John Hatchard opened on Piccadilly in 1797 and the shop has never left the street. Its history, the royal warrants, Oscar's table, whether it really is the oldest – and what it can still do that the internet cannot.

Built in 1912 as a bookshop and still doing the job. The oak galleries, the skylight, the stained-glass window, why the books are shelved by country, and how the man who opened it in 1990 ended up running Waterstones and Barnes & Noble.