In search

Proud­ly inde­pen­dent since 1978, when the Don­ald­sons first ​‘set up shop’. Red Lion Books sits in the heart of Colch­ester, along the High Street. Don’t be fooled by the unas­sum­ing shopfront because inside there is a trea­sure trove of delights for all book lovers. There is a wide-rang­ing stock, an overnight order ser­vice, author events, sign­ings and book clubs. Ser­vice comes most­ly with knowl­edge and always with a smile. 

Spe­cial­is­ing in good sec­ond-hand and rare lit­er­a­ture, art, his­to­ry, phi­los­o­phy, sci­ence and local inter­est titles, the Colch­ester Book­shop occu­pies three floors of one of the town cen­tre’s most recog­nis­able build­ings: the arch­way lead­ing to Tymperleys.

Drop in for a browse, be amazed by our quirky rooms and stair­cas­es, and won­der at the sur­viv­ing medieval hall roof of the Colch­ester home of William Gilberd (1544−1603), physi­cian to Eliz­a­beth I and one of the world’s great­est ear­ly scientists.

We love to hear from you, whether you have a ques­tion about an event, busi­ness or any­thing else you find on our website….get in touch!

Fol­low our social media chan­nels to get the lat­est updates about the town cen­tre. We will also share all the com­pe­ti­tions we run so make sure you don’t miss out on the chance to win!

If you take the per­fect pho­to around the town cen­tre, tag us by using #InColch­ester

Pub­lic Library and Infor­ma­tion Services

Dis­count retail chain offer­ing prod­ucts includ­ing books, art sup­plies, games and stationery.

As the last sur­viv­ing nation­al book­shop chain, under the helms­man­ship of Man­ag­ing Direc­tor James Daunt, we are proud to have fought off the per­ceived threat of e‑readers and online com­pe­ti­tion to begin a pro­gramme of active expan­sion. Recent years have seen fresh shops open around the coun­try and sites either move or be upgrad­ed. With recent open­ings includ­ing Reigate, Clifton and moves to far more attrac­tive loca­tions for our shops in Edin­burgh and Manchester’s Traf­ford Cen­tre, our plans con­tin­ue to be ambitious.

Retail Comics, Graph­ic Nov­els, POPS, T‑Shirts, Action Fig­ures, Col­lec­table Card Games, Board Games