This week, we have something a little different. Where I write about the most British thing I found... in Paris, France.

Welcome to the new members who have joined in the last week during our free book promo. We hope you like the Sunday Post!

The forum hasn't been that active in the last few weeks, so I don't have any new threads to share. But if you've just joined, please make sure to stop by https://anglotopia.chat and join the conversation about Britain. This is our private forum, only accessible to members, where we can have a good chin-wag about all things British. 

Bookish types will know that the most famous English-language bookshop in Paris is Shakespeare & Co — famously founded by an American expat. It's become a fixture of the Left Bank and has been featured in countless books and TV shows. It's a tourist attraction in Paris in its own right (and often very crowded as a result). But for my fellow Anglophiles, what if I told you there was another English-language bookstore, and one that was British? You'd definitely want to go, right?

I didn't expect to find anything British in Paris, the most French place there possibly is. But then, I'm me, and of course, I found something very British but with a French twist. Earlier this month, I found myself in Paris on a family vacation. I was perusing the various English-language bookshops in Paris online (there are several), and when I discovered Smith & Son, I knew I immediately had to go.

Directly across from the Tuileries Gardens, along the big open stretch of road called the Rue de Rivoli, lives a little bit of Britain that has been there for almost 150 years in a stately old French building designed for cafes and promenading. Smith & Son at 248 rue de Rivoli is one of those places that feels like it shouldn't exist, and yet there it is, sandwiched between Parisian grandeur, quietly doing its thing for over 150 years. An independent English-language bookshop in the heart of Paris. I couldn't stay away. So, on a sunny March afternoon, when we found ourselves free (the Louvre was closed to afternoon visitors), Mrs. Anglotopia and I hopped on the metro and found ourselves standing in front of a British bookstore.

The story starts in 1870 — the year of the Paris Commune, as it happens — when two British brothers known as the Neal brothers set up shop at 248 rue de Rivoli. They called it Neal's Library – Papeterie de la Concorde, and it operated as a lending library, bookshop, stationery shop, and tea room all rolled into one. For more than three decades, they built a thriving business catering to the wealthy English-speaking clientele passing through Paris.

In 1903, they sold the whole operation to W.H. Smith & Son — yes, *that* W.H. Smith, the same newsagent and bookseller you find in every British railway station and airport (but sadly no longer on the British high street, as they’ve rebranded as something else now). This Paris shop became the company's very first overseas establishment. It was a big deal. The graphic designer Eric Gill — famous for the typeface that bears his name — was commissioned to paint the shop sign and design one of the company's earliest logos. A font created especially for W.H. Smith is still on display inside.

By 1908, business was booming, and the interior got a full refurbishment. The designers drew inspiration from William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement, which was called the "Domestic Revival" or "Old English" style. Think dark oak floors, stained glass windows, Tudor roses on the walls, and bas-reliefs of fleur-de-lys and mythical figures. It sounds almost absurdly, gloriously British — and that was rather the point.

The Tudor Tea Rooms became *the* place in Paris for anyone who wanted afternoon tea, English newspapers, and a good book. By 1907, the combined profits from tea and books were nearly equal. The New York Times, at some point, remarked that the space evoked Shakespeare's Stratford-upon-Avon — or could be a setting worthy of an Agatha Christie novel. I can confirm: walking in there, I completely understood what they meant. While the ground floor has a more modern look and feel, upstairs retains this classical charm.

And the celebrity connections are remarkable. Marlene Dietrich was a regular. After the Entente Cordiale of 1904, Paris became a magnet for British and American travellers, and this shop was right in the middle of all of it (as an aside, the stately American Embassy is quite literally at the end of the block).

World War II brought the shop's darkest chapter. In June 1940, the Nazis requisitioned the premises, dismissed the entire staff, and turned the establishment into a propaganda bookshop. They burned books in the Tuileries Gardens — just outside the front door, essentially. The tea room became a social club for officers. A German inscription — "emergency exit in case of anti-aircraft attack" — apparently remains visible in the basement to this day.

W.H. Smith regained possession of the premises on November 1st, 1944, following the Allies' Liberation. But customers had to wait until 1950 before the tea room reopened. In the years that followed, celebrities like Serge Gainsbourg, Jane Birkin, Isabelle Adjani, Woody Allen, Claude Sarraute, and Charlotte Rampling became regulars. Because of course they did.

The decades that followed were eventful. Book sales grew through the 1980s — particularly in English-language learning and children's books — and by 1989 the tea room had to close to make room for expanded bookselling space. In 2016, after a 27-year hiatus, the tea room reopened. But social unrest in Paris in 2018 and 2019 badly affected the business, and the pandemic delivered the final blow to W.H. Smith's tenure there. It quite literally became more trouble than it was worth for W.H. Smith to keep going.

In 2021, the shop's manager bought the property outright and undertook a major restoration — bringing back the 1908 stained glass, bas-reliefs, and woodwork while modernising the layout. The shop relaunched with a simplified name that nonetheless carries all the history with it: Smith & Son.

Since then, success has returned. An annex opened in the Marais in 2022 on rue des Rosiers. And in June 2024, Smith & Son West opened in Versailles for anglophone readers west of Paris (which, combined with a visit to the Palace of Versailles, makes for a lovely, bookish day out!).

When we visited, it was after an exhausting day of sightseeing. We'd hoped to visit the Louvre at the last minute, but were thwarted in that plan when they had already closed to new visitors for the day (book ahead — especially if you want to see the British Gallery). So, knowing we were close to Smith & Son, we wandered over there instead. March in Paris is quite pleasant from a weather perspective, and it was actually quite warm. So warm that when we were inside the bookshop, it was stifling. We didn't stay long as a consequence.

We went back the next day, because I wanted to explore the shop properly when it was cooler, and investigate the British heritage. It's the kind of bookshop that rewards a proper browse. The stock is thoughtfully curated of the latest books from Britain. It was like browsing Hatchards on Piccadilly or Waterstones. I had to be careful not to buy too many books — I had very limited room in my carry-on only luggage!

The history is everywhere you look — they've actually turned the building itself into a kind of little museum. At the front of the shop is a small exhibition where you can explore the special history of the bookshop and see vintage furnishings from its entire history. There are 'Secrets of This Place' medallions scattered around that you can discover with your phone's camera. And the atmosphere is unlike anywhere else I've been. It's British, but it's also unmistakably Parisian. It occupies a unique cultural space, literally and figuratively.

By far, though, my favorite part of the shop was the little British grocery section at the front. If you're in Paris and find yourself in need of proper tea or biscuits, they have them, stocked and ready to go. I found it amusing that you could even buy the most British of staples — Heinz beans and Cadbury's chocolates (my children were thrilled; I've gotten them addicted to Cadbury's). They even had my favorite marmalade from Oxford.

If you're ever in Paris — and I know many of you have been or are planning to go — a visit to Smith & Son is non-negotiable. Walk across from the Tuileries, push open the door, and step into 150 years of Anglo-French history. Pick up a few British books or perhaps some tea. You won't regret it!

However, I did slightly, as I indeed did not have room in my bag for all the books that had to come home with me.

Smith & Son is located at 248 rue de Rivoli, Paris, across from the Tuileries Gardens. The shop is open Monday through Saturday. smithandson.com.