Stanfords’ flagship store is located in the heart of London’s Covent Garden on Long Acre – just two minutes' walk from either Covent Garden or Leicester Square Underground stations.
The shop first opened its doors in 1901 and continues to evolve with developments in the travelling world, and is considered the biggest travel bookshop in the world, with the greatest range of maps, books, travel accessories and globes under one roof.
Entering the store through its impressive Edwardian frontage on Long Acre, the ground floor is where you’ll find travel literature and fiction, globes, stationery, travel accessories, reference books, world atlases, and children’s books and games. Towards the rear of the store, which you can also enter from Floral Street, you will find London maps and guides, historical cartography, climbing, cycling and world food and wine books, before reaching the Sacred Café, with its cosy seating and delicious fare.
You can go around the world in 80 seconds on this floor, as it is covered with the National Geographic world map. Also look out for the gigantic Magnum globe.
As you go up the stairs, be sure to gaze skywards and admire our map of the solar system. On the first floor you can find all European destinations, including the UK and the full range of Ordnance Survey maps. Browse our selection of world music CDs and foreign film DVDs. The digital office is now up here too, where you can order personalised maps and aerial photographs.
Find every other destination in the world in our basement – all the countries in the Americas, Asia and Australasia, as well as maritime charts and accessories.
Also in our basement you can find Craghoppers, with their specially designed outdoor clothing and accessories, and Bear Grylls’ range of clothes.
Next to domestically sourced maps we strive to stock the best available mapping from abroad. Stock is organised by country and includes regional maps, walking maps and street atlases. You will find all sorts of travel accessories on each of our floors.
The store hosts author lectures and travel events, and there are often special offers on our stock, so subscribe to our newsletter and keep an eye on the events and offers pages for the latest.
- Find out more about the fascinating History of Stanfords.
Craghoppers
Find the new Craghoppers outdoor clothing shop in the basement of our London store. Craghoppers has been making clothes specifically designed for the outdoors since 1965, developing fabrics designed for any temperature and conditions. From tops and trousers to jackets and accessories, for hiking, scrambling or exploring, Craghoppers is renowned for their high-quality travel gear. The company was recently awarded the 2009 Bronze Wanderlust Award for 'Best Travel Gear'. Craghoppers has also teamed up with adventurer Bear Grylls in producing a range of clothes based on the design of his very own gear that he uses in extreme conditions.
So what could be better than picking up your maps, guidebooks and clothing ready for your next trip, all in one go?!
Craghoppers is open during the same hours as the store (see above right-hand-side column).
Café
Stanfords is excited to announce the opening of a new café at our Covent Garden store - Sacred Café is a New Zealand-style café offering herbal/ayurvedic loose-leaf teas, New Zealand organic fairtrade coffee roast, and hearty, well-made food with quintessentially Kiwi menu items such as savoury muffins and Lolly Cake!
Shop access information
+1 step from Long Acre, but step-free at the back from Floral Street. The shop is accessible with a lift (D75 W85 L125) to all floors. If boxes of books are temporarily in your way, as is occasionally inevitable, the staff will be quick to move them. Adapted toilet in the staff area on the first floor (outer door D68; toilet D80 ST70) available on request.
Nearest accessible Underground station is Westminster.
(Dimensions are given in centimetres).
This information is from Access in London, available from Stanfords, www.accessinlondon.org.