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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 probably the largest bookshop in Britain but more importantly probably holds the largest range of titles on all subjects to be found in a physical bookstore anywhere in the world. 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. The old-fashioned charm of being told you can't read unpurchased books in its cafe, however, remains.

Whereas the shop used to sell second-hand and modern books side-by-side on the same shelves, it now primarily sells the modern books found in any other large chain bookshop, although from November 2007 it will be selling secondhand books again as well as remainders in a special new department on the third floor. In addition it now sells out of print books together with new books in its Art, History and Archaeology Departments and on the first floor can be found Unsworth's Antiquarian books department. 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 2002 it took over Ray's Jazz London's famous jazz shop and installed this on the first floor immediately adjacent to Foyles' organic food cafe.

In 2005 Foyles opened a branch at the Royal Festival Hall on London's South Bank and in 2006 Foyles was awarded the concession to run the book departments in Selfridges's London Oxford Street and Manchester stores. In December 2007 it will open the only bookstore in the newly refurbished St Pancras railway station which has become the Eurostar London terminal. In 2008 Foyles will operate the bookstore in the enormous new Westfield shopping mall being opened in the last quarter of 2008 in White City West London.

Foyles is also known for its literary luncheons which have been held since 1930. Foyles now also holds a large number of evening literary events in the spring and autumn of each year.

Foyles has earned the following awards:

2002 Independent Bookseller of the Year; 
2005 Academic Bookseller of the Year; 
2006 London Independent Bookseller of the Year

Foyles is one of the few legacy retail businesses in London still in independent family ownership.

Foyles Chairman Christopher Foyle is the Chairman and CEO of aviation companies Air Foyle & Air Foyle HeavyLift. He is also Chairman of the Air League and a Trustee of the Foyle Foundation, a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, a Liveryman of the Guild of Air Pilots and a Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Essex.

The television series Foyle's War takes its name from the shop and its chairman. Chief Superintendent Christopher Foyle is played by actor Michael Kitchen.

• Foyles Bookshop website
• Christina Foyle, 88, the Queen Of the London Bookstore, Dies, New York Times, June 11, 1999
• Foyled Again profile article from 2002
• Foyles, the bookshop that time forgot, The Independent, 23 January, 2003
• Foyled and found again 2003 article on Foyles's centenary
• Raconteur who wrestled to keep Foyles in the family Interview with Christopher Foyle. Guardian 02 November, 2007