Winchester, the Hampshire cathedral city that the National Trust calls the capital of King Alfred's Wessex, keeps its used-book shopping close to the Guildhall on The Broadway. North of the High Street, the Winchester Bookshop hides in an alley leading off St George's Street, with Oxfam's books-and-music branch just round the corner on Parchment Street. South of it, volunteers run the Deanery Bookstall in the cathedral's Inner Close, and just past the far end of The Broadway the City Mill has a room of donated books of its own, while Emmaus runs a large charity superstore on Bar End Road, south of the centre. Shop prices on this page, where given, are pounds sterling (£).
Beyond the city, Alresford has Laurence Oxley on Broad Street, a family shop that mixes second-hand and antiquarian stock with new titles, and the National Trust keeps donated-book rooms at Hinton Ampner to the east and at Mottisfont, in the Test Valley, to the west. Stockbridge Town Hall hosts a book sale run by a Winchester dealer, and on Sundays until 15 November 2026 the city council's charity car boot takes over the Cattle Market car park. Romsey, Eastleigh and the rest of the Southampton side of the county have their own page.
Antiquarian and second-hand bookshopThe Winchester Bookshop
10A St George's Street, Winchester SO23 8BG
Along a narrow alley off St George's Street, some 340 yards north-westward from the Guildhall, this shop spreads antiquarian, vintage and second-hand books over three floors, plus prints and ephemera, and Visit Winchester traces it back to four local dealers who set it up in 1991. Its Instagram account celebrated Bookshop Day on 10 October 2026 with a run of vintage Puffin paperbacks, and a post from 20 December 2025 explained that Sundays and Mondays are normally its days off. Neither its Instagram nor its Visit Winchester listing sets out a weekly timetable, so check its feed before you travel in specially.
Oxfam Books & MusicOxfam Books & Music Winchester
74 Parchment Street, Winchester SO23 8AT
About 40 yards from that passage, on Parchment Street, Oxfam has sold donated books and music since 1989, and the Hampshire Chronicle reported in April 2014 that the branch had raised £1.6m in its first quarter of a century. The branch's page on oxfam.org.uk, word for word the same in the Wayback Machine's 16 April 2026 capture, covers the range from recent paperbacks to many old and interesting volumes, aiming at serious collectors of rare and antiquarian books as well as passing browsers. Vinyl, CDs, cassettes and DVDs fill the music side, and stamps, coins, banknotes and postcards are stocked for collectors.
Hours: Mon–Sat 9:30am–5pm, Sun 11am–4pmWebsite National Trust second-hand bookshopWinchester City Mill second-hand bookshop
City Mill, Bridge St, Winchester SO23 9BH
Just inside the entrance of City Mill, rebuilt in 1744 and in the National Trust's care since the late 1920s, around 210 yards east of the Guildhall, a room of donated books opened shortly before the pandemic, and two members of the welcome team were curating it when the Hampshire Chronicle visited in January 2025. They told the paper that more people were by then coming in for the books than for the mill, and described a prize-winners display, a world fiction corner, a recommended shelf and a curve of books by the entrance. Entry is free, donations go towards the building's upkeep, and a brand-new water wheel is due to go on show from 25 October 2026. The mill has no parking of its own, so leave the car at the Chesil Street multi-storey.
Hours: Thu–Sun 10am–4pmWebsite Cathedral bookstall (volunteer-run)The Deanery Bookstall
Inner Close, The Close, Winchester SO23 9LS
In the cathedral's Inner Close, some 300 yards south-west of the Guildhall, volunteers have been selling donated books since 2001 for the Cathedral's Music Foundation, weeding out shabby copies in favour of unusual ones. The cathedral opens it daily from 10am to 4pm while British Summer Time lasts and on weekends only, same hours, once the clocks go back on 25 October 2026, adding that staffing and bad weather can, on rare occasions, change things at short notice. An Internet Archive copy of its page from 11 December 2025 shows it trading every day during that year's Christmas Market. Donations are taken from 10am to 3pm in a bag or box, but not when rain is forecast, because the sorting happens outdoors.
Second-hand, antiquarian and new bookshopLaurence Oxley
17 Broad St, Alresford SO24 9AW
In Alresford, nearly 7 miles east-north-east of Winchester, this family firm on Broad Street sells second-hand, rare and collectable books next to new ones, along with old county maps, prints and art materials, and frames pictures on the premises. The Hampshire Chronicle marked its 75th anniversary on 25 August 2025, recalling that Laurence Oxley started it in 1950 in part of a former dairy and that his son Anthony and granddaughter Imogen had taken over the running of it. Its own website flags a particular interest in the Surrey artist Birket Foster (1825–1899).
Hours: Mon–Tue 9am–5pm, Wed 9:30am–5pm, Thu–Sat 9am–5pmWebsite Where can I find cheap used books in Winchester?
Start with the donation-fed rooms: the Deanery Bookstall in the cathedral close and the City Mill bookshop are both run on gifted books, as are the National Trust shops at Hinton Ampner and Mottisfont, though you may need a day out for those two. Until the season closes in mid-November, the Sunday charity car boot on Worthy Lane can turn up a box of paperbacks, but nobody promises any.
Where do I sell used books in Winchester?
Hawkmoor Books, the dealer behind the Stockbridge sales, says it buys whole collections, and the Deanery Bookstall, City Mill and Oxfam on Parchment Street will gladly take books you simply want rid of. To get money for ordinary copies, you will usually do better listing them yourself, whether through Amazon.co.uk, on Vinted or via eBay.co.uk. Before deciding, stack them upright so every spine faces you and snap that row once in BiblioScan; each spine the app knows returns tagged with a used-market price, and the handful worth your trouble picks itself out of the pile.
Which day is best for book hunting in Winchester?
Saturday is the strongest day: the Winchester Bookshop is normally open, Oxfam, City Mill, Emmaus, Laurence Oxley and Hinton Ampner all trade, and the Deanery Bookstall opens whatever the season. Sunday adds the Worthy Lane car boot for the rest of its 2026 season and later starts at Oxfam and Emmaus, while City Mill, the Deanery Bookstall and Hinton Ampner carry on, but Laurence Oxley stays closed and the Winchester Bookshop normally does too. Avoid Monday to Wednesday if City Mill is on your list, and remember that the cathedral stall keeps to weekends once British Summer Time ends.
Which charity shops have books in Winchester?
Oxfam's dedicated books-and-music branch at 74 Parchment Street is the obvious one, and the Emmaus superstore on Bar End Road lists second-hand books among its furniture and homeware. The cathedral's Deanery Bookstall raises money for its Music Foundation, and gifted books help fund the National Trust at City Mill in town, then at Hinton Ampner and Mottisfont further out.