Lutyens & Rubinstein

By Pendle Harte on December 3rd 2009

Really, the jobs of literary agent and bookseller are not far apart. “It’s the same sort of activity, just at different ends of a book’s life,” says Felicity Rubinstein of Lutyens & Rubinstein, Kensington Park Road's new independent bookshop. As in Lutyens & Rubinstein, the well-known literary agents. “We love selling books and it’s the same thing: you love a book and you think, who else do I know who’d love it?” It makes sense. If Felicity can sell an unwritten book to a publisher, then selling the ready-to-read version to a proper punter must be a done deal.

For Felicity and partner Sarah Lutyens, the transition from agent to shopkeeper is a natural shift. Felicity has always lived and worked in the area, which, as she says, is great for specialist bookshops, but has lacked a general one since Elgin Books closed about 10 years ago. “When I found out that the Coco Ribbon site was on the market, I realised that I’d always imagined having a bookshop here with the lovely staircase and mezzanine.” But is there a future for the small bookshop in the current clime? She believes very firmly that there is – that people are overwhelmed by the awful “three for two” culture. “It devalues books. I’ve gone into Waterstones to buy a book and come out without it because I couldn't find two others in the promotion that I wanted.”

The small store is cleverly designed to hold about 4,000 books, of which 500 are new hardcover titles and the rest is their core stock collection. “We have this idea that if you walk into a bookshop and immediately see half a dozen books you love then you sort of trust the rest of the stock and conversely, if you don’t, you think, this really isn’t my sort of shop.” So they emailed all their friends, publishers and authors asking for a list of books that no good bookshop should be without. And from those responses came their canon. Common favourites were Rohinton Mistry's A Fine Balance and the novels of Georgette Heyer.

The site has been beautifully designed and fitted by young local architects de Rosee & Sa, with clever lighting and stylish touches throughout, including a small coffee bar downstairs. Beautiful Lutyens & Rubinstein bags have been designed by agent Jane Finigan, along with an exclusive range of pretty crockery featuring favourite novel openings. Many of the classics are stocked as stylish Everyman editions and already sales of Hilary Mantel’s booker winner are impressive, along with The Design Museum’s 50 dresses and Penguin’s The Sartorialist. All pretty much as they predicted. Extras such as perfume inspired by books, Westbourne honey from Felicity’s bee-keeping husband and wrapping paper and cards by local and international designers make the place a wonderful local asset. 

Lutyens & Rubinstein, 21 Kensington Park Road W11, 020 7792 4855

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