Premier League ref Jon Moss felt that opening his record shop, The Vinyl Whistle, would be less stressful than officiating for 90 minutes on the weekend. He tells John Earls about his new store and why VAR might actually stand for Vinyl Addicted Referee… One of football fans’ most common complaints about referees is how unapproachable they seem: they rarely explain controversial decisions and can … Continue reading Leeds’ The Vinyl Whistle

A vibrant city with a legendary music scene, Glasgow’s record shops are full to the gills with vinyl, as Mark Elliott finds out… Scotland’s biggest city has music coursing through its veins. Like many ports, the influence of imported soul and American country shaped the direction of artists that have broken through from here across the years. The Glasgow boom of the early 1980s, when … Continue reading The Record Store Guide to Glasgow

The relentless pursuit of desirable vinyl takes avid collector Mark Elliott on another excursion to London… Planning a trip to London for a day’s record shopping is tricky. Distances between the clusters of shops can be significant, and then there is always that gem tucked out on a limb, just calling out for your attention. I’ve reported that Soho’s crown as the cratedigging centre of … Continue reading The Record Store Guide to North & West London

In the final episode of The Trip, our intrepid vinyl hunter Mark Elliott makes his way to the Welsh capital via Newport, hungry for new records. D’VINYL RECORDS This is one of those shops that I wish I hadn’t come to first on my visit. I could spend a day here, especially as I have turned up during one of the veteran store’s regular sale … Continue reading The Record Store Guide to Cardiff

One of the UK’s longest-standing record shops, Morris Hunting’s The Diskery is a well-loved Birmingham Institution.  The Diskery is quite simply a legendary record shop. It’s also one of the longest-surviving record shops in England. Situated in central Birmingham, The Diskery first opened its doors in 1952 and has only ever shifted location once – in 1972 moving from 92 Hurst Street to 99 Bromsgrove … Continue reading Birmingham’s The Diskery

It took Simon Vincent 15 years to turn his dream of owning his favourite record shop into a reality, but as Ben Wardle discovers it was worth the wait. Hidden in the middle of Gloucestershire’s photogenic Five Valleys, Stroud is not the sort of place that you’d discover by passing through. You have to be deliberately intending to visit it, because it’s not on the … Continue reading Stroud’s Trading Post

Known as the Golden Mile of record shops, Soho has been transformed in recent years and lost many of its once celebrated music emporiums to redevelopment. Fortunately, a handful are more than surviving, they are thriving, writes Christopher Barrett Soho’s Berwick Street and the surrounding area was home to more than a dozen independent record shops in the 1990s before soaring rents, wholesale gentrification and … Continue reading The Record Store Guide to Soho’s Golden Mile

Music retail veteran Maria Harris was prompted into action when the last record shop in Chesterfield closed. Gary Walker discovers how Tallbird Records was founded and why Maria avoids ladders on Record Store Day When Maria Harris opened the doors of Tallbird Records in Chesterfield six years ago, it was the culmination of a life spent working in record shops, a journey that took Maria … Continue reading Chesterfield’s Tallbird Records

Long Live Vinyl had more than 8,000 votes in our inaugural Record Shop Of The Year competition. Gary Walker pays a visit to the worthy winner – Teesside’s Sound It Out Records. Stockton’s Sound It Out Records is the last independent record shop standing in Teesside, and that’s not by accident. Tucked away from the North East market town’s high street, with its exterior painted … Continue reading Teeside’s Sound It Out Records

How do you improve a well-stocked community record shop run by a true vinyl addict who’s worked in more or less every corner of the music industry? Easy. Open a bar next door. Gary Walker visits Bristol’s Friendly Records   Tom Friend’s CV read like a rough guide to working in the music industry before moving from London to Bristol’s cool and increasingly popular Southville … Continue reading Bristol’s Friendly Records