Who owns every UK bookshop chain: the lookup list, with the source for each
Waterstones, Foyles, Blackwell’s and Hatchards are all owned by the same US investment fund, Elliott. The WHSmith shops on the high street are now TGJones, owned by the private equity firm Modella Capital, while WHSmith itself only runs shops in airports, stations and hospitals. Daunt Books and Topping & Company are family businesses. There are two unrelated Forbidden Planets. The full list of fourteen is below, each with the record it comes from. Checked 30 September 2026.
The list
| Chain | Owned by | What kind of owner | Since | UK shops | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Waterstones | Elliott, a US investment fund controlled by Paul Singer | Investment-fund owned | June 2018 | 316 (year to May 2025) | Our Waterstones ownership article |
| Foyles | Waterstones, so Elliott | Investment-fund owned | October 2018 | 6 | Companies House, W. & G. Foyle Limited |
| Blackwell's (including Heffers in Cambridge) | Waterstones, so Elliott | Investment-fund owned | 2022 | 8 listings in 6 cities | Companies House, Blackwell Limited |
| Hatchards | Waterstones, so Elliott | Investment-fund owned | June 2018 | 3 | Companies House, Hatchards UK Limited |
| Daunt Books | James and Katherine Daunt | Family owned | Founder owned | 10, three under other names | Companies House, Daunt Books Limited |
| Topping & Company | Robert and Louise Topping | Family owned | Founder owned | 5 | Companies House, Topping & Company Booksellers Limited |
| TGJones (the former WHSmith high street shops) | Modella Capital, controlled through Hay Wain Group by Jamie Constable | Private equity | June 2025 | About 480 at the sale; up to 150 closing | Our WHSmith and TGJones article |
| WHSmith (airports, stations and hospitals) | WH Smith PLC | Listed company | Listed | 593 UK travel shops (undated company figure) | Companies House, WH Smith Travel Limited |
| The Works | TheWorks.co.uk plc | Listed company (AIM) | Listed | 508 in the UK and Ireland (May 2026) | Companies House, The Works Stores Limited |
| Forbidden Planet (forbiddenplanet.com) | Nick Landau and Vivian Cheung | Privately owned | Founder owned | 10 | Companies House, Forbidden Planet Limited |
| Forbidden Planet International (forbiddenplanet.co.uk) | FPI Limited, with no one holding more than a quarter | Privately owned | — | 18 in the UK, plus Dublin | Companies House, Forbidden Planet (Scotland) Ltd |
| Goldsboro Books | David Headley and Daniel Gedeon | Privately owned | Headley since at least 2016; Gedeon registered May 2026 | 2 | Companies House, Goldsboro Books Limited |
| Oxfam Books & Music | Oxfam, a charity | Charity | — | Over 120 (Oxfam figure, January 2022) | Companies House, Oxfam |
| The Amnesty Bookshop | Amnesty International UK, a charity | Charity | — | 9 | Amnesty International UK's own list of its bookshops |
What the table does not fit
Waterstones. Elliott has been reported to be preparing a London listing of Waterstones combined with Barnes & Noble, which it also owns. In July 2026 Bloomberg reported that the listing might be pushed back to 2027. Nothing has been listed yet.
Blackwell's (including Heffers in Cambridge). Heffers in Cambridge trades under its own name but is listed among Blackwell's shops. Julian Blackwell stopped being a registered controller in February 2022.
Hatchards. Hatchards UK Limited is dormant; the shops trade inside Waterstones Booksellers Limited.
Daunt Books. Three of the ten shops trade as the Owl Bookshop, Hart's Books and The Marlow Bookshop. James Daunt also runs Waterstones and Barnes & Noble for Elliott, but Daunt Books is his and Katherine Daunt's, not Elliott's.
Topping & Company. The fifth shop, in York, opened on 5 June 2026.
TGJones (the former WHSmith high street shops). A court approved a restructuring plan in 2026 that allows up to 150 shops to close. We have not found a reliable current shop count.
WHSmith (airports, stations and hospitals). WH Smith PLC sold its high street shops and kept the travel ones, which still trade as WHSmith.
The Works. A discount books, arts and toys chain rather than a bookshop in the usual sense. No one holds a controlling stake.
Forbidden Planet International (forbiddenplanet.co.uk). A different business from Forbidden Planet Limited, despite the shared name. Birmingham and Liverpool each have one shop of each.
Oxfam Books & Music. Charity 202918 in England and Wales, SC039042 in Scotland. We found no newer shop count than Oxfam's own from 2022.
The Amnesty Bookshop. Amnesty International UK has two registered bodies, and its site does not say which one runs the shops.
Four names, one owner
The most useful thing on this page is that four of the best-known names in British bookselling have the same owner. Elliott bought Waterstones in 2018, and Waterstones then bought Foyles the same year and Blackwell’s, with Heffers, in 2022. Hatchards, the oldest of them, has belonged to Waterstones for longer. All four still trade under their own names, so a street with a Waterstones and a Foyles can look like a choice between two businesses when it is not. We explain how that group fits together in Waterstones, Foyles, Blackwell’s and Hatchards: one fund.
Two names that are not what they look like
WHSmith. The shop on your high street that used to be WHSmith is now TGJones, owned by Modella Capital since June 2025. WH Smith PLC kept the name and the shops in airports, stations and hospitals. Our WHSmith and TGJones article explains the split.
Forbidden Planet. Two separate businesses trade under this name. Forbidden Planet Limited, with ten shops including the London megastore, is owned by Nick Landau and Vivian Cheung. Forbidden Planet International, with eighteen UK shops, is a different company whose register shows no one holding more than a quarter of it. In Birmingham and Liverpool you can find one of each.
What is missing, and why
Four chains are left out because we could not give a clean, sourced answer. Rossiter Books (six shops across Herefordshire, Gloucestershire, Worcestershire and Monmouthshire) and Bookends (Carlisle and Keswick) are described as family businesses on their own sites, but we found no Companies House record to cite, so they may trade without a limited company. We could not confirm that John Smith’s campus bookshops still trade under that name, and we could not find a current shop list or registered company for the CLC Christian bookshops. All four will be added when they can be.
“Every” means every bookshop chain we could verify that trades under one brand in more than one UK location. Single-shop independents are not chains and are not listed. If you think a chain is missing, tell us which and we will trace it.
How this was checked
Every row was checked on 30 September 2026. Where a UK company exists, the owner comes from its persons-with-significant-control entry at Companies House, followed up each level until the chain ends in a person, a listed company or a statement that no one has control. Shop counts come from each chain’s own list of shops on the same day, or from the dated report named in the row. Two rows are answered by Highstreett’s own “who owns” articles, linked in the table, so this page and those articles give the same answer.
If you would rather buy from someone who owns the shop they’re standing in, our alternatives to Waterstones and Lincoln bookshops guide name independents and who is behind them.