I recently had the opportunity to pop into Red Lion books for belated Christmas presents and the whole experience was immaculate. The staff were friendly, helpful and efficient. I went in after two specific books, which I later found out weren’t stocked in store, but a kind staff member assured me that they could order them in and they would be delivered in the next 24 hours. Lo and behold, 24 hours goes by and I get a text… the books had arrived! Upon collection the staff member was polite and endearing which just makes supporting a small business so rewarding! I’ve now got a stack of reads ready for January and will forever more be recommending Red Lion Books for all literary needs! Ruby from City Girl Colchester xox

Had been meaning to buy two books online for ages, but thought I'd check with Red Lion on the off chance they may have them as I always try to support my local high street. Was very shocked when they came back to say that they had both, as neither were new/popular books, and one pretty obscure translated fiction! They kindly put them aside and I was incredibly happy to pick them up the next day 🙂

An excellent independent bookshop. It has a rare feature which most indie bookshops don't - it is both immaculately curated and stocks a very wide range of titles. I visited around a dozen indie bookshops across four cities and towns in June, and Red Lion was the only place which stocked most of the recently published fiction by indie presses which I wanted to buy. However, the bookshop really serves the community as a whole, not just literary readers with niche tastes - the A Level core texts are helpfully placed on a separate self and the shop has a wide selection of YA and children's books, as well. A model indie bookshop.

This shops been here for years which is great ,vast selection of books to

Love this bookshop, always manage to get what i want, and even sometimes what I didn't know I wanted. Lovely shop. Helpful staff, would definitely recommend you pop in for a few minutes and then stay a lot longer.

A fabulous book shop. Their events are the best, from meet the author to their monthly book club for children.