LGBTQ+ Book Clubs and Reading Groups in London: Days, Costs and How to Join

Why a reading group works for meeting people

A book club gives you a reason to be in a room with the same people month after month, and a ready-made topic for the first five minutes of conversation. That makes it a gentler way to meet other LGBTQ+ people than a loud bar, and a good second or third date if you both want to read the same book and argue about it afterwards.

This guide covers groups that publish their own details: bookshop-run clubs, groups that use a bookshop as their meeting place, a community-centre club and library groups. It does not describe the shops themselves in any depth; for opening hours and history of Gay's The Word, Housmans and Pages of Hackney, see our guide to London bookshops worth a date. Every schedule here was read from the group's or venue's page on 14 October 2026, and small volunteer-run groups change dates, venues and organisers often, so confirm before you go.

Housmans: three queer reading groups under one roof

Housmans' book groups page lists five groups, three of them explicitly queer. The Housmans Queer Book Club says it reads a wide range of LGBTQ fiction and non-fiction and meets every second Thursday of the month from 7pm to 8.30pm. The page says all genders are welcome. It does not state a cost or a sign-up process, so the simplest route is to ask the shop, which lists shop@housmans.com and 020 7837 4473 as contacts.

The Melanated Queers Reading Collective describes itself as a space for queer people from the Global Majority, with a focus on queer authors of colour. Housmans lists it on the first Wednesday of the month and says the group is free; you reserve a place through OutSavvy, and the group points people to its Instagram account, @mqreadingcollective, and the Bookclubs app. The page does not give a start time.

The Queer Girls' Book Club describes itself as a group for women, trans and non-binary readers, reading contemporary and historically significant queer literature. Housmans' page says it meets on the last Thursday of every month, though some of the dates shown fall on Tuesdays, so check the exact date before planning around it. Contact is through @queergirlsbookclub on Instagram or queergirlsbookclub@gmail.com.

Two further Housmans groups are not queer-specific but may suit some readers: a Feminist Sci Fi Book Club on the first Thursday of the month at 7pm, alternating between online and in the shop, and the Fuse Book Club, which the page calls the original Housmans monthly book club and which requires you to join its mailing list first. None of the five entries gives access details, so ask the shop if you need step-free entry.

• Housmans Bookshop: book groupsbookshop reading groups

  5 Caledonian Road, King's Cross, N1

  Queer Book Club on the second Thursday, 7–8.30pm; Melanated Queers Reading Collective on the first Wednesday, free, booked via OutSavvy; Queer Girls' Book Club on the last Thursday (some listed dates are Tuesdays).

Gay's The Word: the ace and aro book club and long-running discussion groups

Gay's The Word says it provides meeting space for community groups, and its community page lists who uses it. The one book club that meets in the shop is the London Ace & Aro Book Club. Its own page says it meets on the fourth Tuesday of every month except December, from 7.30pm to 9pm, with no booking required, and that anyone on the ace or aro spectrums, or questioning, is welcome. It publishes upcoming titles in advance; the titles listed when we read the page were for May and June 2026, so the current pick may not yet be posted. It does not state a cost. The same organisers run a monthly social meetup at the London LGBTQ+ Community Centre and can be reached at aceandarolondon@gmail.com.

The shop is also home to the Lesbian Discussion Group, which says it was established in 1981 and has met at the shop for over 40 years. It meets every Wednesday, 7.45pm for an 8pm start. On the last Wednesday of each month the Older Lesbian Discussion Group meets at 7.15pm for a 7.30pm start. The group's site says no registration is necessary but that spaces are limited and given out on a first-come, first-served basis, and suggests arriving about 15 minutes early. No cost is stated. These are conversation groups rather than book clubs, but they suit anyone who wants the regular, talk-led format without a reading list.

Gay's The Word's community page also lists an LGBT Book Group that now meets online on the third Friday of the month at 7pm, organised through Facebook, and a Black Lesbian Discussion Group on Thursdays at 7.15pm, which the page lists at the Liberation Centre rather than in the shop. Neither listing gives a cost.

• London Ace & Aro Book Clubbook club

  Gay's The Word, 66 Marchmont Street, Bloomsbury, WC1

  Fourth Tuesday of every month except December, 7.30–9pm; no booking required; open to people on the ace or aro spectrums and those questioning.

• Lesbian Discussion Groupdiscussion group

  Gay's The Word, 66 Marchmont Street, Bloomsbury, WC1

  Every Wednesday, 7.45pm for 8pm; the Older Lesbian Discussion Group meets on the last Wednesday at 7.15pm for 7.30pm. Established 1981; first come, first served, no registration.

The London LGBTQ+ Community Centre's Queer Book Club

The London LGBTQ+ Community Centre, at 60–62 Hopton Street on the Thames Path in Bankside, describes its Queer Book Club as a monthly book club focused on queer authors. Each month the group discusses one title, and readers can suggest the following month's book. The listing says there is a chance to have a non-alcoholic drink, make new friends and socialise after the discussion, which makes it one of the more openly social options in this guide.

The club is free, but the centre says you need to book a ticket to attend events there unless stated otherwise, and booking runs through Eventbrite. The session we read was a Saturday afternoon, 3pm to 5pm, and the page listed book choices through December 2026; check the centre's events calendar for the next date. The centre's events listing also showed a one-off book discussion for Black queer men aged 30 and over, on bell hooks' The Will to Change, on Sunday 25 October 2026 from 4pm to 6.30pm; no price was shown.

Access is better documented here than anywhere else in this guide. The centre's access page says the street-side entrance has no steps, the site is on one floor at ground level, there is a rebuilt accessible toilet and a lowered counter, and a quiet room is available along with sensory toys and weighted blankets. It notes that Blackfriars station next door is wheelchair accessible and that the nearest disabled parking bay is on Hopton Street by the entrance. It also says Wednesdays and Thursdays are quieter days.

• London LGBTQ+ Community Centre: Queer Book Clubcommunity centre book club

  60–62 Hopton Street, Bankside, SE1

  Monthly, free with an Eventbrite ticket; discussion of a title by a queer author, then non-alcoholic drinks and socialising. Step-free, ground-floor venue with an accessible toilet and a quiet room.

Library reading groups in Wandsworth and Lambeth

Public libraries are the cheapest route into a reading group, because the book can often be borrowed rather than bought. A listing for the Reading Rainbow LGBT group says it meets at Balham Library, 16 Ramsden Road, SW12 8QY, in partnership with the Wandsworth LGBT+ Forum, and that it is accepting new members. That listing is on a book club directory rather than a council page, and it does not give a frequency, time or cost, so contact the library at balham.library@gll.org before turning up.

Lambeth Libraries has run an LGBTQ+ book group at Brixton Tate Library, Brixton Oval, SW2 1JQ. The council's event page for one session, on Jason Okundaye's Revolutionary Acts, shows a free 7pm to 9pm evening booked through Eventbrite, with copies borrowable by contacting the library on 020 7926 1056 or BrixtonLendingLibrary@lambeth.gov.uk. That page is for an October 2024 session and does not state how often the group meets, so treat it as evidence that the group exists and ask the library about current dates.

• Reading Rainbow LGBT group, Balham Librarylibrary reading group

  16 Ramsden Road, Balham, SW12

  Listed as run with the Wandsworth LGBT+ Forum and accepting new members; no schedule or cost given, so email the library first.

• Lambeth LGBTQ+ book group, Brixton Tate Librarylibrary reading group

  Brixton Oval, SW2

  A past session was free, 7–9pm, booked via Eventbrite, with the book borrowable from the library; frequency not stated.

Other bookshops with groups or events

Pages of Hackney, 70 Lower Clapton Road, runs a general book group rather than a queer one. Its book group page says new and classic fiction meetings run most months, with a non-fiction meeting every couple of months. You join by subscribing to the book group newsletter on that page, which announces dates and titles. Attendance is optional, you can come as often as you like, and you are asked to have read the book. No fee is listed and the page gives no meeting time or access details.

The Common Press describes itself as London's first consciously queer intersectional bookshop and a not-for-profit queer community venue, with shops at 118 Bethnal Green Road, E2, and in Stoke Newington, N16, both open Tuesday to Sunday. Its site mentions book clubs among its events, alongside live music, workshops and club nights, but lists them only as images and through its OutSavvy organiser page, so we could not confirm a current reading group schedule. It also offers memberships from £5 a month.

• Pages of Hackney Book Groupbookshop reading group

  70 Lower Clapton Road, Clapton, E5

  Fiction most months and non-fiction every couple of months; join by newsletter sign-up; no fee listed.

• The Common Pressqueer bookshop and venue

  118 Bethnal Green Road, E2, and Stoke Newington, N16

  Queer not-for-profit bookshop and venue whose events include book clubs; current schedule is published through OutSavvy rather than on its own pages.

Choosing a group by day, cost and access

By day of the week: Tuesday has the Ace & Aro Book Club (fourth Tuesday); Wednesday has the weekly Lesbian Discussion Group and the Melanated Queers Reading Collective (first Wednesday); Thursday has the Housmans Queer Book Club (second Thursday) and the Queer Girls' Book Club (last Thursday); the online LGBT Book Group is on the third Friday. The London LGBTQ+ Community Centre's club has met on weekend afternoons, which suits anyone who prefers not to be out late.

By cost: the Melanated Queers Reading Collective, the community centre's Queer Book Club and the Lambeth library session all state they are free. The other groups here do not publish a price, which usually means you only pay for the book, but ask if it matters. Borrowing from a library, or asking the host shop whether it stocks the month's title, keeps costs down.

By how you join: the Ace & Aro Book Club and the Lesbian Discussion Group say no booking is needed, while the community centre and the Melanated Queers Reading Collective need a ticket, and Pages of Hackney and Housmans' Fuse group work through a mailing list. If you are going with a date, a group that needs no booking is the easier first try; if you are going alone and nervous, a ticketed session means the organiser expects you.

Before you go

• Check the date on the group's own page or social account the week you plan to go. Several of these are run by volunteers, and some listings we read showed titles or sessions from earlier in 2026 or from 2024.
• Read the book, or at least most of it. Pages of Hackney asks attendees to have read the title, and a discussion is more fun when you can join in.
• Book where a group asks you to: the London LGBTQ+ Community Centre requires a free Eventbrite ticket and the Melanated Queers Reading Collective uses OutSavvy.
• Ask about access before you travel. Only the London LGBTQ+ Community Centre publishes a full access statement; Gay's The Word's April 2026 listing said its bathroom is not step-free.
• Respect who a group is for. Several are for specific communities, such as ace and aro people, lesbians, women, trans and non-binary readers, or queer people of colour, so pick one whose stated audience includes you.

Questions people ask

Is there a free LGBTQ+ book club in London?

Yes. The London LGBTQ+ Community Centre in Bankside runs a monthly Queer Book Club that is free with an Eventbrite ticket, and Housmans lists the Melanated Queers Reading Collective as free. Lambeth Libraries' LGBTQ+ book group sessions have also been free. Most other groups do not publish a price.

Do I need to book for a queer book club?

It depends on the group. The London Ace & Aro Book Club and the Lesbian Discussion Group at Gay's The Word say no booking is needed, though the discussion group's spaces are first come, first served. The community centre's Queer Book Club needs a free ticket, and the Melanated Queers Reading Collective is booked through OutSavvy.

Which LGBTQ+ book club meets at Gay's The Word?

The London Ace & Aro Book Club meets there on the fourth Tuesday of every month except December, 7.30pm to 9pm. The shop also hosts the weekly Lesbian Discussion Group on Wednesdays, and lists an LGBT Book Group that now meets online on the third Friday of each month at 7pm.

Is there an accessible LGBTQ+ reading group in London?

The London LGBTQ+ Community Centre's access page describes a step-free street entrance, a single ground floor, an accessible toilet and a quiet room, with wheelchair-accessible Blackfriars station next door. Other venues in this guide do not publish full access details, so contact them first.

Are there queer book clubs for women and non-binary readers?

Housmans lists the Queer Girls' Book Club, which describes itself as a group for women, trans and non-binary readers and meets around the end of each month. Gay's The Word also hosts the weekly Lesbian Discussion Group, which is conversation-led rather than a book club.