Where are the really good old school vinyl record stores in greater London? Thanks in advance.
Where are the really good old school vinyl record stores in greater London? Thanks in advance.
There are none. The last large vinyl only shop shut down in 2009, Beanos in Croydon.
There are however some smaller shops that sell secondhand vinyl and some smaller shops that sell CDs and new vinyl.
Berwick Street, Notting Hill Gate, Pembridge Road, Camden Town, Upper Street.
The days when one went to London to buy vinyl are long, long gone...
Unfortunately I have to second that, and would also have been able to second it in 2004 and 1994.Originally Posted by spacefreak
This is really funny. Friends and I would sit around the stereo and plan trips to London just to buy albums. The thought was they would have great bands that we had never heard of. We checked into plane fares, hotels and even guides to show us around the city. We were quite serious about this.
The older I get, the better I was.
I came across this: http://londonist.com/2012/04/top-ten-record-shops.php
Flashback Records looks interesting. According to the article they specialize in Canterbury! Anybody been there?
There are a few in Islington but on the whole record stores are London aren't at all special. I was hugely disappointed - we have many more, and much better, stores here in DC.
This was the 70s and the 80s... Used to go on a quarterly basis on such trips
Not anymore. Most have shut down.
The big move came in the mid-90s. The first to go was the huge tower records in Picc Circus. Then in the 00s Virgin sold all its shops to Zavi, and Zavi shut down all the Virgin shops about a year late.
The only big name left is HMV, with a few shops in London
Most of the record shops left in London now are small to medium sized independents.
Yes it was and what a time we had. Do you remember bring back anything special?This was the 70s and the 80s... Used to go on a quarterly basis on such trips
The older I get, the better I was.
My experience is that the small to medium sized independents are the best!
Yes, they are.
Does anybody have any suggestions regarding used vinyl in Central London? Prog, Classic Rock, Beatles etc. at reasonable prices? Does such a store exist? Thanks in advance!
The best bet is Sister Rays in Berwick Street which is just off Oxford St, so take the tube to Oxford Circus. It has new and used vinyl and a good selection, and is quite prog friendly. Opposite this store is Reckless Records which is all used vinyl, and over the years I have found some good things there. Prices tend to be market, there are no bargains these days, they know what the worth is of those rare labelled copies, and you'll see things like Floyd and Beatles albums for £800 that will make your eyes water
There is also The Notting Hill Record & Tape Exchange down by Notting Hill Gate tube, but I haven't been down there in ages.
For new more mainstream vinyl Fopp in Covent Garden is pretty good and HMV by Bond Street tube has an ok section.
Haven't you just read the thread?
you nailed it down pretty good... I'd add the Fopp in Soho (didn't know there was one in Covent Garden) and BM Soho (thpugh its not interesting for us >> techno stuff)... To remain in the vicinity, there is another one (but I forget its name) in Soho on a street corner that deals more in soul, jazz & ethnic, but you can find interesting stuffThe best bet is Sister Ray in Berwick Street which is just off Oxford St, so take the tube to Oxford Circus. It has new and used vinyl and a good selection, and is quite prog friendly.
Opposite this store is Reckless Records which is all used vinyl, and over the years I have found some good things there. Prices tend to be market, there are no bargains these days, they know what the worth is of those rare labelled copies, and you'll see things like Floyd and Beatles albums for £800 that will make your eyes water
There is also The Notting Hill Record & Tape Exchange down by Notting Hill Gate tube, but I haven't been down there in ages.
For new more mainstream vinyl Fopp in Covent Garden is pretty good and HMV by Bond Street tube has an ok section.
Honest Jon's Record is also an institution and so is Alan's Record & CD, but I haven't had time last november (too out of the way for moi & the gf)
my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.
There is only one Fopp in London. It is on Earlham Street, on the corner of Shaftesbury. Very close to Cambridge Circus, so it is on the borders of Covent Garden and Soho.
It is not a very big store, and like HMV they are very cautious about overstocking these days so they only tend to stock what they know will sell. Not really places to look for bargains or rare items.
As others have said, Sister Ray, Reckless Records are the other main ones in Berwick Street.
Just to put things into perspective, with the advent of online shopping and the collapse of HMV stores some years ago due to financial problems, London has a scarcity of actual record shops these days, particularly mainstream ones.
HMV actually closed most of its stores around the country...Central London had about 3 - 4, but they closed them and relocated the bigger store in Oxford Street further down the road, but its about a quarter of the size of the old store. That just leaves Fopp as the only two major stores left.
Soho does have a few smaller independents dotted around, but I rarely frequent these. There was also a London Tape and Record Exchange at the bottom of Berwick Street, I am assuming this is also gone? Used to spend a lot of time going through the racks in that store in the 80's...there was also a great little store in Hanway Street (side street off Oxford Street and Tottenham Court Road)...I remember going in there years ago looking for the Wayne County single F**k Off...nearly got punched by the owner...'So what's it called then?' Yeesh...
I only clicked on it because I thought it was going to be something more interesting...
Yes The Fopp I mentioned is the one and only, on the fringes of Covent Garden / Soho.
The Record & Tape Exchange on Berwick Street is long gone.
There used to be another branch of Reckless in Islington but that too is long gone.
Another couple that occur to me are Rough Trade East, just off Brick Lane, this is the hipster hangout of town and so the music is suitably bearded, but they do have some of the more interesting releases too. Also on Brick Lane is an underground market that has a second hand vinyl seller (Thursdays through to Sundays I think - don't quote me), and they do have a good selection at not too bad prices.
Thanks for the answers! I might have to check one or two of them. I'll be on a business trip in Ldn shortly and might have a couple of hours to bruise the stores.
See if your employer will spring for the rental of a time machine. I understand they're red and stand on street corners.
One could go to Germany for this purpose and not require a time machine...
I was in Berwick Street and it was really quite disappointing! Reckless Records had some stuff (eg. Trespass with the pink sticker for £100 - that's not for me). Sister Rays was closed and moved across the street and had no "open" vinyl section (just some stuff behind the counter). All in all, PeterG was right! At least, it was worth a try!
Vinyl section is downstairs at nu-Sister Ray, no?
have you looked in the basement???
Last november , the place was filled with them.
Yes it is.
my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.
There's loads of vinyl downstairs at Sister Rays, I have no idea how you could have missed it as the store is so small and it is signposted?
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