Books
Our current favourites
New books to get excited about
What's Been Happening?
Latest News
The latest news and views from between the shelves at Red Lion Books
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BLOG POST: Hopeful Artwork coming to Red Lion Books
Written by customer and friend of the shop, Eve Paterson who can be found on Instagram @e.f.paterson Some of the best stories are the ones
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BLOG POST: The Final Curtain, on ‘Wise Children’ by Angela Carter
https://www.theliteraryunderdog.com/_files/ugd/a0b156_c4e0aed82fc84c9483a6ca540dd9695f.pdf This article was written by Louise Prior, Red Lion Books and published in Underdog Lit Mag. Published in UNDERDOG, Literary Magazine, Issue 3, 2025 Louise's article
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The small print
Our opening times are generally Monday-Friday 9am-5pm We close on Sundays and Bank Holidays We are an independent, family owned business and we choose to open
est. 1978 • proudly indie 
events • bookclubs
subscriptions • gifting
deliveries 
us@redlionbooks.co.uk
mon-sat • 9am-5pm
Get involved
Our Events
Our events programme moved online for the last eighteen months but once again we are now preparing to welcome you back to physical events at the shop. Events will be posted below as they are announced.
2025 Neurodivergent Author Event on Zoom
Lucy Rose, Elspeth Wilson, Callie Kazumi
Wheelchair accessible
Daytime Book Club
Monthly event
Collaboration with
Appetite Book Club & Essex Book Festival
At The Colchester Arts Centre
Thursday 26th June, 2025 11am
Author Talk with Keiran Goddard
125 High Street
CO1 12Z
Cosy Crochet Club
All abilities
With Loui Mitchell
10am
125 High Street
CO1 12Z
Crochet Workshop
Make your own Bookmark
With Loui Mitchell
11th July 2025
10am
Contact Us
Need Advice? We're Experts At Pointing You In The Right Direction To Continue Reading Books You Love!
Book Clubs
are a place to share your enthusiasm for books and reading. We host a range of book clubs for adults and children.
Are You A Local Author?
We work with local authors in many ways and enjoy supporting the vibrant writing and author community in and around Colchester
Reviews
What Our Customers Say
At Red Lion Books every customer counts and we will always do our very best to help you find the book that is perfect for you. Here are some reflections from our customers.
An independent book shop with an excellent selection of titles and authors. An informative and friendly staff with an easy to navigate selection of books. Highly recommended.
Stephen Gibbs30/12/2022
A local book shop with a good selection of stock. The staff are very friendly and they were extremely helpful when I placed an order for a selection of books for my place of work. Thank you
Andrew Faithfull04/03/2023
My favourite shop in Colchester, what's not to love, it's filled with books! Lovely helpful staff, and if they haven't got a book they will order it in for you and it's quite often available the next day! A million times better than 'the website that will not be named'!
Alan R26/02/2022
Lovely place to browse for books... always helpful when I've been in...
Ross Pullar30/04/2022
Lovely bookshop and very helpful staff. Excellent spot to check off some Christmas shopping.
Jen Noon20/11/2021
Excellent shop with so many books. I've never seen so many Childre 's books. There is a downstairs too! A chess board is set up so i expect you can play. Great service !
darron welch27/10/2023
Accreditation & memberships
Experienced & Certified
