Drift Records in Totnes, Devon, should have made the list. Fantastic shop selling amazing mixture of music. Wonderful staff as well.
Recommended by KentMusicLibrary
Snooper’s Paradise in Brighton is pretty good but there are a few better places for secondhand vinyl in the city. Rarekind a couple of streets over (104 Trafalgar Street) has a great selection (lots of old disco, hip-hop, soundtracks) at very affordable prices. Monkey Music Emporium (43 Baker Street) has some fantastic finds too, but is more orientated towards rock, punk and indie stuff. If you’re a completist, The Wax Factor has pretty much every classic album ever released, along with a top notch second hand book section, but you’ll have to pay.
Recommended by OttoMaddox
In Edinburgh we have Underground Solushn on Cockburn Street, for the young trendy DJ types, and Unknown Pleasures on Canongate. There’s also one called Backbeat a bit out of the way in Newington, which has been there for years and is overflowing with boxes of records stacked floor to ceiling, front to back; it’s almost impossible to actually get into the shop. And the Record Shack on Clerk Street as well.
Recommended by Scottfromscotland
Vinyl Tap in Huddersfield covers all the bases: used, new and collectable vinyl, CDs, cassettes and memorabilia. Brilliant, and huge, shop. One of the biggest selections in the country. It has a shop at the Elsecar Heritage Centre near Barnsley too.
Recommended by Adam Stroyan
Brill cafe, Exmouth Market, London – delicious smoked salmon bagels and good coffee and a small but eclectic selection of CDs and vinyl. Picked up the new Dave Rawlings Machine and Joanne Shelley albums a few weeks back. Also my local, Polar Bear Records in Kings Heath, Birmingham, run by the indefatigable Dylan freak, Steve.
Recommended by LordMoseley
Beatdown Records in Newcastle upon Tyne. It’s just up from the central station and easy to miss (it’s in a basement) but well worth a visit. Lots of new vinyl and CDs in the front of the shop, but the gem is the secondhand department: follow the twisting corridor at the back of the shop and you’ll end up in a secondhand vinyl wonderland. Ignore its website, which inexplicably lists only about 20 secondhand LPs; this place is packed.
No list of the best UK record shops should be without Gramex, near Waterloo station in London. The shop sells mostly CDs, with a small handful of LPs under the tables, and sells mostly classical discs with a smattering of jazz. Do not go in there looking for something specific, as that way lies madness – nothing is in order. Instead, take some time browsing, chat to Roger, the genial and extremely knowledgeable owner, and fill your boots.
Recommended by mole_9
Bridport Music (Bridport, Dorset) is a beacon of light, surviving in perpetuity since the 1970s and run by a fantastic couple: Piers and Steph Garner. They have employed countless young people, promote local music, host events/launches, put up posters for gigs, sell tickets for no commission for local events, adapted to CD and mail order but kept selling vinyl and started selling instruments. They should be on this list!!!!
Recommended by ID4119350
I’d like to nominate Supertone on Acre Lane in Brixton. It is one of the last surviving proper reggae record shops in the capital. Once upon a time there were so many. Dub Vendor. Maroons Tunes. Daddy Kool. Red Records. Desmond’s Hip City. If you go in on a quiet weekday you may be able to peruse the wonders of the back room, where shelves groan under the weight of seven inch singles from all the major JA labels. It is an absolute treasure trove.
Recommended by seniorcoconut
Rob’s Records in Nottingham deserves a mention just for cleanliness and its wonderful sense of order (Rob is definitely not OCD) … Rob is a wonderful old school northern soul boy who turned his love for music into a job. Find out (on t’internet) what record was number one on your birthday/wedding day, request said record from Rob then watch in wonder as he literally crate dives [for] birthday/anniversary-dated 45s framed up (sold on t’ebay). They make excellent gifts.
Recommended by bobbymac1956
For anyone in Haringey, Tottenham Lane, near Crouch End, has a place called The Little Record Shop which is decent. Great collection of jazz, soul, indie, funk, folk and hip-hop. It’s a former solicitors and the interior hasn’t changed much. It’s also completely chaotic, with boxes of stuff everywhere, but that kind of adds to the charm. Dave, the owner, is a good bloke, and it’s worth asking if you’re after something specific as he’ll usually have a rummage around and find what you’re looking for.
Recommended by DistractedWood
I loved Spillers when I was at Cardiff University in the 90s. It was the only place I could find slightly off-mainstream stuff like Ocean Machine and Strapping Young Lad, back before internet shopping was really a thing. Thinking back, it was incredible how having access to a shop like that could totally rearrange the sort of music you could listen to.
Recommended by ThornDavis
What about the Holt Vinyl Vault, which is in the snooty Norfolk town of Holt. It is a haven from the red-trouser wearing blue-nosed gits that populate what would otherwise be an agreeable market town. It’s in the post office, which is nice. I picked up a copy of the classic ska compilation Tighten Up when I was last in there.
Recommended by Garry Booth
We a have gem of a record shop called Raves from The Grave. Great for new stuff, ordering you bits and pieces in, and the cellar is rammed full of secondhand vinyl of every genre. Well worth the trip out to Warminster, Wiltshire, if you are in the area.
Recommended by ID0183616
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