Stanfords

Stanfords has been selling maps and travel books since 1853, when Edward Stanford founded the business, and its flagship shop now trades from Mercer Walk in Covent Garden. It describes itself as the UK's leading specialist retailer of maps, travel books and travel accessories, with stock sourced by experts from all over the world. The move to Mercer Walk followed 118 years at the shop's former Long Acre address, so the business has been a Covent Garden fixture for well over a century.

Its customer roll-call is part of the story. Stanfords lists Amy Johnson, David Livingstone, Captain Robert Falcon Scott, Ernest Shackleton, Florence Nightingale, Ranulph Fiennes, Bill Bryson and Michael Palin among past and present customers, and even claims Sherlock Holmes. Beyond the shop floor it is a leading retail supplier of Ordnance Survey mapping for professionals and planning applications, with map data available through its business service.

The travel bookshop Covent Garden explorers start from

The range runs far deeper than a general bookshop. Expect road, street, wall, walking and cycling maps, custom maps, reference and road atlases, globes and a full wall of travel guides and travel writing. Dictionaries and phrasebooks, maritime charts and instruments, children's maps and books, flags, puzzles, stationery and travel accessories fill out the shop, so walkers, cyclists, sailors and armchair travellers are all catered for. Author events and talks run through the year, with details published on the Stanfords events page.

What to expect on a visit

The shop opens seven days a week, from 9am on weekdays with a later start on Saturdays and Sundays. Staff know the stock well and are used to helping plan a specific trip, whether that means the right hiking sheet for a Swiss valley or a rail map of Europe. Stanfords sits among the gift and specialist shops of Covent Garden near Seven Dials, a short walk from Artbox on Shelton Street and the piazza, which makes it an easy stop on a day spent browsing the area.