Where to buy used books in Wakefield

Updated 01/10/2026

Wakefield, a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, keeps its used books in small pockets rather than on a bookshop street. In the city centre, a book, record and curio shop trades on the lower mall of the Ridings, a 1983 shopping centre that the council intends to clear for a new Cathedral Quarter, and Wakefield Hospice sells books from a branch in the same centre and from its vintage shop on Teall Street, while Age UK Wakefield District has a shop on The Springs. Ossett, 3.4 miles to the west, gained a new and second-hand bookshop on Bank Street in June 2025, a few steps from another hospice branch in the Wellgate Centre.

Elsewhere in the district, the Prince of Wales Hospice runs shops in Castleford, Featherstone, Normanton, Knottingley, Fitzwilliam and South Elmsall whose own branch pages mention books, Age UK has a second shop on Horbury's High Street, and a field off Hemsworth Lane hosts a car boot on Wednesday mornings. Everything is priced in pounds sterling.

A full loop is easiest by car: the Ridings, The Springs and Teall Street on foot, then south-west through Horbury to Ossett, or east through Normanton and Castleford to Knottingley, with Featherstone, Fitzwilliam and South Elmsall on the way back south.

Spot map

The best spots

Second-hand books, records & curios

Hidden Treasures

Lower Mall, The Ridings Shopping Centre, All Saints Walk, Wakefield WF1 1DS

Downstairs in the Ridings, Hidden Treasures has sold second-hand books, vinyl and antiques since 15 June 2020, the opening date its owner gave the Wakefield Express in July 2020, when the paper also noted that the same owner had once run Ossett Books. On Tuesday 25 August 2026 the shopping centre's Instagram account featured the shop's picks of the week and sent visitors down to the lower mall for books and records. BBC News reported on 17 March 2026 that plans to demolish the Ridings had been confirmed, so look at the shop's own Instagram profile before a trip; it gives trading days that leave out Wednesday and Sunday.

Hours: Mon–Tue 9am–4pm, Thu–Fri 9am–4pm, Sat 8:30am–5pmWebsite
New & second-hand bookshop

Foster's Books

3 Bank St, Ossett WF5 8PS

In Ossett, 3.4 miles west of Wakefield's centre, the family behind Foster's Little Book Shop in Barnsley opened this second shop in June 2025, as both of their websites record. Its about page promises what it calls a more eclectic mix of new and second-hand books, taking in autobiography and history alongside first editions and books long out of print. On Thursday 1 October 2026 the shop's Facebook page shared photos of another batch of stock still waiting to be sorted, and Experience Wakefield lists it as open Tuesday to Saturday, 9:30am to 3pm.

Website
Vintage charity shop (Wakefield Hospice)

Wakefield Hospice, Teall Street

3 Teall St, Wakefield WF1 1PR

A short walk from the Ridings and Trinity Walk, the hospice's Teall Street branch specialises in antique, vintage and retro pieces, and its branch page, worded the same in a version the Wayback Machine stored on 19 April 2026, includes books among the preloved homeware, furniture, clothing and accessories. Doors open on Sundays as well, from 10am.

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

All spots by type

Charity shops

Charity shop (Wakefield Hospice)

Wakefield Hospice, The Ridings

Upper Mall, The Ridings Shopping Centre, Wakefield WF1 1YB

Up in the Ridings' Upper Mall, close to the Cathedral Entrance, Wakefield Hospice runs a shop led by women's and men's clothing and accessories that also stocks books, a description its branch page already carried when archived on 19 April 2026. Reporting the council's deal to buy the centre on 21 April 2026, BBC News said the redevelopment was expected to take ten years and that no date had been set for the centre to close. Hidden Treasures is one level down.

Hours: Mon–Sat 9am–4:15pm, Sun 10am–4pmWebsite
Charity shop (Wakefield Hospice)

Wakefield Hospice, Ossett

6 Wellgate Centre, Ossett WF5 8NS

Two Wakefield Hospice shops face each other across Ossett's Wellgate Centre, and the branch page, in wording the Internet Archive preserved on 19 April 2026, says one is filled with homewares, furniture, toys and books while the other sells clothing and accessories. Foster's Books on Bank Street is about 50 yards away.

Hours: Mon–Sat 9am–4:15pmWebsite
Charity shop (Age UK Wakefield District)

Age UK Wakefield District, City Centre

16 The Springs, Wakefield WF1 1QE

On The Springs, a short stroll north-east of the Ridings, the local Age UK charity's city-centre shop is staffed by a volunteer team and offers a wide and ever-changing range of goods at reasonable prices. Its branch page counts books among what you can buy there, beside clothes, homeware, gifts and PAT-tested electrical items, wording the Internet Archive copied on 8 February 2026. It trades from 9:15am to 4:15pm on five days, taking Wednesday and Sunday off.

Hours: Mon–Tue 9:15am–4:15pm, Thu–Sat 9:15am–4:15pmWebsite
Charity shop (Age UK Wakefield District)

Age UK Wakefield District, Horbury

52 High St, Horbury, Wakefield WF4 5LE

In Horbury, 2.9 miles south-west of Wakefield's centre, Age UK Wakefield District calls its High Street branch a quaint traditional shop, full of character and intrigue, where books are on sale with bric-a-brac, homeware and clothes. The Internet Archive kept a snapshot carrying that text on 14 February 2026. Like its city-centre sister shop, it closes midweek on Wednesdays and all day Sunday.

Hours: Mon–Tue 9:15am–4:15pm, Thu–Sat 9:15am–4:15pmWebsite
Charity shop (Prince of Wales Hospice)

Prince of Wales Hospice, Castleford

99 Carlton St, Castleford WF10 1DX

About two minutes on foot from Castleford bus station, 6.5 miles east-north-east of Wakefield, the Prince of Wales Hospice describes its Carlton Street shop as filled with clothing, books and a wide range of household items. The branch page already held that line in an Internet Archive copy dated 12 April 2026. It doesn't open on Sundays.

Hours: Mon–Sat 9am–4:30pmWebsite
Charity shop (Prince of Wales Hospice)

Prince of Wales Hospice, Featherstone

Units 2, 3 & 4, The Shopping Precinct, Station Ln, Featherstone WF7 5BE

Three units of the Station Lane precinct in Featherstone, 5.6 miles east of Wakefield, make up this hospice shop, which sells books alongside clothing, homeware and toys. A capture of its page that the Wayback Machine made on 12 April 2026 says so and also mentions a spacious car park directly behind the shop. Early risers get in from 8:30am.

Hours: Mon–Sat 8:30am–4pmWebsite
Charity shop (Prince of Wales Hospice)

Prince of Wales Hospice, Knottingley

6 The Arcade, Hill Top, Knottingley WF11 8EA

Morrisons and Knottingley station are a short walk from this hospice shop in The Arcade at Hill Top, ten miles east of Wakefield, which offers preloved clothing, books and household items according to its branch page as archived on 12 April 2026. Sunday opening starts at 10am.

Hours: Mon–Sat 8:30am–4pm, Sun 10am–4pmWebsite
Charity shop (Prince of Wales Hospice)

Prince of Wales Hospice, Normanton

20 High St, Normanton WF6 2AB

Normanton's pedestrianised centre, 3.4 miles east-north-east of the city, has a hospice shop selling preloved clothing, books, board games and household items, its branch page says. Archived by the Wayback Machine on 12 April 2026, the same page sets Saturday closing at 4:40pm, ten minutes after the weekday close.

Hours: Mon–Fri 9am–4:30pm, Sat 9am–4:40pm, Sun 10am–4pmWebsite
Charity shop (Prince of Wales Hospice)

Prince of Wales Hospice, Fitzwilliam

Plaza Buildings, Wakefield Rd, Fitzwilliam WF9 5AJ

Next to the post office on Wakefield Road in Fitzwilliam, 5.9 miles south-east of Wakefield, the hospice's shop says it is jam-packed with clothing, books, board games and accessories, wording its page already had in a Wayback Machine version from 16 May 2026, along with a note on the free parking out front. Nostell Priory's estate is just down the road if you want to make a day of it.

Hours: Mon–Sat 9am–4:30pm, Sun 10am–4pmWebsite
Charity shop (Prince of Wales Hospice)

Prince of Wales Hospice, South Elmsall

66 Barnsley Rd, South Elmsall WF9 2RF

By a bus stop on the busy Barnsley Road in South Elmsall, 10.3 miles south-east of Wakefield, this hospice branch singles out books under their own heading online, promising plenty of them, from cooking guides to thrilling reads by top authors. The Internet Archive holds that same wording from 12 April 2026. Its hours run to 4:30pm from Monday to Saturday and to 4pm on Sundays.

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

Car boot sales & markets

Car boot sale

Fitzwilliam Carboot

Hemsworth Ln, Fitzwilliam WF9 5AZ

Also in Fitzwilliam, a field beside Hemsworth Lane hosts a Wednesday-morning car boot run by the team behind the Fitzwilliam Carboot Facebook page. Rain at 5:30am on Wednesday 30 September 2026 led even the catering unit to call it off, and that morning the organisers posted that in future the sale would open every Wednesday from 6am whatever the weather. The page gives no end date for the season and none of its posts mentions books, so expect household odds and ends first and look at the page before setting off.

Website

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

  • Two club car boots in the district are worth watching for next season. Pledwick Cricket Club, on Barnsley Road at Newmillerdam, put up a 2026 poster on Instagram listing five Sunday sales from 3 May to 6 September, and Castleford RUFC advertised a bank holiday sale for Monday 31 August whose Instagram notice allowed second-hand goods only. Watch both clubs' pages for the 2027 dates.
  • Castleford's indoor market on Carlton Street sits a few minutes from the hospice shop there. Wakefield Council's market page, archived in May 2026, promises plenty of books and records among the stalls without saying whether they are new or used.
  • Ossett Town Hall, beside the market square, holds a flea market on Tuesdays and Fridays, according to the council. The district markets team included books among its second-hand stalls in a post on 12 October 2020, so go for the bric-a-brac and count any stack of paperbacks as a bonus.
  • Two bookshops in the district deal mainly in new titles. Books on the Lane, in a former joiner's workshop in Walton, describes itself as a new-books shop and was profiled by the Wakefield Express on 11 February 2026, while Darling Reads on Horbury's High Street stocks new novels, non-fiction and titles for children and offers to source out-of-print titles to order.
  • Directories still list Westgate End Bookshop at 166 Westgate as a Saturday-only seller of general second-hand books, but its Facebook page shows nothing newer than a post from May 2016, so confirm it still trades before planning a visit around it.
  • Foster's Books has an older sibling across the border in South Yorkshire: Foster's Little Book Shop, in the Victorian Arcade in Barnsley, describes itself as a traditional new and second-hand bookshop.

Frequently asked questions

Where can I find cheap used books in Wakefield?

Start with the charity shops: between them, Wakefield Hospice, the Prince of Wales Hospice and Age UK Wakefield District have eleven branches across the district that name books among their stock, from the Ridings to South Elmsall. For older and more collectable stock, Hidden Treasures in the Ridings and Foster's Books in Ossett are the independents to try, the second mixing new titles with used ones.

Where do I sell used books in Wakefield?

Online is the simplest route: Amazon.co.uk, eBay.co.uk or Vinted for single titles, or Ziffit, whose web address leads to World of Books' trade-in pages, if you'd rather scan barcodes and post off a whole batch. Before listing anything, point BiblioScan at the whole bookcase: from one picture it estimates what each spine would fetch on resale, which separates the hardbacks worth a listing from the paperbacks better given away. Those can go to Wakefield Hospice's donation centre on Tadman Street, which takes drop-offs seven days a week.

Which day is best for book hunting in Wakefield?

Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays are the days when all thirteen shops listed here trade at once, the two Age UK branches and both independents included, and Saturday adds the longest session at Hidden Treasures, from 8:30am to 5pm. Wednesday suits an early start at the Fitzwilliam car boot, though Hidden Treasures and both Age UK shops stay shut that day. Sunday is thin, with both independents, both Age UK shops and the Castleford and Featherstone hospice branches closed, and the Ossett branch listing no Sunday hours.

Which charity shops have books in Wakefield?

In the city centre, the Wakefield Hospice branches on Teall Street and in the Ridings both list books, as does Age UK Wakefield District on The Springs; the hospice's Ossett shop in the Wellgate Centre and Age UK's Horbury High Street branch do too. Further east and south, the Prince of Wales Hospice names books at its Carlton Street shop in Castleford, the Featherstone precinct, The Arcade in Knottingley, Normanton High Street, Wakefield Road in Fitzwilliam and Barnsley Road in South Elmsall.

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