The writer, lecturer and political activist Sasadhar Sinha opened the Bibliophile Bookshop in 1935. Selling new and second-hand books, it soon became a hub and meeting place for literary and political Indians in Britain. The magazine Indian Writing, launched in 1940 and edited by the writers Iqbal Singh, Ahmed Ali, K. S. Shelvankar and Alagu Subramaniam, was based at the bookshop. Indian Political Intelligence reports claim that by autumn 1941 Sinha was burdened by debt and running the bookshop at a loss. The Communist Party encouraged Surat Alley to set up an alternative organization to Krishna Menon’s India League and to base it at the Bibliophile. It would appear that the following year Sinha in fact handed over control of the bookshop to Menon himself, while retaining his position as manager.