Hall's Bookshop

Reuben Hall opened a bookshop in Chapel Place in 1898, and the shop has traded from the same short Tunbridge Wells lane ever since, passing from Hall to his friend Charles Avery in 1922 and later to assistant Harry Pratley. Adrian Harrington, who previously ran a rare book business in Kensington, took over the shop and moved his own stock upstairs as Adrian Harrington Rare Books, specialising in modern first editions, leather-bound sets and Ian Fleming's James Bond novels. The ground floor keeps a general secondhand stock spanning history, fiction, travel and topography, priced for browsing rather than collecting. The shop opens Thursday to Saturday only, with book-buying appointments handled separately by email, a rhythm suited to a trade built on stock-sourcing as much as selling. It remains one of the oldest continuously trading bookshops in Kent.