Where to go on Record Store Day in Lancashire
Lancashire
There are not many new openings of record shops in Lancashire and
locations such as Blackburn, Blackpool, Fleetwood and Lancaster could do with a
good independent record shop selling new vinyl.
>>>>>>>>>>>
Action Records
46, Church
Street, Preston, Lancashire PR1 3DH
01772
884772
Monday-Saturday
9am-5.30pm
Stock:
Vinyl, CD, Pre-owned, In-stores, Tickets
Established
1979
So many
long-established record shops opened during the punk and post-punk periods. One
of these was Action Records, owned by Gordon Gibson, who originally started
selling pre-owned vinyl in a Blackpool market. At first it was tough going and
he wondered if he had made the right decision. One day he only took £2 in
takings whilst his bus fare home was £2.40. Luckily for music fans he stuck
with it, appreciating how much he enjoyed chatting to people and persuading
them to buy things that they had not intended to purchase originally.
Action
expanded and moved to Preston in 1981. It is a testament to Gordon that 38
years on, it is still as popular as ever. Anybody speaking with him will
quickly realise that he is not a Lancashire lad and although it is nearly four
decades since he left his native Stranraer, he has lost none of his Scottish
brogue. He ended up in Lancashire following an appeal on Bob Harris’ radio show
back in 1971. He had hitchhiked down to the Lincoln festival to see The Byrds,
James Taylor and Tim Hardin amongst others. On the journey down he was picked
up by fellow travellers Alan and Sheila Cookson. The three had a fabulous
weekend and vowed to stay in touch. Easier said than done, back in 1971, with
no email or Facebook. Soon they had lost touch, so Alan and Sheila put out an
appeal on Bob’s show for Gordon to give them a call. Luckily Gordon was tuned
in and heard Bob read out their phone number. Can you imagine Radio 1 giving
out somebody’s phone number these days? Gordon duly moved down to Preston to
live near his friends and has stayed there ever since.
Between 1982 and 2009 Action had its own record label releasing records by artists such as the Boo Radleys and three albums by the Fall. It all started when Gordon releasing a single by his brother’s band the Genocides. That started a pattern where he was happy to release recordings by customers and friends, providing he thought the material was decent. Cornershop drummer Dave Chambers once worked at the store. Another early employee was Nick Brown who went on to open Intoxica Records in London.
The
resurgence of vinyl has given the business a great boost and one thing Gordon
has noticed is the younger people who come in and only buy vinyl. His CD sales
amongst the under-20s is negligible. Back in 1995, though, Gordon appeared on
TV saying that vinyl would vanish unless somebody started manufacturing needles
for record players. He could not get them anywhere and predicted a grim view
for vinyl unless this problem was rectified. Lucky for everybody, it has been.
Action is always keen to have bands play in the shop. One gig has reached legendary status with the music fans of Preston. A young Devon band yet to taste fame called Muse rocked the shop and it seems like half the music fans of Preston have told Gordon they were there, but he recalls the band only playing to around 30 people. This was not the case when Bastille recently played the shop. This time more than 100 music fans from Preston can say they were there, as the shop was packed. Other successful events have included signings with ex-Mansun singer Paul Draper and, a week later, guitar hero Steven Wilson, the queue for whom was like Record Store Day, with fans travelling from as far afield as Glasgow, Edinburgh, Newcastle and Sheffield to meet the man.
Gordon
intends to be selling vinyl to the people of Preston until the day he retires.
Nearly 40 years after opening, he is still passionate about music. He is the
sort of person the music industry should be honouring. In 2015, an excellent
short documentary Chasing by Nuns was
produced, telling the story of the shop. It can be viewed on YouTube.
Astonishing Sounds
3 Hall Street, Burnley, Lancashire BB11 1QJ
012824 55339
astonishingsounds.co.uk;
shop.astonishing.sounds@googlemail.com
Monday-Saturday 10.30am-5.30pm
Established 1986
Stock: Vinyl, Pre-owned, CD, Badges, Posters, T-shirts
If
you like old-school record shops, then Burnley is the place to go. Neil Kinder
has been selling music since the age of 16, when he started at Record Fairs.
After six years, he moved to an indoor market and one year later opened
Astonishing Sounds. Neil offers a similar service to Waitrose, who give a free
cup of coffee to anybody who spends £5, as he constantly has the kettle on and
is happy to give his customers a cup of tea free of charge.
One
day a man entered with an unusual request. He enquired if the shop had any
drugs. Neil explained that this was not that sort of shop. The gentleman did
not take kindly to this and repeated that he wanted drugs and all good record
shops would keep drugs in stock. At this point, Neil realised the
heavily-accented man was asking for the Troggs, the West Country band led by
Reg Presley whose hits included “Wild Thing” and “Love Is All Around”. Along
with Neil’s own thick Lancashire accent, the request had been lost in
translation.
If
you want to see what both Neil and the shop look like, Jellybelly films posted
a documentary on YouTube. Neil has been called “the Brian Potter of record
retail” after the Phoenix Nights
character, and anybody who has spoken with Neil can understand the comparison.
The shop has a fantastic Northern Soul section. My only advice to visitors is
don’t get Neil started on his views on DJ Tim Westwood.
Electron Records *The
owner went off for a pint while the Beatles were playing*
2, Hall
Street, Burnley, Lancashire BB11 1QJ
01282
428118
electronrecords@hotmail.co.uk
Monday-Saturday
10.30am-5.30pm
Established
1946
Stock:
Vinyl, CD, Pre-owned
Les Baxter
took over Electron Records from his father in the early 1980s having previously
run its sister store in nearby Nelson. With its eye-catching green front and
white steps situated on a hill, Electron is a true, old-fashioned record shop
that does not look like it has changed in decades. The original listening booth
and collection of cassettes harks back to the past, but the shop has a modern
outlook when it comes to vinyl, devoting much more space to the format in
recent years. If you have seen the film Northern
Soul you may recognise Electron, as many of the record shop scenes were
filmed there.
The
Beatles called in to Electron in late 1962, when John Lennon bought a Dinah
Washington EP. The band returned to the area in May 1963 to play a gig at The
Imp in Nelson where they had been booked a while before for the tiny sum of
£20. 5,000 tickets were printed for a venue that officially held 2,000 (where
was health & safety back then?). Les was one of the lucky attendees, but he
could not hear the band above the screaming. So, he retired to the bar for a
pint, instead of watching what was to become the most famous band in history.
Malcolm’s Musicland
Chapel
Street, Chorley, Lancashire PR7 1BW
0125 726
4362
Monday-Saturday
9am-5.30pm
Established
1972
Stock:
Vinyl, CD
This
longstanding Chorley institution stocks mainly CDs but does take part in Record
Store Day.
Quicksilver Music *The
owner who only stocks product from before he was born*
24, Market
Street, Southport, Lancashire PR8 1HJ
0170 454
2939
Monday,
Tuesday, Thursday-Saturday 9am-5pm
Established
2009
Stock:
Vinyl, Pre-owned, Musical Instruments
Owner Dave
Thornley has an unusual policy: he stocks as much product as he can that was
released before 1975 - the year of his birth. He started the business after
being made redundant, and his opening stock was his own vast collection. The
shop is named after his all-time favourite band, the psychedelic San
Francisco-based Quicksilver Messenger Service, best known for the album Happy Trails released in 1969. The shop
is easy to find as it is opposite Southport market.
Townsends
30 Queen
Street, Great Harwood, Lancashire BB67 QQ
0125 488
0145
Monday-Saturday
9am-6pm
Established
1978
Stock:
Vinyl, CDs, Tickets, Merchandise
Also, at:
18 Moor
Lane, Clitheroe, BB7 1BE
Townsends is a record retailer that seems to have slipped under the radar. Owner Steve Bamber’s entrepreneurial spark was ignited during his early working life selling luxury cars. He discovered Jerry’s Records, an old-fashioned, enigmatic music shop in Great Harwood which opened only three days a week.
Steve
could see that the shop had tremendous potential. His brother already owned a
musical instrument shop locally and Steve reckoned that the two businesses
could complement and promote each other and bought Jerry’s Records.
As the glory days of record retailing were ending, Steve realised that if the business was going to thrive he had to do more than just sell from his bricks and mortar stores. With the support of Bruce McKenzie, who joined from HMV Bolton, two projects he initiated bore fruit. The first was to establish Townsend’s own label, offering many exclusive-to-Townsend’s releases. Artists they are associated with include Mike Harding, Ian McNabb, Puressence, David Sylvian, Thunder and Black.
The next phase of the expansion was to start their own marketing “Direct to Consumer” (D2C). The idea was to work with bands to offer the consumer exclusive product. It might be a CD signed by the band or a signed lyric sheet, or exclusive postcards. It had to be something which the consumer could not buy anywhere else.
The next
step was to offer artists to have their online stores managed by Townsends.
They offered the opportunity to sell both the physical and digital sales as
well as tickets for the tour. One brilliant innovation was to offer artists a
print on demand T-Shirt service. For the artist, gone were the days of printing
500 T-shirts and having to store them: Townsends could print as many as was
required. They also managed the artists’ Facebook stores. It was no surprise
that the likes of Noel Gallagher, The Pixies, The Prodigy, Marilyn Manson and
The Charlatans signed up for the service.
In 2015,
they opened a brand-new state-of-the-art fulfilment centre on a new industrial
estate in Burnley. The building was designed by the Townsend team. It is an
impressive operation and Steve can be proud of what he has achieved. Even he
couldn’t have thought, when he bought Jerry’s Records, that 35 years later it
would have turned into a multi-million-pound business.
This piece is taken from the book The Vinyl Revival and the Shops That Made it Happen
Over 220 independent record shops featured in The Vinyl Revival and the Shops That Made it Happen
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.
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