Urban75 Home About Offline BrixtonBuzz Contact

Record shops we've known and loved over the years.

I used to love picking up my saturday job wages and wandering into -

The Kontemperary - Boscombe, Bournemouth

All the qualitites of a good second hand record shop... smoky, stinky, bad cataloging, old hippy manager, wicked tunes whilst you browsed. Nasty ripped posters and faded t-shirts....

It really is very sad that so few of these shops still exist.
 
Bonapartes in Market Square, Bromley about 1975--->>

tis where 'all us' punks used to hang out and plot our next riot;)
but the owner being the good soul he was used to try and tempt me away from punk by allways having something cool on the head phones for me to listen to..ted nugent, zappa, hawkwind...that man has a lot to answer for really:D
 
Sound Cellar, Dublin. Used to go every saturday (late '80's) and it's still there. Sells the best in rock and blues.
 
ck said:
when did that go under ? I spent many a penny there while I was "studying" in Wycombe-Nam. Can't say the staff were overly cheery , but they got a good range of stuff ; much of it at affordable student prices...
Click to expand...
It was put under a compulsory purchase order as part of a wider regeneration of High Wycombe town centre :mad:

Its spiritual sucessor Counter Culture has opened up around the corner though :)
 
skeleton records in birkenhead was where my money used to go.. would have been easier if they had just paid them direct and cut out the middle man
 
It mentions Disque in Islington as well, that was near where I worked and I had to stop myself from going in there because I'd just spend too much money.
 
Red Rhino Records...York, probably provided the roots of my music interests and some good friends.

Power Cuts....Manchester, could spend hours and serious amounts of cash there and the sales were legendary

Action....Preston, only went once but it was a treat.

Picadilly Records...Manchester...while Eastern Bloc were busy sneering at any white kid who bought a HipHop record the staff there were friendly and gave me discount and I could get all my tickets there at one time too.
 
About '88, there were a right couple of cocks who worked there at the time.

The boys from 808 were okay but the it was the hangers on who thought it was cool to work there. I can see one of them now, bad memory.
 
Part2 said:
About '88, there were a right couple of cocks who worked there at the time.

The boys from 808 were okay but the it was the hangers on who thought it was cool to work there. I can see one of them now, bad memory.
Click to expand...

aha, that makes sense. I'd more or less stopped visiting Manchester by 1988; Leeds was just up the road, and had become just as good for hip-hop/house by then.

Oddly enough, there was some girl who used to work in Crash! in Leeds in about 1990, and she used to turn her nose up at me. Look at me now, though - a legendary old skool expert, so :p at her (lol)

There's one in every record shop I think. Thank heavens for internet record shops - I don't miss stuck-up record shop assistants at all. :)
 
Troublesome - Kingston
Wax City - Croydon (original store with the really high counter and tree stumps(?) you had to stand on)
Chemistry - Sutton
Ambient Soho - Soho
 
The Groke said:
Rock Box in Camberley - great little alternative/Indie/Rock/Metal record shop which served me well from age 12 onwards...

I think it has changed hands several times in the last 15 years and it ain't what it used to be....
Click to expand...


nipsla said:
Rock Box in Camberley. Was a fantastic shop where I spent most of my formative years.

Got to do my work experience there when I was 15. Best job ever - listening to music and chatting to geeky, skinny indie boys :o :cool: :cool:
Click to expand...


:cool:


When would this have been - you may have served me.....in fact, if it was long enough ago, I could have been one of those skinny, geeky indie boys!

;)


Can I presume you spent time at the Ag' and The Cube as well?
 
H.Dot said:
...Thank heavens for internet record shops - I don't miss stuck-up record shop assistants at all. :)
Click to expand...
Yep, and those too-high counters so they could look down on you. Wtf was all that about?
 
Piccadilly Records in Manchester - first on Piccadilly Gardens, and then down near the Arndale. It's moved to Oldham St now I believe, although haven't been there for years. It used to stock my fanzine.
 
i haven't read through the whole thread so someone may have mentioned it but there's a good one with mainly "indie" at the top end of holloway road. quite good prices as well :)
 
DJ Squelch said:
One of the earliest I've got fond memories for was the hip hop electro specialist shop Groove Records in Beak St (?) in Soho. I used to listen to Mike Allen on the radio & then go to the shop on saturday to pick the latest rap electro 12"/LPs. There was always loads of rappers, breakers & graffiti writers banging about and became a regular meeting point for my mates.

There was a rumour the bloke running it & his mum also ran the brothel upstairs.:eek:
Click to expand...

Yeah, definately one of my favourite shops - Groove Records (i think it was on Greek Street) was the business for mid-eighties hip hop in London - even having the plastic bags was cool in my school. And I'd forgotten about the rumour about the upstairs - hahaha.

One memory from around this time, was being stopped by a couple of guys in Westbourne Park, when I had just returned from Groove, with one of those yellow bags. I thought they were about to mug me for the tunes, but instead just wanted to stop and chat about hip hop !

Other favourites include Beggars in Kingston, and then Fat Cat and after that Ambient Soho.
 
I like Disque on Chapel Market - friendly, good selection and you can get stuff at midprice that would be pricier elsewhere. I generally have a policy of not spending over a tenner on CDs, and their v. good '2 for £20' offers fit that policy nicely.
 
acid priest said:
That name sounds familiar - didn't that shut some time before Tubes, circa mid '80s?
Click to expand...


i moved away in 1984 so don't know much after that. my mum still lives there but she's no vinyl addict
 
Best second hand record shop

Anyone who have ever visited Nottingham and seen Rob's Records will not fail to have been amazed at the chaos in the shop - records literally everywhere in the shop, piled floor to ceiling and covering nearly every part of the shop.

See the attached link for a piccie of what it is like.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nottingham/360/where_to_go/robs_records/robs_records.shtml

Total chaos but there's loads of good cheap records from swing to punk, metal to soul, reggae to pop, funk to dance. Rob's speciality is soul (he's a Northern Soul DJ) and you can buy records from 25p to £250. And the man himself is a gem.

If you ever visit Nottingham a visit to Rob's is a must.

Chaotic, yes? But a brilliant, brilliant record shop where you can always get some top tunes.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

K
Urban 75 Album of the year 2005 revisited
2 3 4 5
Replies
141
Views
2K
The39thStep
The39thStep
Skinny Ethel
Well known uk dj andy andrew maybe northwest
Replies
29
Views
495
keybored
keybored
editor
FT makes list of the 'world’s greatest record stores'
2
Replies
37
Views
1K
stavros
S
K
Urban 75 Album of the Year 1995
9 10 11 12 13
Replies
372
Views
7K
braindancer
braindancer
K
Urban75 Album of the Year 1985
8 9 10 11 12
Replies
334
Views
8K
hitmouse
hitmouse
Back
Top Bottom