Café Royal Books is a family-run publishing house, comprising Craig, Joanne, Oscar, Hugo, and the dog-ish, Coco. We’re very fortunate to live and work between the woods and the sea, in Ainsdale, a village on the North West coast of England.

Our ethos revolves around collaboration, sharing and inclusivity — we try to find a wider audience for the work we publish, much of which comes from submissions. We champion work that doesn’t have a platform, remains overlooked or is underrepresented, alongside publishing work that is perhaps better represented. While we operate independently of galleries, we embrace opportunities to showcase the diverse archive of publications we produce. Past exhibitions at Martin Parr Foundation, Stills Centre for Photography, and The Photographers Gallery can be seen online.

At Café Royal Books, accessibility is paramount. We believe in democratising art, ensuring our publications remain affordable and widely accessible. Our publications focus on functionality and clarity, free from decoration, and over-design. While each title stands on its own, collectively, they form an important archive, offering insight into a specific genre of photography, spanning decades of British and Irish history. Our collection serves as a valuable resource for industries ranging from film and fashion to social history and education. We’re very proud to have our publications collected and used in academia and cultural institutions worldwide.

We publish at least one new book each week — dedicated to showcasing work that documents people, the environment and aspects of change, particularly from 1960 to 2010, with ties to Britain and Ireland. Additionally, our 'World Series' broadens our scope, embracing work that wouldn’t fall into the documentary series. We extend an open invitation for submissions from all corners of society, we would love more submissions of work from disadvantaged and underrepresented communities.

Environmental stewardship and sustainability are central to what we do both as a family and as a business. We minimise our carbon footprint and donate 1% of our annual revenue to environmental causes through our membership of 1% for the Planet. You can read more about what we do.

We take pride in creating initiatives such as the Café Royal Books Publishing Grant, an annual grant honouring photographers whose work celebrates themes of running or the environment.

Our efforts have gathered recognition, including the Royal Photographic Society Award for Photographic Publishing and finalist status for the international Lucie Award for Editing.

We’ve published more detail, and answers to questions we’ve been asked, at the bottom of this page.