La Central

Occupying a 19th-century mansion house in the heart of Madrid, La Central is a bookshop with 70,000 volumes on philosophy, history, social science and literature, including a good selection of books in English. It’s much less generic and commercial than the nearby FNAC and Casa del Libro, and has a café-restaurant (El Bistro) and a cocktail bar (El Garito), as well as a varied programme of cultural activities.