Word on the Water is a delightful bookshop on a barge that it resides on Regent’s Canal in the King’s Cross area at Granary Square in London. It has appeared in numerous publication’s lists of best bookshops in the UK. The bookshop’s home is a Dutch canal boat called Dianti dating back to the 1920s. As well as selling books it regularly acts as a venue for live music and poetry events.
The boat used to move from place to place every 2 weeks, but that proved to be disruptive. The co-founders applied in 2014 for a permanent mooring place, which was denied. A petition was set up and the permanent mooring was granted in 2015.
One of the co-founders, John Privett, died in 2023, but the surviving founders, Paddy and Stephane are continuing to run the shop. Megan, Jon’s daughter is now also involved in curating.
We visited on a sunny afternoon and were enchanted with this lovely bookshop.
My friend Anup looks quite at home.
He did eventually leave…with a couple of books.
The bookshop is open every day, except Christmas Day, from midday until 7pm. If I lived nearby I would visit often.