before assuming any of that stock is on the shelves in the shop.
Not every charity shop on the high street is worth a detour for books. Oxfam's page for its Queen's Road shop lists clothing, homewares and music, and the reuse shop at the Gypsum Close recycling centre takes anything usable without singling out books, so treat them as extras around the bookshops above.

Frequently asked questions

Where can I find cheap used books in Leicester?

Start with the charity bookshops. Age UK's Market Harborough branch, which says it keeps prices low, was selling Beano and Dandy comics at ten for £5 in October 2026, and LOROS and Age UK face each other across Queens Road for a two-shop morning. The PBFA fair in Market Harborough charges £1 at the door, the Croft car boot asks the same from buyers on a Sunday, and the A47 car boot near Thurlaston takes £1.50 a head.

Where do I sell used books in Leicester?

Clarendon Books is the counter to try: the PBFA profile says the firm is eager to purchase stock in its antiquarian, collectable and private press categories, so phone first with a list. Ordinary paperbacks make better donations to LOROS, which takes up to five boxes a visit, or to Oxfam in Market Harborough, which collects free within ten miles. Anything stronger can go on Vinted or the UK arms of eBay and Amazon; one BiblioScan photo of a full shelf puts a resale estimate against each spine, so the copies worth listing yourself stand out before anything is boxed.

Which day is best for book hunting in Leicester?

Saturday covers most ground, since LOROS, Clarendon Books, the Gray and White Bookshop and every Age UK bookshop on this page trade then, with Clarendon opening at 10:30am. Sunday still works at LOROS, at Age UK in Market Harborough and at the Kirby Muxloe bookshop, all three from 10am, and both Blaby car boots run that morning, the A47 one until its season ends in October. Pooks in Rothley opens to callers on weekdays, with weekends by appointment, and Got Enough Books invited visitors Monday to Friday in its August 2026 post, so a Saturday plan leaves both out.

Which charity shops have books in Leicester?

In the city, LOROS at 63 Queens Road and Age UK at 74 Queens Road are both book-only shops, and Age UK has a third at 68 The Parade in Oadby. Further out, Age UK runs bookshops in Syston, Loughborough and Market Harborough, while Oxfam has books and music branches in Loughborough's Market Street and on Market Harborough's High Street.

When is the big book sale in Leicester?

The nearest dealers' fair is the PBFA one in Market Harborough, about 14 miles south-east, at the Congregational Church on High Street. Its spring edition ran on 9 May 2026, and the PBFA lists Wednesday 30 December 2026 for the next one, describing a fair of around 20 dealers.

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Nearby cities

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