Waterstones Piccadilly

With eight miles of shelving and over 200,000 books in stock at any one time, the Piccadilly branch of the UK’s largest bookstore chain is the biggest bookshop in the whole of Europe. Housed in an Art Deco building that was once home to department store Simpsons, the branch opened in 1999 and features six floors of books alongside two cafes, a bar/restaurant and a few event spaces. Particularly worth checking out is its second-floor children’s section, which is decorated with a circus theme and features a large games section and plenty of activities, including weekly storytime sessions on Sundays. The store also stages an eclectic events programme, with the likes of Hilary Mantel, Stephen Fry, Margaret Atwood, Keanu Reeves and Hillary Clinton having previously popped in for talks and book signings, and regular book clubs themed around everything from YA fiction and sci-fi to London love stories.