Foyles
W & G Foyle Ltd. (usually called simply Foyles) is a bookshop at 113–119 Charing Cross Road, London, England. The business was founded in 1903 by brothers William and Gilbert Foyle; they moved to the current address in 1906.
After failing entrance exams for the civil service, the brothers offered their redundant text books for sale and were inundated by offers. This inspired them to launch a second-hand book business from home.
Foyles was once listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the world's largest bookshop in terms of shelf area and number of titles on display. It remains one of the largest bookshops in England. A place to browse, not only for Londoners but also for the bibliophiles among tourists, Foyles also trades on-line.
In the last century Foyles was famous (or infamous) for its eccentric practices, such as:
- the arrangement of books on shelving by publisher rather than by topic or author
- a payment system that required a book-buyer to queue twice (once to collect an invoice for a book, and then again to pay the invoice)
- listing a telephone number whose only function was to play a recorded message that they did not take telephone calls
- leaving unsold books on the shelves for years after they had gone out of print
- according to a possibly apocryphal tale in one of Brian Sewell's newspaper columns, a copy of Marcel Proust's epic multi-volume novel A La Recherche Du Temps Perdu was once found in the short stories section.
However, after the death of owner Christina Foyle in 1999 and the passing of ownership to her nephew Christopher, Foyles' shop and practices have been modernised. This has undoubtedly made the store more efficient, but in the view of many veteran customers it has also robbed it of some of its charm.
Whereas the shop used to sell second-hand and modern books side-by-side on the same shelves, it now only sells the modern books found in any other large chain bookshop. The heavily weathered panelling of Foyles' past has been replaced by a sleek, red-plastic-with-grey-metal-and-beech interior. The blue plaques on the staircase, which listed the long list of famous Foyles patrons of the past, have been removed. Most of these changes were instigated between 2003 and 2005. In 2005 it opened a branch at the Royal Festival Hall on London's South Bank. In 2006 plans were announced to open further stores at Hampton Court Palace and the Tower of London.
Foyles is also known for its literary luncheons which have been held since 1930.
Foyles Chairman Christopher Foyle is also Chairman and CEO of aviation company Air Foyle HeavyLift.
Trivia
The television series Foyle's War takes its name from the shop. Chief Superintendent Christopher Foyle is played by actor Michael Kitchen.
External links
- Foyles Bookshop website
- Foyled Again profile article from 2002
- Foyled and found again 2003 article on Foyles's centenary