About us

London Court Books – Perth’s smallest bookshop - is an initiative of The Museum of Perth. We have been created and staffed entirely by volunteers and run on a not-for-profit basis.

The tradition of having a bookshop in London Court goes right back to when the arcade opened in July 1937. Shop 3 (later expanding into Shop 4) run by K B Arnold was the first bookshop to operate in London Court.

The Progressive Book Shop, which specialised in Socialist and Communist books, magazines, and pamphlets, opened in Shop 45 in 1942, around the same time that Paterson’s Printing Press began operating in Shop 11.

The Book Box, with its ‘array of Novels, Books of Views, Stationery, and Accessories’ was also in London Court at this time and was still there in the 1950s.

In recent times, however, there hasn’t been a dedicated bookshop in the now State Heritage-Listed arcade.

The opening of London Court Books restores that tradition. We initially opened in December 2020 in Shop 52. However, in May 2021we moved across the arcade to Shops 5 and 6. In June 2023 we relocated to Shop 51

Shops 5 and 6 have an interesting history. Shop 5 was a tobacconist’s when London Court first opened to the public in 1937. Later hairdresser, William Flint - trading as Billy Flint and Son - took over the premises. The Flints were often in the Perth newspapers, either because of their legal problems (not paying their apprentices, misrepresenting their business) or their antics such as when William Flint Junior tried to jump over five chairs at the Adelaide Terrace Ice Rink and fractured his wrist. Shop 5 was also the Busy Bee Fruit Shop for many years.

Shop 6 began as London Court Agency in 1938, but in subsequent years, it was inhabited by ‘Perthonality’ Viv James who not only used the premises for his letting agency, but also for his businesses, The Candid Camera Company and London Court Matrimonial. In the post-war years, James, who styled himself Perth’s “King of Hearts”, was famous around town, not only as a matchmaker, but as a passionate anti-Communist who held a meeting every Sunday on the Esplanade where he would hold forth about the evils of ‘The Reds’. James had begun his career as a taxi-driver, and later, having learned to fly, became well-known for his Tiger Moth runs to and from Rottnest which were among the earliest chartered services from the mainland to the island, and included emergency services, where James would go over to bring back sick or injured holiday-makers for treatment. A man of the people, James also ran (unsuccessfully) for election in both State and Federal politics.