Stoke-on-Trent, the Staffordshire city at the heart of the Potteries, concentrates its second-hand bookshops in Hanley, where Vellichor Books, RSPCA's New Chapters Bookshop and the bookshop at Bethel church on New Hall Street are a few minutes' walk apart, with the Emmaus superstore in The Potteries Centre and a Sunday car boot on Hinde Street close by. Longton, to the south-east, has a bookstall inside its indoor market, and next door Newcastle-under-Lyme has an Oxfam that makes a point of its book stock. Prices appear in sterling (£).
The bigger hauls take a short drive. Alsager, over the Cheshire border to the north-west, has a Methodist chapel crammed with donated books, while Leek, up towards the moorlands in the north-east, pairs a cellar bookshop with a Sunday car boot. To the north, the National Trust keeps second-hand bookshops for visitors at Biddulph Grange Garden and at Little Moreton Hall, each around eight miles out.
Drop City Books, which reopened on Piccadilly on 28 February 2026 after floods ruined its first shop on Broad Street (Stoke Nub News announced the date and The Sentinel covered the reopening), is a different proposition. It calls itself an independent, radical bookshop and sells online through Bookshop.org, so treat it as a place for author events and curated reading rather than a second-hand hunt.
New and pre-loved bookshop and caféVellichor Books
11-12 Piccadilly Arcade, Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent ST1 1DL
A bookshop and café in Hanley's Piccadilly Arcade whose website promises everything from pre-loved gems to the latest bestsellers, with milkshakes and comfy seats on the side. When it opened on 3 February 2024, the owner told The Sentinel that most of the stock was preloved, with comics, manga, some signed copies and books more than a century old among it. Stoke Nub News marked its second birthday on 4 February 2026 and listed what else goes on there: Dungeons and Dragons and Warhammer evenings, life drawing, ghost hunts and an upstairs room you can book for a club or a study session.
Hours: Mon–Sat 9am–5pm, Sun 11am–5pmWebsite Charity bookshop (RSPCA)RSPCA New Chapters Bookshop
6 Fountain Square, Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent ST1 1LG
The RSPCA's Staffordshire North branch keeps three shops at numbers 4, 6 and 8 Fountain Square in Hanley, and number 6, New Chapters, is the one given over to books. A copy of the branch's shop page archived on 18 May 2026 lists it with the same Monday-to-Saturday trading as its two neighbours and announces another branch shop opening in Fenton that month. Number 8 is the branch's music, movies and more shop, worth a look if you're after music and films too.
Hours: Mon–Sat 10am–4pmWebsite Charity bookshop (Methodist chapel)Alsager Book Emporium
Hassall Road Methodist Church, Hassall Rd, Alsager ST7 2HH
Over the Cheshire border in Alsager, part of Cheshire East about 7.9 miles north-west, a Methodist chapel on Hassall Road is packed with close to 60,000 donated second-hand books, all proceeds going to the Englesea Brook Chapel and Museum. Its Spring 2026 newsletter prices most of them between £1 and £3, counts some 20,000 religious titles, names Cheshire and Staffordshire local history among the steadiest sellers and points to a side room of First and Second World War books. Rare books go online and some donations are sold on to World of Books, the newsletter explains, and the till takes cards as well as cash.
Hours: Fri–Sat 10am–2pm, Bank Holiday Mon 10am–3pmWebsite Second-hand bookshopGallery Bookshop
The Gallery, 17 Broad St, Leek ST13 5NR
In Leek, the Staffordshire Moorlands market town about 8.8 miles north-east, the cellar of The Gallery on Broad Street is a bookshop that Picture Book, the town's new-book shop, describes on its website as mainly second-hand with some new and reduced titles. Totally Locally Leek featured the building on 13 September 2026, listing vintage books and antique book plates among its art, ceramics and gifts and calling The Gallery & Gallery Bookshop a proper Leek institution. Totally Locally Leek's undated listing for the shop gives The Gallery's own number, 01538 372961, and opening from 9am to 3pm on Mondays and 10am to 5pm Tuesday to Saturday, so ring to confirm before driving up.
Where can I find cheap used books in Stoke-on-Trent?
Make for Alsager Book Emporium on a Friday or Saturday: its Spring 2026 newsletter puts most of the stock at £1 to £3. Closer in, the RSPCA's New Chapters and Emmaus North Staffs' superstore in Hanley and the Oxfam on Ironmarket in Newcastle-under-Lyme sell donated books, and walking into the Leek car boot costs buyers nothing, though no seller there is bound to bring paperbacks.
Where do I sell used books in Stoke-on-Trent?
The charity counters here run on donations: Alsager Book Emporium takes bags and manageable boxes while it's open and asks you to email first about bigger loads, and the RSPCA Staffordshire North shops accept books with other goods. Cash comes from listing the books yourself: Vinted suits everyday paperbacks, eBay.co.uk the collectable editions, Amazon.co.uk the scarcer non-fiction. Photograph the shelf with BiblioScan first: every spine in that picture gets a resale estimate of its own, which settles what to list and what to drop off.
Which day is best for book hunting in Stoke-on-Trent?
Friday or Saturday. Those are the regular days for the Alsager chapel, which keeps a 10am to 2pm window, and Vellichor, New Chapters, Bethel Books and the Emmaus superstore in Hanley all trade on both. Sunday in Hanley means the Hinde Street car boot from 7am and Vellichor from 11am, while the Leek car boot runs on alternate weeks since its organiser switched it to fortnightly in September 2026.
Which charity shops have books in Stoke-on-Trent?
In Hanley, the RSPCA runs New Chapters at 6 Fountain Square as its bookshop and Emmaus North Staffs sells second-hand books among the furniture in its Potteries Centre superstore, and in Newcastle-under-Lyme the Oxfam on Ironmarket highlights its book range. Alsager's chapel bookshop raises money for the Englesea Brook museum, and the second-hand bookshops at Biddulph Grange and Little Moreton Hall belong to the National Trust. Dougie Mac's hospice shops welcome donated books, but none of them is billed as a bookshop.