Where to buy used books in Luton

Updated 01/10/2026

Inside the borough of Luton, the Bedfordshire town on the M1, the book stops here are Brown Books, the community bookshop in High Town, and Sue Ryder's big shop on Marsh Road in Leagrave. Beyond the boundary, within about ten miles, Harpenden, St Albans and Hitchin each have an Oxfam bookshop, St Albans adds the weekend-only vintage floor at Books on the Hill, Letchworth has the upstairs second-hand room at David's Bookshop, Dunstable has Autism Bedfordshire's charity shop, and Redbourn's showground hosts a Sunday car boot. Prices, where given, are in pounds sterling.

Harpenden and Redbourn lie 2.5 miles apart on the road south, and in St Albans the Oxfam on Catherine Street and Books on the Hill sit 550 metres apart, which makes a single southern loop easy. Hitchin and Letchworth, three miles apart, pair up the same way to the north-east. Harpenden posts its bookshop hours on Instagram and Hitchin's last appeared in a June 2025 press report, whereas the St Albans branch asks callers to phone, so check before setting off.

Spot map

The best spots

Community bookshop

Brown Books

77 High Town Rd, Luton LU2 0BW

Brown Books is the not-for-profit community bookshop that Luton Literature CIC runs at 77 High Town Road, just over the railway station bridge from the town centre, and most of what it shelves is pre-loved, with some new titles mixed in. A flood pushed the shop into a temporary unit at Luton Point shopping centre from 17 March 2025, and a news post from St Matthew's Primary School dated 24 September 2025 invited families to the reopening party back on High Town Road that Saturday. The shop also sells through eBay, and an Instagram post of 16 January 2026 showed a donated Lord of the Rings find on its way there, and author events, writing workshops and D&D sessions are held among the shelves.

Website

Oxfam Books & Music

Oxfam Books & Music Harpenden

5 Harding Parade, Harpenden AL5 4SW

Harpenden, a commuter town in the St Albans district six miles south-south-east of Luton's centre by straight line, has an Oxfam Books & Music at 5 Harding Parade, which Oxfam's page places a minute from the station on foot. A 13 May 2026 Wayback Machine capture of that page sets out books, vinyl, DVDs and sheet music, a strong children's section, and older history and collectable titles that sell well. The opening times come from the shop's own Instagram profile, which also points to Oxfam's clothes and homewares shop next door at number 3.

Hours: Mon–Sat 9am–5pm, Sun 10am–3pmWebsite

Independent bookshop (second-hand upstairs)

David's Bookshop

14 Eastcheap, Letchworth Garden City SG6 3DE

In Letchworth Garden City, also in North Hertfordshire and 10.3 miles north-east of Luton, David's Bookshop on Eastcheap sells mainly new books, yet an upper floor holds its second-hand department. A Facebook post of 11 February 2025 reported a windfall of lovely books arriving there, and an Instagram post of 4 March 2025 conceded that many customers don't know the upstairs room exists. Part of the second-hand stock is listed on AbeBooks, and the shop's bookshop.org profile adds a music department, gifts and a café across its two floors.

Website

Independent bookshop (vintage & antiquarian)

Books on the Hill

1 Holywell Hill, St Albans AL1 1ER

Also in St Albans, at 1 Holywell Hill, Books on the Hill opened on 11 November 2019 and sells mostly new titles on the ground floor, where a Curiosity Cabinet holds rare books and first editions. The vintage and antiquarian books fill green wooden shelves upstairs in its Reading Rooms, past a Daphne du Maurier exhibition, and the shop's page for those rooms, archived by the Wayback Machine as early as 21 February 2026, says every one of them is for sale. The Reading Rooms open at weekends only, Saturday until 5:30pm and Sunday until 4pm, so a weekday visit finds just the downstairs shop.

Hours: Reading Rooms: Sat 10am–5:30pm, Sun 11am–4pmWebsite

All spots by type

Charity shops

Charity shop (Sue Ryder)

Sue Ryder Luton Leagrave

199-203 Marsh Rd, Leagrave, Luton LU3 2QQ

Up in Leagrave, on Luton's north-west side, Sue Ryder's Marsh Road shop sits 1.7 miles from the town centre and goes by the name Luton Leagrave Superstore, with furniture leading its description, from sofas and dining sets to bedroom pieces. Books come further down, in a line offering a wide choice of bric-a-brac, books, DVDs, toys and music, which the Internet Archive's copy of 13 May 2026 carries word for word along with the seven-day hours. There's parking at the side, and donations are handed in at the front door while the shop is open.

Hours: Mon–Sat 9:30am–5pm, Sun 10am–4pmWebsite

Oxfam Bookshop

Oxfam Bookshop Hitchin

7a Market Place, Hitchin SG5 1DR

Over in Hitchin, the North Hertfordshire market town 7.3 miles east-north-east of Luton, Oxfam keeps a bookshop at 7a Market Place. The Comet reported on 23 June 2025 that the charity had stopped selling clothes and toys there and turned the branch into a bookshop of fiction, non-fiction and children's titles, with vinyl and DVDs alongside. The shop gave the paper its times as 10am to 4pm, Monday to Saturday, while Oxfam's own page, unchanged since its 19 April 2026 Wayback Machine snapshot, still refers callers to 01462 456638, so a quick call before travelling is sensible.

Hours: Mon–Sat 10am–4pmWebsite

Oxfam Bookshop

Oxfam Bookshop St Albans

8-10 Catherine St, St Albans AL3 5BX

In St Albans, the cathedral city ten miles south-south-east and outside Luton's borough, Oxfam's bookshop is at 8-10 Catherine Street. The branch page, in its 8 June 2026 Wayback Machine capture, gives donated music equal billing with the books, from vintage vinyl and CDs to sheet music, and adds greetings cards, maps and stamps. Hours aren't published for this branch, so phone 01727 861589; Books on the Hill is 0.3 miles off on Holywell Hill.

Website

Charity shop (Autism Bedfordshire)

Autism Bedfordshire Charity Shop

47 Lowther Rd, Dunstable LU6 3NL

In Dunstable, in Central Bedfordshire four miles west-south-west of Luton town centre, Autism Bedfordshire runs a charity shop on Lowther Road whose takings fund its work with autistic people and their families. Its shop page puts books alongside clothes, toys, DVDs and household goods, and gives 9am to 5pm every day while warning that times vary (an older, undated page on the charity's site said Monday to Saturday), so ring 01582 472411 first. On 18 August 2025 the shop's Facebook page asked donors to check before dropping off items it can't sell, which it said cost the charity around £7,000 a year to dispose of.

Website

Car boot sales & markets

Car boot sale

Redbourn Car Boot Sale

Herts Showground, Dunstable Rd, Redbourn AL3 7PT

Out at the Herts Showground in Redbourn, in the St Albans district 5.2 miles south of Luton and close to junction 9 of the M1, Countryside Promotions runs a car boot it dates to 1992 and sizes at 500 sellers. Its page gives the season as most Sundays and bank holiday Mondays from the first Sunday in April to the last Sunday in October, and the organiser's Facebook post at 5am on Sunday 27 September 2026 confirmed that morning's sale was going ahead. Buyers pay £3 at 9:30am, £2 from 10am and £1 from 11am, with no £20 notes taken at the public gates, and books never come up in the organiser's details, so any paperbacks are luck.

Hours: Most Sun, Apr–Oct, 9:30am–2pmWebsite

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

Pulloxhill Car Boot Sale, on Flitton Road about seven miles north of Luton in Central Bedfordshire, says on its website that the sale on Sunday 11 October will be the last one for 2026, weather permitting, with entry for buyers costing £1. The organiser promises to update that notice early on the morning itself, and books get no mention.
Keech Hospice Care lists seven shops in Luton, among them Park Street in the town centre, Stopsley, Sundon Park, Leagrave and Birdsfoot Lane, plus a homeware shop on Finway, but none of the entries says whether books are stocked. On 1 October 2026 Keech's own list flagged its Outlet on the Britannia Estate, Leagrave Road, as closing on 23 October.
The Salvation Army's charity shop in The Mall asks for clothing, bedding, shoes, handbags, toys and bric-a-brac, and NOAH Enterprise's community shops in High Town and Lewsey Farm describe much the same mix; neither charity's shop pages mention books, so don't build a trip around them.
Oxfam's general shop at 161 Hatfield Road in St Albans includes books in the donations it takes, which makes it a possible extra stop on a St Albans trip; Oxfam doesn't publish its hours.

Frequently asked questions

Where can I find cheap used books in Luton?

Begin at Brown Books in High Town, the not-for-profit shop where pre-loved books outnumber new ones, then head to Sue Ryder in Leagrave, which opens seven days and sells donated books among everything else. For pocket-money entry, buyers pay £1 after 11am at the Redbourn car boot until the last Sunday in October, when the organiser's season ends, although the organiser makes no promise about books.

Where do I sell used books in Luton?

The charity shops around Luton take books as donations: Sue Ryder in Leagrave accepts them at the front door during opening hours, and Autism Bedfordshire in Dunstable asks donors who are unsure to check with the shop first. To raise money, list online with Vinted or Amazon.co.uk, auction on eBay.co.uk, or quote the lot to World of Books, which is where Ziffit's web address sent visitors in October 2026; Brown Books itself lists some donated finds on eBay. Ahead of listing, a single BiblioScan snap of your bookcase gives a resale estimate beside every spine the app can match, and the titles worth too little to post become your Leagrave bag.

Which charity shops have books in Luton?

Inside the borough, Sue Ryder's Leagrave shop on Marsh Road names books in its stock. Just beyond it, Oxfam runs book shops in Harpenden, Hitchin and St Albans, and Autism Bedfordshire's shop on Lowther Road in Dunstable lists books with its other donations. Keech Hospice has seven Luton addresses, but its shop list doesn't say which ones carry books.

Which day is best for book hunting in Luton?

Sunday, up to the October close of the Redbourn season: the car boot runs most Sundays from 9:30am, Oxfam Harpenden's bookshop opens until 3pm, and Sue Ryder in Leagrave and the Books on the Hill Reading Rooms both stay open until 4pm. Saturday brings longer hours at those three and adds the Hitchin Oxfam, which told The Comet it trades Monday to Saturday; from Monday to Friday the upstairs antiquarian room in Holywell Hill stays shut, according to the shop's Reading Rooms page.

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Nearby cities

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