Hatchards
Hatchards is the oldest bookstore in London and the second oldest in the United Kingdom after the Cambridge University Press bookstore .
Hatchards was founded in 1797 by John Hatchard on Piccadilly Street in the City of Westminster borough . The bookstore started doing business with a book collection by Simon Vandenbergh . Soon Hatchards was purveyor of the British royal family (three Royal Warrants). It has belonged to the subsidiary bookseller Waterstones since the 1990s . In 2006, Mowbray's Religious Booksellers was acquired by Hatchards.
Many well-known authors and other personalities held readings or autograph sessions in the branch: Hilary Mantel , Joanne K. Rowling , David Attenborough , Alexander McCall Smith , Peter Mandelson , Peter Ackroyd , Howard Jacobson , Michael Palin , Stephen Fry , Margaret Thatcher , Joanne Harris and Sebastian Faulks . The Christmas Customer Evening is held annually at Christmas .
