“…as essential a part of autumn in London as Halloween and Guy Fawkes.”

Writer and Small Publishers Fair regular, Andrew Ray

OPENING TIMES
11am to 7pm, Friday 25 and Saturday 26 October 2024

PROGRAMME, TABLE PLAN ETC
The Fair is designed to be easily navigable. Here are schedules and plans from the 2023 Fair.

2023 programme – publisher details, links and information on the exhibition, readings and talks. Free printed programmes available at the Fair.

2023 SPF launches – list of 80+ books launched plus, artists, writers and poets who attended or took part in the Fair.

2023 SPF table plan and key

TRAVEL AND LOCATION

Address Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL

Map Googlemaps

Tube
Five minutes walk from Holborn tube. Exit tube station on High Holborn (A40). Cross the road and turn right. Take the first left (Procter Street, continuation of A40). Red Lion Square is across the road. Conway Hall is in the far left-hand corner, across the park.

Bike
Docking stations on Red Lion Square, Red Lion Street, Southampton Place and Theobold Road. Bike stands next to Conway Hall.

Bus
Red Lion Square Stop J: buses 98, N98
(1 minute’s walk)

Procter Street Stop H: buses 8, 521, N8, N25
(1 minute’s walk across Red Lion Square)

Theobalds Road (Red Lion Street) Stop A: buses 55, 243, N38, N55 (2 minutes walk via Red Lion Street and Lamb’s Conduit Passage)

ACCESS
Level access in the main hall and toilets. Steps to stage and to The Library.
Disabled toilets. Baby changing facilities. Buggy storage – ask at reception.

PAYING FOR BOOKS AT THE FAIR

By mobile phone

Many publishers accept payment by Paypal and other mobile payment apps.

Nearest cash machines
P&B News Express, 56 Red Lion Street WC1R 4PD ( 2 minutes walk)
Nat West, 214 High Holborn, London WC1V 7BW (6 minutes walk)

FOOD AND DRINK

Please help reduce waste by bringing your keep cup and water bottle. There is a water refill station in the main corridor at Conway Hall.

Woolleys at Conway Hall
For the Fair, Conway Hall invites in its neighbour, Woolleys, to run the Hall’s foyer café (straight ahead as you go in to Conway Hall). Woollies makes fresh, homemade and healthy food in a sustainable and eco-friendly environment.

  • Hot and cold drinks
  • Morning pastries
  • Homemade cake (banana, carrot and lemon) and deserts
  • Midday to 3pm – fresh baguettes and ciabattas including veggie and vegan
  • Afternoon – cold beers and white wine.

Bring your keep cup and get a cup of tea for £1.30.

If you want something more substantial (eat in or takeaway) Woollies restaurant is next to Conway Hall at the top of Lamb’s Conduit Passage. It is open Friday only from 8am to 3pm and is offering publishers and visitors to the fair 10% off lunches and takeaway boxes. Just mention Conway Hall for your discount.

There are also options both days on Lamb’s Conduit Passage, Red Lion Street, Theobald Road and Lambs Conduit Street.

The Dolphin Tavern, 44 Red Lion Street, WC1R 4PF, 1 min
Convivial local, where you’ll often Fair participants taking a break. Also where many people will head for after the fair closes on the Friday.

“…the Fair found its true home at Conway Hall, in Red Lion Square, where writerly Bloomsbury meets printerly Holborn.”

John Bevis Construction, Storage, Despatch Coracle Press 2015
Exterior view of Conway Hall, where the Fair takes place.
Conway Hall. Photo Jeremy Dixon
Reading in Conway Hall Library, Small Publishers Fair 2022, photo @jhmMitchell
Small Publishers Fair 2022, photo @jhmmitchell
Colin Sackett, SPF designer at Small Publishers Fair 2022, photo @jhmmitchell
Small Publishers Fair 2022, photo @jhmmitchell
Keep cups at Small Publishers Fair 2022, photo Caspar Evans