Vinyl Revival and the Shops that Made it Happen

Crash Records 35 The Headrow, Leeds, West Yorkshire LS1 6PU 0113 2436743 crashrecords.co.uk ; crash_records@hotmail.com ; @Crash_Records Monday-Saturday 9.30-6pm Sunday 11am-4pm Established 1985 Stock: Vinyl, CD, Pre-owned, Merchandise, In-stores, Tickets Crash Records is owned by ex-Sony sales rep Ian De-Whytell. It opened originally in Woodhouse Lane before moving to a prime shopping location on The Headrow in Leeds city centre. Ian is an avid supporter of Leeds United. One of his first musical introductions was when his parents bought him “Back Home” by England’s 1970 World Cup squad. The record was constantly on the record player along with the B-side “Cinnamon Stick”. The first record Ian bought with his own money was “School’s Out” by Alice Cooper and, many years later when he became a sales rep for Sony, he was delighted to be introduced to Alice backstage at Birmingham NEC. Ian obtained his first album, Ziggy Stardust by David Bowie, in a mos

The killer tax loophole The damage LVCR did resulted in thousands of job losses in independent shops.This article explains its impact on record shops Nothing contributed more to the destruction of record shops in the UK than an EU tax exemption originally intended to save money. This loophole became known as the silent killer of record shops. Low Value Consignment Relief (LVCR) is an exemption from VAT on goods below a certain value threshold imported into the European Union. At the highest point in its history, this value was set at £18 which covered pretty much every CD and DVD.   The purpose of the exemption was to save money by avoiding the complicated and costly process of collecting tax on “low value” packages. In practice, it was used by the Channel Islands mail order industry (which was outside the EU) to avoid paying VAT and, instead of saving money, this completely legal loophole cost the UK well over one billion pounds over 10 years. This is how it worked