Great Bristol Record Shops

Bristol & Avon

No other city has suffered as much record shop closing carnage as Bristol. It used to take me two days to visit the record shops of the area which sold new product. Park Street was the hub where I would sell to five different independent record shops: Imperial Music, Onyx, Rayners and Replay (who had two other branches in the city). They all closed within a few years of each other. Add to that Disc-n-Tape, Music Stop, Revolver and Kays (which had 4 shops), all of which have bitten the dust.

In recent years, some new entrepreneurs have opened shops and the scene is on the up again. The publicity Bristol received when Rough Trade opened a branch there in December 2017 was welcome. In 2016 Friendly Records in Bedminster and Longwell Records in Keynsham both opened, starting the revival. With Specialist Subject Records re-locating to Bristol from Exeter, record retailing in the city is now buzzing.

>>>>>>>>>>> 

Friendly Records
59 North Street
Bedminister
Bristol
BS3 1HJ

01173 2397169

Friendly Records is Bristol’s only record shop located south of the river, just a 15-minute walk from the city centre. Sandwiched between two bars on the vibrant North Street, the shop fills a void left by Replay, which closed its doors over a decade ago.

Having spent countless hours in Bristol’s record shops during his youth, where “grumpy” seemed the default setting for many of those who worked there, Friendly Records owner Tom Friend was determined to ensure that he would offer a vastly different experience. And he does. It must be one of the cheeriest and happiest record shops I have ever visited. The walls are adorned with some of the popular T-shirts they sell, all featuring the shop's logo (designed by Pete Fowler, the man behind the Super Furry Animals records sleeves) of a happy face inside a vinyl record. The face looks remarkably like Tom’s.

The Bristol Post ran a feature on the 50 Coolest Bristolians alive. Stephan Merchant, George Ezra and J K Rowling were all prominent. So was none other than Tom Friend, a sign of not only the importance of music to the city, but of the shop’s success in creating an inclusive experience for likeminded individuals. It is a place where not only are records bought, but stories shared.

Tom’s early claim to fame included a cheeky attempt to play at Glastonbury when he was only 15 years old. In an impressive display of youthful bravado, he and his bandmates, who called themselves A Moveable Feast, set off from Bristol for Worthy Farm in Pilton the home of Glastonbury Festival owner Michael Eavis. The idea was to give the Eavis family an impromptu gig in the hope they would be added to that year’s festival line up. They turned up at the farm and knocked on the door. It was opened by Michael’s wife, a friendly woman called Jean. She invited the boys in for a cup of tea and tracked down Michael to come and meet them. He turned down the offer of a live performance there and then, but he was happy to listen to the demo tape they had brought down.

Tom remembers the event with fondness and was impressed by the hospitality shown to them by the Eavis family especially as he now regards the music they were playing as appalling. “If I had my way, I would not have let music as bad as that out of the rehearsal studio, never mind playing Glastonbury,” Tom says now. Sadly, Michael Eavis agreed with Tom’s latterday assessment and politely turned down the opportunity to put A Moveable Feast on the Pyramid Stage.

A Moveable Feast had a short-lived career the highlight of which was playing The Thekla, the legendary Bristol music venue housed on board a ship in the harbour. The local paper reviewed the gig, comparing Tom (the lead singer) to a poor-quality Shaun Ryder (of Happy Mondays). Tom took it as a compliment at the time, although with hindsight the review no longer seems quite as positive as it once did.

Since his early teens Tom had bought records. As his musical horizons expanded so did his collection. Hundreds become thousands. His love of music would eventually lead to a career in the music industry, where as an A&R man he worked for the likes of Island Records and 679 Recordings and with artists ranging from The Streets to The Polyphonic Spree. But still the collection grew. Acknowledging an addiction is hard but Tom’s wife only had to point to the sagging shelves that filled their house as clear evidence of his problem. So Friendly Records was born, a place for a collection that grew too large, but also an exciting business opportunity that is now paying dividends.

One thing that surprised Tom when he opened the shop was the amount of people who came in and told him that they don’t play the vinyl records that they buy, but display them like works of art. While most music fans would find this strange, you only have to check the internet to find evidence of this trend. Accor ding to an ICM poll, 48% of people who buy a vinyl record don’t play it within a month of purchasing it, while 7% don’t even own a record player. The poll also found that half of people who buy a vinyl record listen to it online first.

Don’t leave the shop without purchasing a Friendly Records T-shirt, guaranteed to make even the most miserable person smile.

Longwell Records

36 Temple Street, Keynsham, Bristol BS31 1EH

01173 826104

longwellrecords@gmail.com; @LongwellRecords

Established 2016

Stock: Vinyl, CD, Pre-owned

Longwell Records owner Iain Aitchison recalls living on a council estate in Southmead in the 1980s as a tough gig.  Listening to records eased the pain of the Thatcher era and his musical tastes were shaped by artists such as the Style Council, Billy Bragg and various ska and reggae bands connected with the Red Wedge politico-pop movement. Having worked as a drug counsellor for many years caring for people high on heroin, he now finds encounters with the occasional troublesome customer a piece of cake.

During the 1990s Iain frequented the many local charity shops in his area building up his vinyl collection. This was the period when most people were dumping their vinyl collections and replacing them with CDs, and many of the vinyl albums that he found selling for 50p or less would one day be worth considerably more.

He opened Longwell Records in Keynsham, a town with its own music festival and some distance away from the plethora of music shops in Bristol. The shop has its own logo based on a cartoon of the family dog Jaffa. A huge picture of Jaffa dominates the window and he also appears on the shop’s bags and T-shirts. Iain is grateful for the support of his most famous regular customer and big vinyl fan, actor Stephen Merchant, who has promoted the shop through his extensive social media activity.

“I love the fact that on Record Store Day I can make someone’s vinyl dreams come true, like a great big record fairy,” Iain says. “Since I opened the shop I have been genuinely shocked by how many fantastic stories I have heard from customers, regular and new. I have lost count of the amount of times I have been informed that a customer saw the Beatles in Bristol or at Weston-super-Mare, their eyes glazing over with fond memories of seeing the Fab Four in the west country back then. One customer attended Eddie Cochran’s last concert, a few hours before he was killed in a car accident on the A4 at Chippenham.  The crash scene was attended by a young policeman [David Harman] who later became the leader of the band Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Titch. 

“Many customers also tell me of witnessing Hendrix playing Bath Pavilion; others about being one of the 36,000 who watched the Rolling Stones in the pouring rain at Ashton Gate in Bristol in 1982. My favourite story was from the old punk guy who informed me he had Sid Vicious’s release papers from when he was nicked in New York. He told me he used to visit Sid’s mum up in Croydon and she let him have them. He had lost them many moons ago, the sad look on his face a testament to his regret, though the memories will always be there.”

Rough Trade (see main feature in London section)

3, New Bridewell, Nelson Street, Bristol BS1 2QD

01179 297511

Monday-Saturday: 9am-7pm

Sunday: 11am-6pm

Stock: Vinyl, CD, DVD, Books, Clothing, Coffee, Food, In-stores, Licensed

Try and time your visit to coincide with one of the many in-store performances (check out website for details). Allow plenty of time to look through the racks and enjoy some food and drink in the café.

Radio On
34,Park Street, Bristol,BS1 5JG
0117 934 9176 
radio-on.co.uk
Monday-Saturday 10am-6pm, Sunday 12-5pm
Established 2018
Stock;Vinyl,Pre-owned


A  beautifully designed shop situated above a vintage clothes shop. They describe themselves as  specialising in pop thrills, DIY punks, noise-nik experimentalists, sounds-from-way-back-when, lo-fi kickers, indie-kid-politix, and especially the adventurous sounds coming from queer and feminist places. 

Strong on new releases and great supporters of DIY labels from all over the world. A welcome addition to the Bristol record retailing scene.

Specialist Subject Records      *Shop that shares its space with a punk-rock yoga class*

First Floor Exchange, 72 Market Street, Bristol BS2 0EJ

07828 943754

specialistsubjectrecords.co.uk; info@specialistsubjectrecords.co.uk; @specialistsub

Monday-Sunday 12-6pm (late night when gigs are on)

Established 2016

Stock: Vinyl, Pre-owned, Books, Cassettes, Tickets, T-shirts, Zines

The Old Market area is a part of Bristol that is on the up. Located just off one of the busiest roundabouts in the city, the Exchange, it is a three-story, multipurpose building that is a creative hub for the music community. It houses a 250-capacity venue that has been graced by artists such as Rag’n’Bone Man, George Ezra and the Sleaford Mods. It is home to a recording studio and for those requiring sustenance there’s also a vegetarian café which has become extremely popular. The building also works as a rehearsal space and has even played host to punk-rock aerobics and yoga classes. I am not sure myself if I could relax and stretch to the sounds of Sex Pistols even if it was “Holidays in the Sun”.

The latest addition to the building is punk/indie/hardcore record label and shop Specialist Subject Records, owned by Kay Stanley and Andrew Horne.

Andrew has been self-releasing music since he was 15. The name was coined for a fictional release as part of his university coursework, but he resurrected it in 2009 when he decided to start the label. Since then the label has gone from strength to strength and has now amassed more than 60 releases.

Andrew and Kay previously ran the label and an online shop in Exeter before taking the decision to relocate to Bristol in 2017. The vibrant Bristol music scene seemed a more suitable home for both the label and the shop. The shop is up two flights of stairs and situated close to the building’s toilets. For selected gigs they’ll keep the shop open late. It is amazing how many people have walked up the stairs to use the toilet, discovered the shop and are now regular customers. Don’t expect to find regular back catalogue in the shop. The racks are full of contemporary punk, indie and hardcore releases. If that is your music taste, then it is a must visit. You can find more about the label’s own releases through their yearly CD samplers, quarterly physical newsletter and (almost) weekly email newsletter.

The label also runs a “Season Ticket” subscription. For a one-off amount, recipients get the most limited colour vinyl pressing of every Specialist Subject Records release for a year, digital downloads emailed to them before official release dates and a year-long 10% discount on everything in the shop and on their website. Every person who signs up receives a goodie box, and if you can’t visit the shop in Bristol to collect, they offer worldwide postage.

The DIY ethos of Kay and Andrew’s label is a 2018 replica of the punk spirit of 1976, with Specialist Subject Records being everything that independent retailing should be.

 

The Centre For Better Grooves

 33 Gloucester Road, Bristol BS7 8AA

07736 638568

centreforbettergrooves@gmail.com; @cfbgbristol

Monday-Friday 11am-6pm

Saturday 10am-6pm

Established 2014

Stock: Vinyl, Pre-owned

 Gordon Montgomery started working as a Saturday assistant at HMV in 1973. He quickly impressed and went on to manage the shop. For the next eight years he managed branches all over the country for both HMV and later Virgin Records.  Coventry, Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow & Tottenham Court Road London were some of the locations he ended up at. Gordon was the founder of the Fopp chain of record shops.

Fopp started on a stall in De Courcy’s Arcade in the west end of Glasgow. He departed Virgin, for whom he had set up their first Megastore in Scotland, taking £3,000 in severance pay, and arranged a £3,000 overdraft to begin building a business. By the turn of the new millennium, the business was racking up sales of £30 million plus.

 Sadly, the Fopp chain closed in 2007 at a time of very difficult conditions for independent record shops. The name still trades today, now owned by HMV. For his latest venture Gordon has returned to his roots. After the challenge of running major record stores he is now selling the vinyl he loves in a relaxed environment. Focusing on quality pieces and recordings, laid out to suit the traditional record browser, there are more than 5,000 mostly used titles on offer covering all genres, including classical.

Gordon is one of the most knowledgeable record shop owners you could ever meet and is always happy to offer his words of wisdom on prospective purchases. The smell of freshly-brewed coffee adds to the ambience. Take your time looking through the racks and check the unusual sections such as “Going to the disco?” and “Weird Shit”.

Around half of the used records are from the USA, and this is especially true of Gordon’s excellent and extensive Jazz, Soul and Funk selections.

 The books of Graham Jones are available in record shops or online. The latest book The Vinyl Revival and the Shops that Made it Happen has been turned in to a film. It has just been released on DVD and is available in record shops or online. Distributed by Proper Music.

Each week I record The Vinyl Revival Record Shop Podcast. It contains lots of funny tales from the crazy world of record retailing. It is also available on Spotify.

Twitter: @Revival_Vinyl

My blog has over 100 features on record shops and vinyl.

grahamjonesvinylrevival.blogspot.com

For film screenings and talks contact Graham. 

As the person who has visited more record shops than any other human, I often get asked my advice on buying turntables. I always say do not purchase a budget model. What is the point of buying one that costs the price of a few albums? The sound will not do the recordings justice. For a long time, I have recommended Rega Turntables as they are superb quality at great prices. They got more brownie points for sponsoring 'Record Store Day' and manufacturing limited editions just for record shops. 

 

 @Revival_Vinyl

 For film screenings and talks contact Graham at graham@lastshopstanding.co.uk 

 Over 100 record shop articles on this blog - Check them out

 The stories of record shops can be heard each week in The Vinyl Revival Record Shop Podcast.

 https://soundcloud.com/recordshoppodcast

Also available on Spotify.