Amnesty International UK has nine bookshops in the UK which raise money to support their work on Human Rights. All sell a wide range of good quality second-hand books. Amnesty International is a movement of ordinary people. Our purpose is to protect humans wherever justice, fairness, freedom and truth are denied.
Large selection but nothing out of the ordinary. Mandalay Bookshop 05.04.12
A bit disorganised and could do with a clear out of dead stock but generally some good stuff at reasonable prices. - ie review and proof copies. Several other charity shops close by (Oxfam BHF etc). jon morgan 09.06.12
This shop will be closing for good on Sunday 25th January 2015. Sales of stock will be happening in January so do come and ask if you have been considering buying something here. Sarah@amnesty 03.01.15
Now reopened just a stone's throw from its previous location. Chris K 30.01.16
Brighter larger and more airy than the last shop. It looks like they will be in this shop for at least 18 months as gentrification creeps along King Street. It has the space to have a greater range than before with no dross or pulp to be seen. Good modern fiction section with recently published review copies at reasonable prices. Large children's section with a small play area to inculcate a love of reading in the coming generations. Other charity shops in King Street not really worth visiting but Amnesty is worth popping into, if in the area. jon Morgan 27.02.16
Bigger but lots of empty space. Dull stock - not as interesting as the last shop. I've found nothing to buy in three visits. Seemingly little turnover in any of the areas I buy in. Perhaps using the extra empty space for more books would help. Peter M 26.07.16
One would assume that this charity receives sackloads of donations, and yet their stock never changes. A lot of space filled with tat. Ducky Duckman 05.12.16
Recent comments are fair - these bookshops often have the better items only online - via Amazon and Abe. Chris K 22.12.16
I found this shop a joy to visit. The manager knew his stock and it is a credit to him that the shelves were perfectly categorised. Certain sections needed time to browse and I eventually came away with a nice selection of titles. Chris Harte 14.06.18
The lease on this shop is going to expire soon and they are currently looking for a new location. Mandalay Bookshop 06.12.18
Still open and a splendid stock beautifully arranged. I had to visit on successive days to carry away my purchases. Chris 21.01.19
Currently closed until the end of July while it relocates a few doors away at No 175 King St. Mandalay Bookshop 31.07.19
Visited on Friday 26th July, shop empty but notice said it will reopen at the end of July at 175 King St, a few doors away. Steve Newman 31.07.19
Now reopened at the new premises. A much narrower frontage but goes back a long way, so perhaps the same shelving area as before. I found little of interest but stock is well organised and displayed. Steve Newman 21.08.19
This is quite bijou compared to the space that the shop previously occupied and much better organised than its original incarnation, although less interesting. It seems the trend for charity bookshops to refit and go upmarket (My local Oxfam is also shutting for a refit) but I am not sure what it adds. The stock here is OK in terms of modern fiction but not earth-shattering. I bought more in the several charity shops on the trek from the station... Jonathan Morgan 22.09.19
Though nothing like as spacious as the previous outlet just up the road, the stock seems cheaper and the delightful staff compensates for the smaller choice. Mandalay Bookshop 15.12.19
Cheerful staff greet you at one of the most orderly shops in the land: books are shelved alphabetically under major categories. Stock is mostly popular and mid-range - though I rescued two unusual titles at knock-down prices. Nicholas Sack 06.02.20
Clean, neat and tidy, but almost nothing for a collector. Great if you want cheap copies of recent paperbacks. Seems to be the model for Amnesty shops these days. PeterM 11.05.23
Alas, nothing like the shop of old. Charming people managing the place but very little to offer except for the children's section. Chris 24.05.23
Neat, tidy well ordered premises with level entry. This shop has the long deep selling space you associate with many of the Amnesty bookshops. The stock is cleanly presented and always laid out well by this charity retailer. Not a busy shop when I visited. I noticed this shop displays a large section of donated stock awaiting pricing. A practice I've not seen before. They are happy to price it for you though I've mixed feelings about this method. You get to see the new stock quickly but on asking the price are treated like a captive buyer. I came away with two books and plan to revisit since the William Morris Society museum is just an Earthly Paradise away over the awful Great West Road via a grim underpass. (Alight at Ravenscourt Park tube for Amnesty bookshop) SaltaireTom 18.06.24
Quite a good charity bookshop, nicely laid-out and very well categorised, with some decent-quality stock. Prices are reasonable in the main, although slightly above average in a few sections. Good for novels, with a dozen shelves of classic and literary fiction (mostly paperbacks; typical price £3.50). Also 15 shelves of mass- and mid-market fiction (largely the latter), also mostly £3.50; same prices for the half-dozen shelves of crime fiction and the smaller selection of sci-fi. A few shelves of £1 books, including some rather battered Penguins. A few dozen recently published hardback novels, arranged by year of publication, at reasonable prices. The poetry and drama sections are good. Quite a large children's section, with a wide choice of modern paperbacks, mostly £2. The 'donations' section, to be found in the children's alcove, contains unpriced newly arrived stock of all genres and is well worth a look. So too is the 'old and interesting' section, in which most of the prices are reasonable. At present this contains some good-quality vintage children's books (including about ten of the 'Swallows and Amazons' series by Arthur Ransome in hardback, in good condition, mostly with dustjackets, at £3 each). A good selection of foreign-language books, including novels in Chinese and Russian as well as the usual European languages. The best non-fiction sections are history (although some quite high prices here), travel, and cookery/food and drink. The biographies (five shelves) are of generally good quality, reasonably priced. Quite good for art, photography, literary criticism, politics, military, social sciences, gardening, science/nature, music (mainly modern) and film/TV, although the stock in some of these categories is fairly small. Although not at all a bad shop, it's NWAD. My abiding memory of this place will be the jaw-dropping incompetence of the teenage volunteer, who proved so stunningly useless at every single task she attempted that her older colleague probably had to stop herself from boxing the young idiot's ears. Booker T 07.12.24
As mentioned in greater detail in the entry for the Books for Amnesty branch in Kentish Town (NW London), the Hammersmith shop is one of four Amnesty bookshops proposed for closure. There is a brief consultation period, which ends in mid-July. The Hammersmith staff and volunteers are trying to persuade the Amnesty hierarchy to keep the shop open.
To this end, they have set up an online petition: https://www.change.org/p/save-hammersmith-s-amnesty-bookshop
It would be a real shame to lose the two London Amnesty bookshops and the Malvern and York branches, which also face closure under the current proposals. Booker T 15.06.25