London’s foreign-language bookshops cluster in two places: South Kensington and Charing Cross Road. This guide lists shops checked against their own websites in October 2026, with two independents closer to Shoreditch.
Many languages
Foyles, 107 Charing Cross Road. The languages department fills the fourth floor and stocks books in about 100 languages, with large French, Italian, Spanish, German, Korean, Chinese and Japanese sections. Grant and Cutler, the language specialist, trades inside it.
The European Bookshop, 123 Gloucester Road, SW7 4TE. French, Spanish, Italian, German, Portuguese, Russian, Polish, Romanian and more, for learners and native speakers. The Italian Bookshop shares the address.
French
Librairie La Page, 7 Harrington Road, SW7 3ES. Open 9am to 6pm Monday to Saturday.
The French Bookshop, 28 Bute Street, SW7 3EX. Closed on Sundays.
German
London has no German-only bookshop on the London Bookshop Map. Foyles and the European Bookshop carry the largest German sections.
Chinese
Guanghwa Bookshop, 112 Shaftesbury Avenue, W1D 5EJ. Chinese books and learning materials, plus painting and calligraphy courses.
Near Shoreditch
Libreria, 65 Hanbury Street, E1 5JP, and Brick Lane Bookshop, 166 Brick Lane, are English-language independents. Both are in the Shoreditch shopping guide.