Record stores in the UK - Looking for recommendations.

Hopefully in the not too distant future, we can all get back out there and crate dig again. I'm looking to expand my list of record stores to visit, which I can often fit in around my business travel. I travel all over the UK with the exception of London, so please send me your recommendations. I've a very eclectic music taste and collect a mixture of old and new vinyl.

 

Monorail in Glasgow

 

There’s a listing here that should help you get started...#TimsTwitterListeningParty. Independent Record Shop List

 

Brilliant, thanks a lot!

 

I found countless grails in Unknown Pleasures in Edinburgh.
But it permanently closed due to COVID.
I’m afraid many stores have suffered the same fate.

 

Plastic Wax and Wanted records in Bristol, both are close to other shops as well to make any visit more rewarding.

 

Swordfish in Birmingham. Though if they’re still in business with/after the pandemic I don’t know

 

Reflex Newcastle

Archive, Chertsey, Surrey
2nd hand

 

My wife just cameback from Leeds Bradford and the records stores she visited the records were overpriced

 

This is a great place.


Sound Knowledge (sound-knowledge.co.uk)

 

Swordfish is an excellent music record store in Barmingham.

 

If you get to Liverpool there are a couple of pretty good ones in the City Centre:

Dig Vinyl in Bold Street - always a nice selection, decent prices and all the ones I have bought from them have been in excellent condition.

Dig Vinyl Liverpool Record Shop

Jacaranda Records - on the first floor of the famous Jacaranda.

Reasonable selection and drinks and record players available.

The Jacaranda Club - Jacaranda Records

Here's a few more:

record shops liverpool

81, Renshaw is worth a mention and the café there is very good.

The Musical Box is further out of the city and has been open since 1947.
Pretty good, but as I say a few miles out of the city centre.

 

Most are overpriced.....hit record conventions but get in early.

 

Just came back from a trip to Manchester. In the northern quarter there’s five record stores within a three or four block radius. Vinyl Exchange has a good mix of old/new vinyl and their website is usually accurate with their stock. Walk across the street and there’s Piccadilly Records. New vinyl only but they have a lot of it. Walk a half block one way and there’s Vinyl Revival, a smaller shop with a lot of Northern Soul and an eclectic mix of other genres. A half block the other way on the same street is Afflecks. Go to the top floor to Vinyl Resting Place. A ton of used vinyl. Then walk like three or four blocks and there’s Clampdown Records. It’s another smaller store with a wide selection. There are more stores than just these but they’re the ones I’ve hit on every trip I’ve taken there.

 

Relics Records in Leeds was one of my favourites when I lived there. There's also Vinyl Tap in Huddersfield nearby which I went to once. Further south I mainly know Sound Machine in Reading and Ben's shop in Guildford which are both great.

 

Other than Monorail, which I'll obviously make a stop at, what's good in Glasgow these days?

 

Not too far from Monorail is Record Fayre. Lots of used at reasonable prices. Log into Facebook | Facebook

I've only visited their new store once since moving pre Covid but Missing Records is usually worthwhile, I've picked up some nice bargains there over the years Missing Records

Definitely make an effort to go to Mixed Up Records - Mixed Up Records | New, Secondhand & Collector's Records, Glasgow UK

Love Music in the city centre also, but I find it overpriced and not as great as it once was.

 

I visited Record Fayre in 2018; it was quite good back then.

 

Follow up: most of what I bought was at the merch table of the indie festival we were attending, but we did get out to a few places:

Record Fayre -- bit of a throwback to my teenage years in the 80s in spirit, which was cool, but pretty rockist, so not much for me. I got an L A post-punk comp from the early 80s and my wife found a Goons LP that remarkably she doesn't already have.

Monorail -- we were in there for about five minutes before we came to the realization that they had nothing we couldn't find in Boston. Nice space, nothing special in terms of inventory.

Mixed Up -- okay, now here we go. Any store with a library music section is alright by me. I mostly stuck to some nice post-punk finds, including original copies of The Pop Group's "She Is Beyond Good and Evil" and Snatch's "Shopping For Clothes." But I found a couple things on Ghost Box and Finders Keepers I'd been looking for, and I could have spent all day in the 45s. As it was, my wife eventually went over to the bookstore next door while I finished in there, which she rarely has to do. Suffice to say that although we flew to Glasgow with just carry-on luggage, we ended up checking bags on the way home so we could carry our records in the cabin.

 

'Drumbeat' in Chorley, Lancashire. A Japanese dealer spent around £1,000 there last year, in a visit after the shop had closed.

Drumbeat record shop | Facebook

 

Clocktower Records in St Michaels Industrial Heritage Estate, Bridport, Dorset. A very pleasant shop in an interesting location.

 

Do you have any more info about what he bought? I've just discovered Drumbeat after moving to Chorley recently. Pete is a lovely guy but the shop is pretty chaotic. You can't even get to most of the stock! I think I'm going to have to devise a strategy for working through it.

 

No idea at all, sorry; maybe Pete will remember what genres were bought. As for looking through the stock, Pete has quite a good memory for what he has if you're looking for something specific, and he can point you to which box might have a particular genre of music in it.