The History of Brighton & Hove Record Shops – The Directory

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Some of the very best moments in my life have been whilst record shopping! The thrill of the hunt in the second-hand music shops for that mega-obscure vinyl album that was only released in Germany for one week, or the buzz of whizzing down to the ‘chart returns’ record shop when it opens to purchase the brand new release from your favourite artist. The smell of the new cover and the vinyl inside. The little electrostatic crackles as you pull the record out from the inner sleeve for the very first time. The joy of putting the needle down onto the disc and sitting down and listening to it whilst reading every single word of the enclosed booklet and cover. Ahhhhhhhhh!

If you own vinyl, then you will totally understand the above paragraph. With CD’s it can still be an exciting venture tracking down those on your wants list, but it just doesn’t have the same intensity or nostalgia. As for downloads, yes they are immediate and extremely convenient, but it arguably cheapens the whole process and thus making the music almost throwaway. Many millions of people around the globe are realising this and that’s a major contributing factor why vinyl sales are on the increase again.

For nearly a decade I have seriously wanted to research all of the Brighton and Hove record shops and thus collate a full database of them. With the current changes in circumstances affecting the nation, this has given me the available time to achieve this. I have found many contrasting stories and contradictions regarding several of Brighton’s record shops and clearly some of this is now part of ‘folklore’, but I urge you to come along on this exciting historical journey and to help me if you can. If you know of any shops that have unintentionally been omitted and you are able to substantiate your findings, then please leave a comment at the foot of this directory. Likewise, if you have further interesting information regarding a store that we have listed, then please let us know. Also if you strongly suspect that something in this directory is inaccurate and can prove this, then please also comment at the end, as it all helps.

Most small independent record shops were not the vinyl goldmines of popular legend, but simply outlets that sold chart singles along with a small selection of albums (mostly MOR) and, quite often, other goods such as electrical items or greetings cards.

A few though really were the basis of those shops featured in stories such as Nick Hornby’s ‘High Fidelity’ – places catering for those people searching for hard-to-find tunes as well as those just setting off on the path who needed a few tips and recommendations.

Back in Ye Olde Days of vinyl, records would be deleted as soon as sales started tailing off – usually a matter of weeks after release. The only way to find an old tune was to trawl through second hand shops. At their peak during the 1980’s it seemed that every other shop in the North Laine area of Brighton was a second hand record shop.

This directory catalogues every Brighton and Hove record store found from the past 100 years or so. It includes record shops that have in the past (and still do) sell new vinyl records. For an overall picture, we have also added those that solely concentrated on CD’s, as well as stores that stocked records, CD’s and even cassettes as part of their stock. I am not currently aware of a similar directory on the exact same subject that is as comprehensive and with as many entries as this one.

Seven years ago on 12th May 2013, I put the following account online. Many thousands of people in Sussex have their own record shop stories to tell, well here’s mine………

“From September 1978 a gang of us Brighton Tec students used to religiously go around as many record shops in Brighton as possible. Especially on a Monday as it was new releases day! It is funny how you remember defining moments in your musical adventures. I had one of these in late 1974 or early 1975, when I went to Polysound and bought a copy of the “Autobahn” album by Kraftwerk and was overjoyed with it, until it jumped and I had to go back and change it. I have since told my kids “You see that shop over there, well that used to be a record shop and I bought “Autobahn” in there” – Ahhhh the credibility. I can also remember going to Diplomat next door to the Open Market in London Road in 1978 and hearing the person behind the counter playing “Neon Lights” by Kraftwerk and “Are ‘Friends’ Electric?” by Tubeway Army in there in the same lunch hour! Diplomat was a card shop on the ground floor that sold records upstairs. It was along from Boots which also sold records. I can remember going into Subway Records in West Street in 1981 and buying the yellow album cover with a computer on it called “Computerworld” by Kraftwerk. They had them all in the racks, what a memorable sight. When I was at the Brighton Tec, one day I pretended to the tutor that I needed a toilet break during the lesson, but it was not true, as I bombed around the corner to Kenny Lyn Records (to see a Harry Enfield Scouse Terry McDermott look alike) to purchase their last remaining 12″ green vinyl copy of Herbie Hancock’s “You Bet Your Love”. When I got back into class, the game was up as I had nowhere to hide the 12″ record and it was confiscated, but luckily only for the duration of the lesson – job done! I too was a member of Red Rat record rentals. The manager or owner was a tall Turkish guy called Izzy. I fondly recall going into Attrix Records in Sydney Street as they sold their own (and other) records there. I can remember buying Cabaret Voltaire’s “Nag Nag Nag” in there and a massively obscure 7″ called “The Wundersea World Of Jacques Cousteau”. There was also a second-hand record shop called Plus One in Lewes Road which was run by an old mate of mine called Terry. It did not make much money and so his mum had half of the shop for her knitting business….random eh!”

The Directory of Brighton & Hove Record Shops – The first 100 years (listed in alphabetical order):

52 Records, 11 Church Street, Brighton, BN1 1US.
Found under one listing, but not sure if this ever existed.

77 Records, North Laine Bazaar, Kensington Gardens, Brighton, BN1 4AL.
This comes up on Google but the North Laine Bazaar is actually located at 5 Upper Gardner Street, Brighton, BN1 4AN.

Across The Tracks, 110 Gloucester Road, Brighton, BN1 4AF. Online HERE.
A doyen of the local record collectors scene, who have had a variety of homes within the same vicinity. Across The Tracks started life as Disclocator, a small shop in Redcross Street, Brighton, in the mid 1980’s which was owned by Ed Farn. At the end of 1988 Alan Childs came aboard with a background of collectable record sales in Record Collector Magazine. In May 1989, Across The Tracks opened in 34 Sydney Street, Brighton, BN1 4EP.  More shops followed in Trafalgar Street and Warwick Street precinct in Worthing. However in 1994 Across The Tracks moved everything to its current location 110 Gloucester Road, Brighton, BN1 4AF.

Ape Entertainment Limited, 17 Duke Street, Brighton, BN1 1AH. Online HERE.
Independent store Ape specialised in music, books and film. They were formed by Francis Taylor and started out in tiny premises at 17 Duke Street, more than likely in August 2007, then relocated to larger premises at 25 North Street, Brighton, BN1 1EB. They were either here from early 2009 or October 2012 up until 28th April 2018. During this period Ape became Cult Hero, with Ape being dissolved on 7th June 2016. A new Cult Hero store is now trading at 16 Brighton Place, Brighton BN1 1HJ.

Asda, Unit 1, off Crowhurst Road, Carden Avenue, Brighton, BN1 8AS and Brighton Marina, Brighton, BN2 5UT.
Asda used to stock chart CD’s and some vinyl in their stores. I have purchased from their Unit 1, off Crowhurst Road, Carden Avenue, Brighton, BN1 8AS and Brighton Marina, Brighton, BN2 5UT stores before.

Attrix Records, 3 Sydney Street, Brighton, BN1 4EN.
Attrix Records, the shop not the local punk record label, was situated in Sydney Street (now Dave’s Comics). When it opened in 1979, a year after the label, it was the only place in Brighton where you could buy records by decent bands – Joy Division, Siouxsie & The Banshees, The Clash, The Specials – as well as the more obscure stuff that John Peel would play on his radio show. Attrix Records Shop sold cheaper than any other outlets, a measure of owners Rick and Julie Blair and their philosophy, “music for the people, by the people”.
Whilst the shop was always busy, sadly more people used it as a place to meet and hang out rather than make purchases. I remember saying to the staff, only half joking, that they should sell tea and coffee as well as vinyl. I bought shedloads of records there as well as gig tickets, but the shop suddenly closed in 1981. By then High Street shops like HMV and especially Virgin were selling alternative music in competition with Attrix, but I heard that the losses incurred by the Birds With Ears album took down both the label and the shop. Sadly Rick Blair died in May of 1999 at the age of 52.

Avery’s, 77 St James’ Street, Brighton, BN2 1PA.
Mainly a photographers and Radio and TV showroom which also dabbled in gramophone records, which was situated on the corner of Rock Place owned by Henry Alfred Avery and then passed to his son Leslie Avery. It was known to be trading in 1931 and closed down circa 1984 and had been trading for many years.

B Cooke, 6 The Broadway, Whitehawk, Brighton, BN2 5NF.
This wasn’t a second hand shop, but an independent situated just off the Whitehawk Road in circa 1972/1973.

Bang Music, 16 Bond Street, Brighton, BN1 1RD.
Listed as CD’s and records, but I have no recollection of them.

Barnards, St George’s Road, Brighton.
There’s a notification of a record shop here where someone went in and asked for the “loudest record you’ve got”, to test his amp. They were given a 78rpm of Bill Haley’s ‘Rock Around The Clock’.

Bella Union Vinyl Shop, 13 Ship Street Gardens, Brighton, BN1 1AJ. Online HERE.
This hidden gem opened on 8th June 2016 as a vehicle of selling products from the Bella Union Record label, which features artists including John Grant, Beach House, Father John Misty, Penelope Isles and Ezra Furman. The label is owned by former Cocteau Twins band member Simon Raymonde.

Bellmans, 119 London Road, Brighton, BN1 4JH and 98-101 George Street, Hove BN3 3YE.
Bellmans was known to have been trading in 1960 and 1968. The London Road store became Fine Fare in 1973. The Hove store was taken over by Tesco’s.

Bionic Records, 18 North Street, Brighton, BN1 1EB.
Number eighteen’s history features a series of traders with Biddle & Sons picture dealers occupying the shop for just over forty years (1885-1928) prior to Hanningtons moving in (1928-1960), then leasing out to the site British gas (1964-1971) as a showroom before taking over again (1971-1983). After the department store’s demise, it was briefly occupied by Bionic Records before retailers American Apparel arrived in 2007. They closed December 2016.

Black Grass, 39b Sydney Street, Brighton, BN1 4EP.
This record shop opened in 2001 and closed in 2003. A second hand record shop called Reminiscing operated from the same site from 1980 to 1981.

Boots – various addresses.
Boots Pharmacy used to stock the latest chart singles back in the day at many of their branches. I was particularly aware of the 119-120 London Road, Brighton, BN1 4JHL branch, as they had them laid out on their counter which was located at the back left hand side of the store. The 7” singles rarely came in picture sleeves in those days, usually just plain white or pink paper sleeves with large holes in the centre so that the record’s label was visible. I can recall one trip where I purchased Dee D Jackson’s ‘Automatic Lover’ single (which I still have) from the girl assistant, who at the time was being chatted up by her boyfriend and he saw my choice and loudly proclaimed ‘Automatic Scrubber’ to her. Funny the things you remember! The store finally closed on 20th September 2019 to make way for student accommodation. (Update: Alternative Brighton by Noyce & Jarman flagged up by Shelley Guild 30.03.20 – Branch at 157 Western Road, Brighton, BN1 2HA had emphasis on the easy sellers). 

Boots sold records at their other branches in Brighton and Hove, which included 17-19 St James’s Street, Brighton BN2 1RF and 129 North Street, Brighton, BN1 2BE, as well as 59-61 George Street, Hove BN3 3YD. (Update: Terry A 13.04.20 – “Boots also had a separate “Boots Audio” branch in London Road, during the late 70’s – early 80’s, which sold hi-fi equipment and accessories as well as records”).

Borderline, 41 Gardner Street, Brighton, BN1 1UN.
Borderline was at this address from 1998 and the site is now Bluebird Tea Co. who started in May 2018. Borderline was founded by David Stanley Minns in January 1990 and he originally traded along the road at the Jubilee Shopping Hall trading market at 44-47 Gardner Street, Brighton BN1 1UN. The trading market ran from 1984 to 1997. The site was Tesco’s from 1965 to 1979 and is now Komedia Brighton.
Borderline is featured in ‘Last Shop Standing – Whatever Happened To Record Shops?’ By Graham Jones.

Borders, Unit MS6, Cranbourne Street, Churchill Square Shopping Centre, Brighton BN1 2RG.
Borders was located at the North-East entrance of Churchill Square on the left above The Western Pub. They were primarily stockists of magazines and books, also at one time had a large selection of CD’s and DVD’s as well as a coffee shop. The chain went into administration in November 2009.

‘Brighton Record Fairs’ and ‘Markets’ – various locations.
Not actual permanent stores, but I suppose would now be classed as ‘popup shops’. Record Fairs in Brighton have been a popular mainstay for more than forty years. Down the years there have been several locations that have hosted these, with arguably the largest one’s being held at the Brighton Centre, which were hosted by ‘Vinylman’ Geoff Finch, who had expanded his operation from the Madeira Hotel. Other locations have included Brighton Racecourse, Hove Town Hall and the Komedia – where they still take place. Back in the early days, in addition to the vinyl, one could also snap up many cassette tapes of unofficial live recordings and demos. These were obviously unauthorised, but arguably are nowadays regarded as a valuable snapshot of music history.

The current home for the regular Brighton Record Fair is the Komedia, which hosts a free event on the 2nd Sunday of every month, 10-4pm. Now run by Josh Dean (Mrs Canuticacqs Emporium). It has 20+ dealers filling 50 tables with every type of music, bargains to collectables, with something for everyone. Discogs had begun to support the Fair before lockdown and it is hoped that, like other events, it will be up and running again soon.

The Saturday morning market in Upper Gardner Street, Brighton was a hotbed for this activity and I can even recall seeing Neil Arthur of Blancmange looking at a live tape of one of his own Brighton concerts with intrigue, at one of my many visits there. Vinyl records have been available at many markets in Brighton and Hove for over half a century, and indeed it is now sometimes even worth a jaunt to your local ‘charity shops’ as they quite often stock them as well.

Brighton Records, 19 Brighton Square, Brighton, BN1 1HD.
It has been suggested that this was the precursor of Fine Records, but this is not certain.

Brighton Rock, 11 Sydney Street, Brighton, BN1 4EN.
Opened in 1980, this was one of the many second hand record shops of the era found in this street. Initially they specialised in back catalogue and hard to get releases from the rock n’ roll era but later expanded into other genres. The business survived for a number years before closing in 1987 whereupon it became a ladies hairdressers, David Beattie’s Hair.

Brighton Vinyl Emporium, Unit 17, The Open Market, Marshalls Row, Brighton, BN1 4JU.
Peter Smith opened the store in The Open Market in December 2016, selling used vinyl and CD’s and some interesting items of rock related clothing. The albums lined both the side walls and was a pleasure to stare at. The CD’s were located in the centre of the stall. They changed their name to Glitter In The Gutter in February 2018 and moved to 28 Stirling Place, Hove, BN3 3YU and opened up their basement store on 26th March 2018. They specialised in Glam and Punk Rock, and buying and selling vinyl, CD’s, cassettes, DVDS, books and music related clothing, including vintage Vivienne Westwood. They sold their stock and left the premises in early 2020. The store is now solely Mrs Canuticacq’s Emporium Record and Music Shop and run by Josh Dean.

Brighton Vinyl Finds Limited, (Registered at) Maria House, 35 Millers Road, Brighton, BN1 5NP. Online HERE.
This is one of the ever increasing internet based vinyl sales operations that trade on Discogs. Andrew McKirdy joined Discogs on 27th December 2006 (the same year the company was founded) and currently has over 7,000 records for sale. They buy and sell rare and used vinyl records, whether it be dance, disco, funk, jazz, reggae, rock, or indie, and also value collections for insurance and probate purposes

Brunswick Record Exchange, 41 Brunswick Street East, Hove, BN3 1BB.
The Brunswick Record Exchange shop was located just down the road from The Diskery. It apparently occupied two floors and also sold books and magazines as well as records.

Buzz Base Records, 37 Bond Street, Brighton, BN1 1RD.
There is a plastic bag show on the internet from this store with an 0273 phone number on it. Therefore this store must have been trading prior to 1995, when the 1 was inserted into the Brighton area code.

CD Warehouse, 163 Western Road, Brighton, BN1 2BB.
The CD Warehouse is listed as trading from this address from 2001 to 2006.

Charlie’s Orbit, Kemp Town, Brighton
This was a secondhand record store located in Kemp Town (quite possibly the St George’s Road area) and run by Charlie Cartwright and Jo Bateson. They were trading in 2002 as there was a post regarding Charlie posing naked in the window of Egg & Spoon, 107-108 St George’s Rd, Brighton, BN2 1EA with a copy of Robert Palmer’s 1985 hit single ‘I Didn’t Mean To Turn You On’ hiding his modesty. This was a stunt in order to promote a window display competition organised by the Kemp Town Village Business Association. The article fails to say whether the record was the 7” or 12” version! (Update: listing added thanks to Hugh Waddington 30.03.20).

Connections, 149 North Street, Brighton, BN1 1RE.
This store arose from the ashes of Sounds Unlimited in about 1977 or 1978 and for a while was the biggest import store in Brighton. It sold clothes in the front and records in the back and was on the left hand side of North Street as one walked up towards the Clock Tower.

Covert Records, 39a Sydney Street, Brighton, BN1 4EP.
Opened 2002 and closed 2006. It was an independent dance record shop. Incidentally, on the dance theme, two years later in 2008, ‘Cyberdog’, the purveyors of very bright neon clubwear, opened at numbers 13-14 and often had live DJ’s spinning the discs instore. I can’t recall if they had any vinyl for sale though. They closed in January 2019.

Cult Hero, 16 Brighton Place, Brighton BN1 1HJ. Online HERE.
Cult Hero hasn’t been open that long at its current location. It was previously located at 25 North Street, Brighton, BN1 1EB up until 28th April 2018, where they had been trading for between three or six years. This independent music store was originally called Ape (Ape Entertainment Limited), having changed their name whilst at North Street. Ape being dissolved on 7th June 2016. Prior to this they were located at smaller premises at 17 Duke Street, Brighton, BN1 1AH and were formed more than likely in August 2007 by Francis Taylor.

Dam Music, Flat 19, 39-40 Gloucester Street, Brighton, BN1 4RR.
Listed as CD’s and records, but I have no recollection of them.

Dance 2 Records, 129 Western Road, Brighton, BN1 2AD.
Dance 2 Records was a record and equipment shop specialising in decks, amps, mixers and speakers. It opened in 1999 and closed this branch in 2015. Their remaining branch is in Guildford. I can recall snapping up a DJ promo import 12” of System F’s ‘Out Of The Blue’ on the Tsunami label long before it was a hit, and not long after the store opened. The A side plays at 45rpm and the B side plays at 33⅓rpm. A treasured possession!

Dangertrax, Bond Street, Brighton.
House music DJ and promoter Dulcie Danger, had Dangertrax in Bond Street for a while as well as DJing at just about every club in Brighton.

Dead Wax Social, 18a Bond Street, Brighton, BN1 1RD. Online HERE.
This is NOT a record shop and they DO NOT sell vinyl, but they have a selection of 5000 vinyl’s that you can dig through in order to get the soundtrack of choice to accompany your Pizza or Beer. They sometimes have popups.

Debenhams, 97-99, Western Road, Brighton, BN1 2LY
It has been put forward to me that Debenhams apparently sold records, although I have no recollection of this. This branch was open from 1973 to 1998, having previously been ‘Plummers’ (Plummer Roddis) from 1920 to 1972.

Dials Records, 32 Prestonville Road, Brighton, BN1 3TJ.
Listed as CD’s and records, but I have no recollection of them. (Update: Pauline Coverdale 30.03.20 –“Dials Records was a small shop selling secondhand vinyl”). 

Diplomat, 110/113 London Road, Brighton, BN1 4JG.
The store was located right by The Open Market and as the fascia across the front of the building used to boldly proclaim “Diplomat Cards Records Stationery Gifts” it did what it said on the tin. The records were on display on the first floor and was many a lunchtime mecca for me from 1978 to 1981, when I was at college at the Tec. Discovered Tubeway Army and rediscovered Kraftwerk here – life changing!
In the 1960’s and up until at least 1973, the store was called Ina’s and that also stocked records of the day.

Disclocator, 92a Trafalgar Street, Brighton, BN1 4ER.
This was located right by Brighton Technical College and was a second hand record shop on two floors, street level and basement. The Disclocator shop was initially located in Redcross Street, Brighton, in the mid 1980’s and was owned by Ed Farn. This morphed into Across The Tracks and at the end of 1988 Alan Childs came aboard with a background of collectable record sales in Record Collector Magazine. In May 1989, Across The Tracks opened in 34 Sydney Street, Brighton, BN1 4EP. More shops followed in Trafalgar Street and Warwick Street precinct in Worthing. However in 1994 Across The Tracks moved everything to its current location 110 Gloucester Road, Brighton, BN1 4AF.

Dobells Jazz Record Shop Ltd, 158 Western Road, Brighton, BN1 2HA.
The store opened in 1958 and was replaced in 1960 by Wrights Confectioner.

Edge World Records, 6 Kensington Gardens, Brighton, BN1 4AL.
This is often listed as Edgeworld Records, but the sign on the top of the first floor, where they were located, used to read Edge World Records. They were CD orientated and used to focus on alternative sounds. Became Endless.

Ed’s Vinyl, (view by appointment only) Iron Works Ground Floor Cheapside, Brighton, BN1 4GD. Online HERE.
Local online record store that sells underground dance music. Been on the case since 2011.

Edwards & Son, 67 London Road, Brighton, BN1 4JE.
Many moons ago this store used to sell radiograms, receivers, records and all electrical appliances.

Elliott’s, London Road, Brighton
Located close to Preston Circus was a narrow shop, with a counter running down the middle, from front to back. Behind the counter were shelves of filing containing the stock, which was exclusively gramophone records. On the other side were four listening booths, each containing a wind up table model gramophone and a couple of chairs.

Endless, 6 Kensington Gardens, Brighton, BN1 4AL.
Used to be located above Loaded. They were born out of the ashes of Edgeworld, with one half devoted to punk, garage and psych, the other half focused on bass, house and techno. Now closed.

Ernest Watts, 54a Church Road, Hove, BN3 2FN.
Ernest Watts was the founder of this Hove musical instrument firm. In 1912, they were known to have stocked His Master’s Voice Gramophones with every record and every machine in stock. By 1931 the business was described as a pianoforte warehouse and Watts was running it with his son. Ernest Watts died on 22 March 1942. In the early 1970’s they were referred to as “being good for cheap labels”. (Update: Alternative Brighton by Noyce & Jarman flagged up by Shelley Guild 30.03.20). 

Essential Music, 15 & 16 Brighton Square, Brighton, BN1 1HD.
This decent store was located near to Rounder Records ‘in the Lanes’ and was initially a single shop (No.15) and then they expanded next door into No.16. Always looked bright inside and prices were often half decent as well.

Expantion Record Store, 40 Middle Street, Brighton, BN1 1AL.
I can recall visiting an obscure dance record shop which was located down the little passageway by the side of the building and climbing up the stairs at the rear in order to get to the first floor of the building where the records were on display. I’m assuming that this was either Expantion Record Store or Jelly Jam Records. (Update: Barry Parks 13.04.20 – “Exspantion Records moved from Hove to an upstairs shop on the south side of Duke Street (nearer the West St. end). Later, it was in Middle Street – on the street, not down a passageway – that was a club of some sort. Tickets for the Rolling Stones gig at Big Apple were sold there, with a queue a long way down the street. We got to about 20 people in front, when the last ticket was sold. Mike Clayton (manager of Mike Stuart Span) ran these shops. It then it moved to the Lanes and became Tiger Moth. There was also a branch in Portsmouth, I think. Then the money ran out, I assume”).

Exspantion, off Portland Road, Hove.
This record shop was located off Portland Road, Hove close to Bell’s Music Shop. It was opened in 1968 by Radio 1 DJ Pete Drummond, who was with Radio 1 from it’s opening day on 30th September 1967.

Fine Records, 32 George Street, Hove BN3 3YB and 19 Brighton Square, Brighton, BN1 1HD.
It has been said that Fine Records in Brighton opened on the day ‘Sgt Peppers’ was released in 1967, when The Lanes area wasn’t even properly open, and that over 500 people trod over the planks over unset concrete to buy it! Sounds like ‘folklore’ and it has been stated that Fine Records in Brighton might have previously been known as Brighton Records. But what is certain is that the Brighton branch became the famous Rounder Records. The Hove branch used to specialise in jazz and classical music. In around 1984 Julian Pelling purchased Fine Records and Ian Wallace joined the firm in 1986. In 1994 it was stated that the two men ran the business together with Ian’s girlfriend Silvanna Galen. One part of their trade was devoted to vinyl records as there was an international market for them. (Update: Barry Parks 13.04.20 – “Fine Records: unlikely that it had a previous name. I bought Magical Mystery Tour in there about the end of 1967 when it was Fine Records. Run by Ralph, who looked like Hank Marvin. He was more interested in classical music”).

Fopp, 148 North Street, Brighton, BN1 1RE.
This was branch number 18 for owner Gordon Montgomery and it opened on 28th November 2005 and closed in 2007. Fopp had replaced a furniture store called Elephant as occupier of one of the biggest units at 148 North Street – a road which has flourished since the redevelopment of the Hanningtons site. Fopp was named after a 1970’s disco anthem, which was the title of a song by the Ohio Players on their 1975 album ‘Honey’. The store used to also stock films and books.

Glitter In The Gutter, 28 Stirling Place, Hove, BN3 3YU.
This was established by Peter Smith in February 2018 and opened up their basement store on 26th March 2018. They specialised in Glam and Punk Rock. They bought and sold vinyl,CD’s cassettes, DVDS, books and music related clothing, including vintage Vivienne Westwood. They sold their stock and left the premises in early 2020. The store is now solely Mrs Canuticacq’s Emporium Record and Music Shop and run by Josh Dean. Glitter In The Gutter had previously been called Brighton Vinyl Emporium, and were based at Unit 17, The Open Market, Marshalls Row, Brighton, BN1 4JU.

Godfrey & Co., 88 Western Road, Hove, BN3 1JB.
Godfrey & Co. opened up at this address in 1890 and closed in 1934. They are listed as a’ pianoforte and music warehouse’. It is quite likely that they also sold gramophone records, as by 1912 these records had effectively superseded the phonograph cylinder from the late 1880’s. Godfrey & Co. had replaced Cramer, Watts & Co, who were in the same business and had been trading from 1873 to 1889, but I suspect that they had not sold these ‘new’ records as the phonograph had only been invented on 18th July 1877 by Thomas Edison and his team.

H Ransom Electrical Contractor, 34 Bond Street, Brighton,  BN1 1RD.                                  “Ransoms, the first mention I found was in 1947 when there was an H Ransom – Electrical Contractor at 34 Bond Street. In 1951 it is called a Radio Engineers, in 1954 a Television Engineer, by 1956 “Television, Radio and Record Dealers.”. It became a predominantly a TV shop in the 1960’s and was closed by 1972. Interesting to see how the shop evolved. As new 78’s had basically gone from the record shelves by 1956, then the sleeves I have are most likely from the early 1950’s. It was very usual for electrical/tv shops in the 1950’s and ’60’s to sell records as well as radios, tv’s etc”. (Update: listing added thanks to Chris Nichols 13.04.20). 

Hanningtons, 2-5 North Street (and beyond), Brighton, BN1 1EB.
It has been put forward to me that Hanningtons apparently sold records, although I have no recollection of this. They were once the premier department store in town, and Smith Hannington opened his first shop in North Street in 1808. They gradually grew and purchased adjacent buildings to match their growth. At its height in the mid 20th century, the department store occupied a sizable chunk of the South side of the street and continued to do so until its closure in 2001. The buildings have now been converted into individual shops and offices. (Update: Anthony Squires 31.03.20 – “Yes, Hanningtons definitely sold records – at least in 1980. I remember buying the 2 x 7″ double packs of the ‘Generals and Majors’ and ‘Towers of London’ singles by XTC (on separate visits) from a box on the counter where they had ex-chart singles at a reduced price”). (Update: Barry Parks 13.04.20 – “Hanningtons definitely sold records – between the circular” water feature and a North Street entrance. It had listening booths too – listened to soundtrack of the film “Candy” in one”).

Happy Vibes Records, 52 Gardner Street, Brighton, BN1 1UN.
Opened 1996 and closed 2000.

Hayes and Hayes, Sydney Street, Brighton.
I found a recollection by a gentleman going by the name of Horace Harris, who stated “In 1938 discovered Hayes & Hayes, in Sydney Street, Brighton, who sold all the major labels. Their shop also extensively traded in bicycles and perambulators. My first purchase there was ‘Jazz Cocktail’/’Lightnin’, by Duke Ellington and his Orchestra, a ten inch Brunswick record, which cost all of two shillings and sixpence”.

Hedonizm Records, 106 Trafalgar Street, Brighton BN1 4ER.
Hedonizm Records used to specialise in new and used Jazz, Soul Funk and Hip-Hop vinyl. The shop was in Brighton until it closed 29th June 2008.

HMV, Churchill Square, Brighton (three sites) and 61-62 Western Road, Brighton, BN1 2HA. Online HERE.
‘The HMV Shop’ as its fascia used to say was first located at the back of the old wet and windy open plan Churchill Square, Brighton. The first complex was built in the 1960’s and required the demolition of a run down area of town. Work commenced in 1965 and the first Churchill Square shop (not an HMV) opened in 1967 though many of the units were not filled until 1968 when the centre was officially opened. It had been the last major open precinct built in the UK with trends pointing towards indoor malls from the early 1970’s onwards. Thus in 1996 work began on the new indoor mall that we see today and it opened in 1998.

Brighton was fortunate in having a second HMV store for a while. It was located at 61-62 Western Road, Brighton, BN1 2HA between 1990 and 2011. It was almost a satellite branch of the main one in Churchill Square, but was the only branch when ‘the Square’ was being rebuilt.

HMV went back into the new undercover Churchill Square on the top level at 48-50 Churchill Square Shopping Centre, Brighton, BN1 2RG. This new megastore was in direct competition to the new Virgin megastore, which was a stone’s throw away. They both were specialising in some vinyl, mainly CD’s, with DVD’s books and posters. HMV then closed and their site is now occupied by Victoria’s Secret & Victoria’s Secret Pink.

With the closing of their undercover Churchill Square branch, HMV were not present in Brighton for a while until they opened their latest store which is now located at Unit MSU1A, Lower Mall Churchill Square Shopping Centre, Russell Place, Brighton BN1 2RG. (Update 14.04.20 “Gym plans to open in old HMV store”).

Ina’s, 110/113 London Road, Brighton, BN1 4JG.
Ina’s was around in the 1960’s and up until at least 1973. They stocked records of the day as well as cards and stationery. I started visiting this store in 1978, when it had become Diplomat. It was conveniently located opposite Woolworth’s, who also used to stock new records downstairs.

Infinite Records, 111 Gloucester Road, Brighton, BN1 4AF.
There’s a drum and bass MC concert advertised with Infinite Records Brighton 01273 689 853 being one of the places where to purchase tickets for the event from.

Inner Rhythm, 24 Gloucester Road, Brighton, BN1 4AQ.
Inner Rhythm was a dance music shop staffed by Brighton DJ’s Carl Cox and Darren Murphy from 1990 to 1995.

Jam Ltd, 39 Baker Street, Brighton, BN1 4JN.
Known to have existed in 2010, they were like a charity shop buying and selling books, DVD’s, video’s, games and records.

Jazzville, 29 Tidy Street, Brighton, BN1 4EL.
There’s a flyer advertising the store as stocking rock ‘n’ roll plus sixties/seventies bought, sold and exchanged, with the name Geoff as the contact.

Jelly Jam Records, Middle Street, Brighton.
This Brighton record  store was run by Tony Lee from 1989 until 1992. It’s where Luke Slater began releasing original tracks under a slew of different monikers and thus the UK techno label was born courtesy of Luke and Alan Sage.
I can recall visiting an obscure dance record shop which was located down the little passageway by the side of the building very near Duke’s Lane and climbing up the stairs at the rear in order to get to the first floor of the building where the records were on display. I’m assuming that this was either Jelly Jam Records or Expantion Record Store. (Update: amended thanks to Tony Lee 31.03.20).  

John Beal & Son (Stationers) Ltd, 55 & 56 East Street, Brighton, BN1 1HN.
This was primarily a stationery shop, but back in the day you could venture downstairs in order to buy record albums, such as the Beatles. (Update: Alternative Brighton by Noyce & Jarman flagged up by Shelley Guild 30.03.20 – They also had listening booths with doors for intimate listening). 

Johnstone’s Phonograph Store, 82 North Road, Brighton, BN1 1YD.
This ‘record’ shop was trading from this site from 1907 to 1910.

Joy 4 Life, Gloucester Road, Brighton.
As a partner in rave era Joy For Life records, DJ Gordon Kaye opened the first branch in Brighton and by 1993 there was a second branch in Nottingham. Between 1994 and 1997 Gordon Kaye with James Wiltshire (who was Phats & Small’s co-producer) released 12” vinyl’s under the Joy 4 Life name.

‘Jubilee Market’, 44-47 Gardner Street, Brighton BN1 1UN.
The Jubilee Shopping Hall trading market ran from 1984 to 1997. Many times, I can recall bounding up the steps on the left hand side of the building (which now houses Komedia Brighton) to be greeted by rows of vinyl records on the first floor. I know that Borderline was initially trading from here, but I suspect that there might have been more than just the one company operating, due to the amount of stock. (Update: Terry A 13.04.20 –  “Brighton Book and Record World” also traded from the Jubilee Hall. They had albums upstairs and boxes of second hand singles on the landing halfway up”).

K. J. Bredon, Bartholomews, Brighton and 70 East Street, Brighton, BN1 1HQ.
Bredons at Bartholomews was a well known book and card store which had a downstairs record store selling items like the Doors and Fever Tree. They were also selling tickets for the first Isle Of Wight Festival there 1968. Bredons moved from Bartholomews to a site at 70 East Street, which had a good classical section and then took over John Beals, which was purchased by British Bookshops and Stationers around 44 years ago.

Kemp & Turner, Carlton Terrace, Portslade.
The daughter of an owner was Phyllis Steele who married Pete Sayers (sadly now deceased).

Kenny Lyn, 20 York Place, Brighton, BN1 4GU.
I have fond memories of this store that was located just around the corner from Brighton Technical College when I was studying there in 1978 to 1981. DJ Kenny Lyn I seemed to recall had a mobile disco and had been a bit of a hit on the circuit a few years earlier. He looked just like Harry Enfield’s Scouser character by the time he was running his shop. As mentioned at the beginning of this article I purchased their last remaining limited edition 12″ green vinyl copy of Herbie Hancock’s ‘You Bet Your Love’ in there, during class time! I have seen references also saying Kenny Lynn and Kennylynn, but I reckon the shop was Kenny Lyn.

L & H Cloake, (then H & R Cloake) Churchill Square, Brighton.
The best reference for this store came from a certain ‘Cookster660’ in 2014, who informs us thus:
“L & H Cloake opened in Brighton in December 1975 – I was their “Saturday boy” from the start until going full time with them when I left school the following June. It was the sixth and last store to open in the chain, the others being in Crawley, East Grinstead, Streatham, Croydon and Redhill. The business had been set up by two brothers (l. & H.) in the fifties (I believe), but by the time I started was effectively being run by their respective sons, both called Richard. Eventually they split the chain between them, with Brighton and two others becoming ‘H & R Cloake’ and the rest ‘L Cloake & son’. After a brief flirtation with punk and all the coloured vinyl we could get our hands on, we started to specialise in US disco / funk imports, supplying the burgeoning DJ scene in the town. The now legendary Mick Fuller started working there in around ’78 and began organising club nights around the county, in particular the never to be forgotten Bognor Boogie Bus. The Brighton store was never a success, being tucked away round the back of the Square (they’d been promised a walkway from the seafront when they took the shop on – it never materialised) and it closed at the end of ’81. The manager, Trevor, went on to open Miles Ahead in Queen’s Road, taking me and Mick with him, but this only lasted for a year or so before going to the wall”.
Apparently Porl Thompson who found fame in the Cure, used to work in the Crawley shop before his fame.

Lyon & Hall Limited, 92 Western Road, Brighton, BN1 2LB.
The Lyon & Hall shop opened as a piano and sheet music shop at the seaward end of East Street in 1850, and is very likely to be the oldest music shop in Brighton. They moved to 92 Western Road in 1941, when the original shop was blown up by the Luftwaffe. They are listed as ‘TV dealers’ and started selling records around then and were the first shop to sell Rock ‘n Roll in Brighton in the 1950’s. They closed as a record shop in 1975.

M V C Entertainment Ltd, 8 Air Street, Brighton, BN1 3FB.
MVC was located opposite The Quadrant pub just off of Queens Road. Music & Video Club (MVC) was founded in 1989 by former Our Price directors, who left after W H Smith bought the company and at their height they had 82 stores including Brighton, Hove, Eastbourne, Hastings, Worthing, Horsham and Chichester. They sold CDs and DVDs. Their Hove branch was at 97 George Street, Hove, BN3 3YE and was there from 1999. The company closed in January 2006.

Megawatz, 55 Preston Street, Brighton, BN1 2HE.
This was a short lived shop in 1977/1978, that was the probably the first to stock punk rock tunes as well as US Soul imports.

Mic-Check, 41a Bond Street, Brighton, BN1 1RD.
Mic-Check was said to have been trading from this address circa 2002 – 2005/6. They were probably considered a ‘hip-hop’ shop who specialised in bling chains, gold fronts, baggy jeans and T-shirt’s, who occasionally also had a dusty or dubplate on offer. (Update: listing added thanks to JJ 30.03.20).

Mick’s Music, 28 Stirling Place, Hove, BN3 3YU.
Upstairs of Mrs Canuticacq’s Emporium Record and Music Shop features Mick’s Music with the largest collection of reggae from all eras in a local shop. (Update: listing added thanks to Josh Dean 16.04.20).

Middle Floor Records, 104 Trafalgar Street, Brighton, BN1 4ER. Online HERE.
In essence, this is ‘The Middle Floor at Rarekind Records’, and also operating from the floor above is RK Bass Records. From 2012 to 2017, it was the home of Well Rounded Vinyl Vendors.

Miles Ahead, 61 Queens Road, Brighton BN1 3XD.
These were early 1980’s Disco importers. Miles Ahead was founded by Trevor Miles, who was the former manager of H & R Cloake in Churchill Square, when that store closed in late 1981. Miles Ahead specialised in jazz, funk, soul and reggae with an emphasis on US imports. It closed in 1982.

Monkey Music Emporium, 43 Baker Street, Brighton, BN1 4JN.
They buy and sell used records and hi-fi. The store was known to be there in 2012 and 2016. (Update: Shelley Guild 30.03.20 – but has now ceased trading). 

Mr Bongo, 6 Gloucester Yard, 121-123 Gloucester Road, Brighton, BN1 4AF. Online HERE.
Mr Bongo’s was established in 1989 at Berwick Street London. The Brighton store opened at the end of 2016. Here is a store that goes big on Brazilian. They open every Saturday.

Mrs Canuticacq’s Emporium Record and Music Shop, 28 Stirling Place, Hove, BN3 3YU.
This is run by Josh Dean across two floors in the Hove backstreets. Mrs Canuticacqs sells everything from punk and metal to classical and jazz. Upstairs also features Mick’s Music with the largest collection of reggae from all eras in a local shop while downstairs you will find the extensive classical collections, books, CDs and memorabilia. It was also briefly the home as well to Glitter In The Gutter, who operated out of the basement from March 2018 until the beginning of 2020.

Mrs E.J.Roberts, Music Shop, 1 Guildford Road, Brighton, BN1 3LU
This compact record shop was located just up the hill from Brighton mainline railway station. They sold 78’s and also specialised in sheet music. Mrs Roberts was known to be trading in 1953 and still there in 1960.

Music Meltdown, 10 Sydney Street, Brighton, BN1 4EN.
Opened in 1996 or 1997 and closed in 2006. From 1997 the shop became another second hand record store, Music Meltdown, run by Vinyl Demand, the same company that operated from 46 Sydney Street and who were well known from the late 1970’s for their trading from a number of outlets in neighbouring streets as well as local record fairs. Around 2001 Paul Clark bought Music Meltdown. He was more dance-music inclined. The shop survived until 2006 when it was closed to concentrate on the growing online market and thus was at the time the last of the second hand record shops in Sydney Street to go although Across The Tracks still has a presence at the southern end of the street its official address is Gloucester Road. Music Meltdown was replaced by a clothing store, Zero Culture, until 2010.

Murdoch, Murdoch & Co, 164-165 Western Road, Brighton, BN1 2BB.
Murdoch & Murdoch are listed as pianoforte dealers on this site from 1901 up until 1940 when the business appears to have collapsed. They retailed pianos and other musical accessories, which might have included gramophones.

‘Number 23’, Snooper’s Paradise, 7-8 Kensington Gardens, Brighton, BN1 4AL.
One of three outlets within the indoor flea market at Snoopers Paradise, Number 23 has a bargain selection of second hand LPs.

Oliver Idris and Co., 95 Western Road, Hove, BN3 1FA.
“This is a fascinating thread, and I’m very pleased that I have been sent it by a friend. I have some old 78rpm record sleeves , many used to advertise the name of the shop where they were purchased. I have a Hove one which is not on your list, it is for Oliver Idris and Co., of 95 Western Road, Hove. Using the MYHOUSEMYSTREET Street Directories, an example below: http://www.mhms.org.uk/sites/mhms.org.uk/files/directories/1921/1921_sd_pik-234.jpg I have worked out they are first mentioned in 1921 and last mentioned in 1930. The sleeve says ‘piano, Gramophone and Music Saloons’, the first mention is of a Piano Manufacturers”. (Update: listing added thanks to Chris Nichols 05.04.20).

One Better, George Street, Blatchington Road & Boundary Road, Hove
“There was a weird shop called “One Better” which had 3 branches in Hove around 1994 – 95. (George Street, Blatchington Road & Boundary Road.) They sold a random mixture of goods such as luggage and shoes, but also had a sizable CD selection, some of which were quite obscure, and very cheap”. (Update: listing added thanks to Terry A 13.04.20).

One o’Seven Records, 107 Church Street, Brighton, BN1 1UD.
There appears to have been a second hand record shop here in the late 1960’s.

One Stop Records, 30 Sydney Street, Brighton, BN1 4EP.
This was run by Chris from neo-disco outfit Soft Rocks and located above Wolf & Gypsy Vintage. One Stop Records sold deep house, techno, post dubstep and, of course, disco edits. The second hand section went right back to the 60’s. In 2012 Wayne Hemmingway published in The Independent that it was his favourite record shop in Brighton and added “It specialises in old jazz and reggae and is run by proper enthusiasts who really want to help you find something new. I got one of my top bargains there: a sought-after promotional single by a group called Rivage for £8”.

Our Price, 40 West Street, Brighton, BN1 2RE.
I’m honestly not sure about this one, but I seem to think that Our Price was in Brighton and quite possibly on the old Subway Records site. There was also a branch at the front of Churchill Square. Our Price founded in Finchley Road, London 1971 and stores closed April 2004. In 1986 it was bought by WH Smith and in 1998 by Virgin. (Update: Fiona Cuff 31.03.20 – “I was the manager of Our Price from 1990-1991. It was at the front of the Old Churchill Square- where W H Smith is now. It was a big store, but don’t think it could compete with Virgin , HMV & the independents”).

Phase Music, 21 Gardner Street, Brighton, BN1 1UP.
This record shop opened and closed back in 1970.

Plus One Records, 151 Lewes Road, Brighton, BN2 3LG.
The shop opened early 70’s under its original owner and closed in the 90’s, when it was run by avid autograph collector Terry Hunt. Their price stickers said ‘Plus One Books’ as they sold them as well as second hand vinyl and during the store’s final years, Terry shared the shop with his mother who ran a knitting business.

Polysound, 15 Gardner Street, Brighton, BN1 1UP.
Polysound used to sell new records and was owned by John Winstone. It was situated opposite where Komedia Brighton now resides. It opened in 1975, the same year as I purchased ‘Autobahn’ album by Kraftwerk from them. They closed in 1986.

Punker Bunker, 34 Sydney Street, Brighton, BN1 4EP. Online HERE.
Punk rock specialists located in the basement of ‘Immediate’ retro clothing store (which was established in 1993). The Punker Bunker is run by Buz who says they are “a tiny punk rock shop selling tiny punk rock label releases to tiny punk rock people”. They sell vinyl, CD’s, fanzines and some t-shirts.

Rarekind Records, 104 Trafalgar Street, Brighton, BN1 4ER. Online HERE.
It seems as though Rarekind Records Ltd have been trading since 25th March 2010. You can’t fail to miss Ewan’s heavily graffiti style designed shop frontage. They participate in Record Store Day, and are a real world record shop specialising in Hip Hop, Funk, Soul, Reggae and the like. Their stock is on ‘Discogs’ as well. Their first floor is given over to Middle Floor Records and the top floor is RK Bass Records, who specialise in Jungle, Drum & Bass plus Old Skool Hardcore. It appears that Well Rounded Vinyl Vendors who were established in 2012 and closed in 2017, were also quite possibly in residence.

Rave On, 2 Sydney Street, Brighton, BN1 4EN.
Rave On was run by Piers Chalmers and Mick Turner. They used to specialise in predominantly 50’s and 60’s rock and roll and soul. It opened in 1984 and closed in 1988.

Rayford Electrics, 22-23 Sydney Street, Brighton, BN1 4EN.
Rayfords were an old-style electrical shop that also sold brand new deleted vinyl LP’s, which were stored vertically on shelves along one wall during the 1970’s, so you could only really read spines. From 1959 to 1966 their first shop (which was located at 32 Sydney Street) sold and repaired washing machines. They were trading in numbers 22-23 from 1964 to 1987. In their time they had also occupied number 25 in 1974, and numbers 13-14 in 1975-1977.

Record Hunter, 32 Sydney Street, Brighton, BN1 4EP.
Used record shop opened in 1981 and closed in 1986.

Record Round-Up (Hove) Limited, 154 Portland Road, Hove, BN3 2DJH.
The company was incorporated on 2nd November 1965 and lasted until 28th September 1999.

Recordland, 40 Trafalgar Street, Brighton, BN1 4FT.
Recordland was run for many years by big Geoff Winser, who I believe recently passed away. His business was crammed full on three floors and they specialised in Jazz, Blues, Rock & Roll and Soul.

Red Rat Record Rentals Ltd, 46 Sydney Street, Brighton, BN1 4EP.
Opened in 1984 at this site – although there is a notification of a company registration in Kent on 15th September 1980 with the same name – and then moved out in 1986 and relocated (apparently to Upper North Street, although I don’t recall this). They ended up on the Western side of Dyke Road at the Seven Dials end. This mid 80’s shop was run by a guy called Izzy. He didn’t actually sell any vinyl records as they rented them out like Blockbuster did videos. Red Rat did sell cassette tapes and this didn’t go down well with the Record Industry who were running the “Home Taping is Killing Music” campaign. Several lawsuits followed before they threw the towel in.
Red Rat at Sydney Street was followed by Vinyl Demand who had secondhand record shops in most of the streets in the vicinity at one point or other and who later became Music Meltdown at 10 Sydney Street during the 1990’s.

Reminiscing, 39b Sydney Street, Brighton, BN1 4EP.
A second hand record shop that operated from 1980 to 1981. Twenty years later in 2001, Black Grass record shop opened and closed in 2003.

Replay, 179 Edward Street, Brighton, BN2 0JB.
Comes up on a listing as previously being a music and DVD store.

Resident Music, 27-28 Kensington Gardens, Brighton, BN1 4AL. Online HERE.
Resident has most certainly taken up the leading independent store mantle from Rounder Records. The store opened in 2004 with just husband and wife duo Derry Watkins and Natasha Youngs on the case! They had met when working for the Virgin/Our Price chain and wanted some frontline action themselves. They have built up their independent record shop that sells new vinyl and CD’s, and now currently are a team of 17 people. They expanded next door late 2015 and thus doubled the size of their shop, half for vinyl and half for CD’s. Natasha runs the ‘Dinked’ vinyl special editions which are proving very popular. They often have in-store performances to coincide with releases. They sell worldwide through their website. It seems Nick Cave is a fan as he has told them “you are the best fu**ing record shop in Britain!!!!”.

Rik’s Records, 422 Portland Road, Hove, BN3 5SJ.
One of the furthest West of all of the Brighton & Hove record shop listings, as this was located virtually opposite Portslade Station. Rik Taub started Vinyl Demand in Brighton with Geoff Finch around 1978. The partnership didn’t last long in the scheme of things and Rik opened his own shop in Portslade. This ran for many years and then he moved to 4a Station Street, Lewes, BN7 2DA and became Rik’s Disks. The Lewes store is now Si’s Sounds.

RK Bass Records, Top floor, 104 Trafalgar Street, Brighton, BN1 4ER. Online HERE.
Specialises in Jungle, Drum & Bass and Old Skool Hardcore with all the latest new releases and promos with regular deliveries every week. They also have a huge selection of pre-owned vinyl records for sale. Found on the top floor of
Rarekind Records, with Middle Floor Records occupying the middle floor.

Rotation Records, 46-47 Kings Road Arches, Brighton, BN1 2LN. Online HERE.
Surely the record shop with the best view in Brighton & Hove, as they look out at the West Pier with uninterrupted sea views other than the Upside Down House. This new record shop opened its doors in January 2020. Its’ speciality is Indie/Dance/Hip Hop.

Rounder Records, 19 Brighton Square, Brighton, BN1 1HD.
The nearest to a real life version of the shop in ‘High Fidelity’ that we have had in Brighton. The place where you could get all the tunes you wanted and find stuff that you didn’t know you wanted until you heard it there first. Famously employed Norman Cook aka Fatboy Slim behind the counter, and Skint Records boss Damian Harris aka Midfield General. It was a very sad day when they closed on 29th July 2012. Was owned by Phil Barton. Prior to them closing I made a note of their staff’s favourite albums of the year for the whole duration that they were open, from 1966. It was listed inside their store above their front window. They also had a branch for some time at 92 Church Road, Burgess Hill, RH15 9BB, which didn’t quite have the same buzz as the Brighton store. Brighton Rounder was my favourite independent vinyl store in the 80’s and 90’s. I must have spent a fortune in there!

(Update: Graham Gilbert 02.04.20 – “Hi Nick! If Rounder was your favourite shop through the 80’s and 90’s you will know me, I think. I owned Rounder from 1982 till selling up in 2000. Rounder started in 1978 in Church Road, Burgess Hill, about a year after I left Virgin’s Marble Arch branch. We were getting Brighton DJ’s coming up on Saturday’s because of our dance imports. Fine Records and Brighton Square opened in 1966 and I bought it from Ralph(?) in 1982. His record buyer decided to leave. I’d been in Brighton since 1971 and used to buy early punk toons there. Good shop, great position. Because we were in a tourist area we could open 364 days a year! Norman left to join the Housemartins and Damian came on board a little later. He was an excellent photographer and already known to the shop. I remember one of our earliest customers was “King” Jerry and when he saw our dance stuff and was told, as a DJ he’d get a 10% discount, he then went up to HMV and harangued fellow DJ customers till then came down to check us out. I would like to say thanks to Jerry as I have never thanked him properly. In the 80’s Rounder was voted Brighton Record Shop of the Year, which year? Oh, something I picked out from your great listing. Phats and Small’s video of “Can’t Turn Around” was filmed in Rounder. The first shot is the front of Urban Records. They couldn’t get a good enough shot of Rounder. A quick mention of Req, also a Skint artist. Req (Ian) used to breakdance Saturday afternoon’s outside the back of the shop and then became our resident graffiti artist graffitiing album covers or whatever on the back wall every week. His work can now be seen on the end wall of the Prince Albert pub. Your list brought back a lot of memories and reminded me of some old friends and Brighton characters. Izzy from Red Rat, Rick at Attrix and the ever-lovable Dave Minns at Borderline. I have recently finished reading “Going for a Song” by Garth Cartwright which is, “A Chronicle of British Record shops – highly recommended”).

Royce Radio, 89 Trafalgar Street, Brighton, BN1 4ER.
This was essentially a second-hand electronics shop that sold radios, record players and radiograms (as they were called then). They also sold a lot of second-hand records as well, especially 45’s. The shop was run by Mr Royce on his own, it did not belong to any group, he worked there till he died in his 80’s.

S North, 4 Sydney Street, Brighton, BN1 4EN
In 1929 4 Sydney Street was briefly registered as a gramophone dealer, but had reverted to an ice cream maker the following year, which it had been prior to this. One can assume that they would have more than likely sold gramophone records to play on units that they sold.

Scott’s, Boundary Road, Hove.
This music shop was around in the 1960’s and 70’s and sold radios, record players and both single records as well as LP’s. It was slightly further up than Vine & Lees motor dealers on the Station Road side and had a dentist above it. The two dentists who ran it were Mr Sidi and Mr Lewis.

Select Records, 31 Duke Street, Brighton, BN1 1AH.
There’s a Select Records Limited showing as being incorporated on 1st January 1970, but whether it is this one, I’m not totally sure. This shop was sold to The Classical Longplayer in the mid 1980’s. Farringdons bought the business along with the Canterbury store in around 2006/7 and they closed a few years later.

Sons Of The Desert, 30a Longridge Avenue, Saltdean, Brighton, BN2 8LJ.
The furthest East of all of the listings. This shop is run by local promoter ‘Fozzy’ and he sells vinyl records amongst the various memorabilia. It has been open around 30 months (as at March 2020).

Soundtracks, Baker Street, Brighton.
Soundtracks was located in Baker Street off of London Road. It was at the top end , opposite Bardsley’s Chip Shop, so nearer the Ditchling Road side. So likely to have stood in numbers 25a or 26 Baker Street.

Soul Jazz Records, 62 Middle Street, Brighton, BN1 1AR.
This was one of two branches known to have existed from the early to mid 90’s, with the other being 12 Ingestre Place, Soho, London, W1R 3LP. They were previously located in Camden Market.

Sounds Unlimited, 149 North Street, Brighton, BN1 1RE.
This was a mid 70’s Disco and Soul importers run by legendary Brighton DJ King Jerry (real name is Alan Morris) and owned by Tony Monson. One could buy stereo equipment and more ‘general’ records upstairs, but it was the hot, atmospheric little room downstairs, manned by DJ, King Jerry, that was the place to be. ‘King’ was immortalised in the 1979 film ‘Quadrophenia’, where he provided the inspiration for the character ‘Ace Face’, played by Sting. This store then closed and became Connections in around 1977/78.

Stall 7 Records, Snooper’s Paradise, 7-8 Kensington Gardens, Brighton, BN1 4AL. Online HERE. Stall 7 Records was set up in Brighton’s large indoor flea market known as Snooper’s Paradise in 2007 by Mark, who sells new and second-hand vinyl records of all kinds, with currently over 300 popular titles in stock.

Stall 83, Snooper’s Paradise, 7-8 Kensington Gardens, Brighton, BN1 4AL
Also within the large indoor flea market is Stall 83, which has vintage music memorabilia (mostly Beatles) and a small selection of quality vintage vinyl.

Stack-A-Records, 93 Westbourne Street, Hove, BN3 5FA.
Stack-A-Records was known to have been trading from this address in October 1976. It is these days known as the Autopaints Brighton site.

Street Sounds, 40 Sydney Street, Brighton BN1 4EP.
Street Sounds specialised in new soul releases and second hand records. It opened in about 1978 and kept going until 1980.

Studio Four, Union Street, Brighton, BN1 1HA.
In the early 1960’s this record store might have stood around or at No.4 Union Street next door on the left to the equally groovy Lorelei coffee bar. There were displays of the first Bob Dylan albums in the window, alongside blues albums by Leadbelly, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, John Lee Hooker and Jimmy Reed and it stocked records not available elsewhere in Brighton at the time. It was run by a married couple, but it closed suddenly and all its trappings languished behind the window until they were stripped out.

Subway Records, 40 West Street, Brighton, BN1 2RE.
I can remember going into Subway Records in West Street, just down from the Clock Tower on the right on a regular basis. It was on our record shop route. In 1981 I purchased ‘Computerworld’ by Kraftwerk there for a mere £3.75. They had them all in the racks on the left hand side of the store and was a memorable sight. They only dealt in new vinyl and were rather keen on shrink wrapping their albums I seem to recall.

Temple Of Vinyl (view by appointment only), Ironworks, 30 Cheapside, Brighton, BN1 4GD.
An online music retailer, specialising in predominantly second hand rare and deleted electronic music on vinyl and CD, such as House, Techno and Electro. One of several that have their stock on Discogs.

The Classical Longplayer, 31 Duke Street, Brighton, BN1 1AH.
The Classical Longplayer opened in the mid 1980’s, having previously been the home of Select Records. They sold new classical vinyl albums and were eventually bought out by Farringdons along with the Canterbury store in around 2006/7 and they closed a few years later.

The Cottage, 111 Church Street, Brighton, BN1 1UD.
The Cottage was run by two brothers up until around 1980, when sadly one of them was murdered in Powis Square or thereabouts when out walking his dog. The culprit was down from London and went on a stabbing rampage starting out from the station. The store closed shortly afterwards. (Update: Alternative Brighton by Noyce & Jarman flagged up by Shelley Guild 30.03.20 – They were a secondhand shop that bought and sold preferably recent stereo LP’s in first class condition and sometimes had review copies in near perfect condition, as well as lots of singles). 

The Diskery, 86 Western Road, Hove, BN3 1JB.
The Diskery was known to be trading in 1967 and was located above a pram shop at the Hove end of Western Road. They mainly specialised in singles but did also sell albums. The proprietor was called Maurice and his manager was called Jim. They may or may have not moved to Baker Street in Brighton.

The Record Box, 24a Gloucester Road, Brighton, BN1 4AQ.
There was reference of John Desborough purchasing ‘Singing The Blues’ by Tommy Steele, there in January 1957, and Dave Crockatt buying ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ there in the late 1960’s.

The Record Album, 8 Terminus Road, Brighton, BN1 3PE. Online HERE.
Until his retirement in 2018, George Ginn was Brighton’s longest established record dealer with the little blue-fronted shop at 8 Terminus Road, the third premises it has occupied. Originally The Record Album was at 27 Gardner Street, Brighton BN1 1UP from 1954 to 1958. After Gardner Street it moved to 34 North Road, Brighton, BN1 1YB, where it opened in 1948, then in the very early ’80s it moved to Queen’s Road, Brighton, but it was only there for a very short time before moving to Terminus Road. The Record Album has passed to new owners, Keith Blackmore and David Chappell. The shop has always dealt exclusively in vinyl, specialising in mostly film, stage and musical soundtrack LP’s. Late in 2019, they had £1000 worth of stock stolen, which made the news.

The Singles Bar, 28-29 Tidy Street, Brighton, BN1 4EL. Online HERE.
This is located just off of Trafalgar Street in Brighton and is connected to The Wax Factor on 24 Trafalgar Street. Not surprisingly The Singles Bar specialise in 7” and 12” singles, which are bought and sold.

The Vinyl Curtain (view by appointment only), 2 Trafalgar Street, Brighton, BN1 4EZ. Online HERE.
This boutique record shop opened in April 2014 and is situated in Brighton and owned by DJ Billy Nasty (Tortured & Electrix Records). They specialise in rare and hard to find vinyl in all forms of dance music from House, Techno, Electro, Minimal, Electronica, Drum and Bass, Dubstep through to Reggae and Ska.

The Wax Factor, 24 Trafalgar Street, Brighton, BN1 4EQ. Online HERE.
It seems like The Wax Factor has been around for eons. I can recall going in there many moons ago and ferreting around in their basement for obscure and forgotten gems. One time even coming up with a decent copy of Rupie Edwards ‘Ire Feelings’ as a surprise present for my mate. They buy and sell used records, CD’s and books. They are joined to The Singles Bar in Tidy Street.

Tiger Moth Records, 25 Meeting House Lane, Brighton, BN1 1HB.
This was a late 1960’s Hippie hangout. However there’s a Tiger Moth Records Limited that is showing as incorporated on 1st January 1970. I’am not sure if this is the same business though. (Update: Pauline Coverdale 30.03.20 –“Tiger Moth Records had a drawing of a Tiger Moth biplane on their paper carrier bags”). 

Tilbury Gig, 123 St James’s Street, Brighton, BN2 1TH.
This was initially owned and run by Steve Tilbury-Warden and later by Peter Sellars. It opened in the early 1970’s and closed down at the end of the 1980’s. They used to sell new vinyl records. I used to regularly visit the store in 1978 to 1981 and it didn’t seem to have the same vibe as the other record shops in town.

Two Way Books, 54 Gardner Street, Brighton, BN1 1UN.
This store opened up on this site in 1971 and by the end of the 1970’s they also sold second-hand LP’s as well as many books. This popular shop sadly closed in 2014.

Ugly Records, 38 Sydney Street, Brighton BN1 4EP.
Ugly Records was an independent dance music specialist that was on this site from 1993 to 1997. It was owned by Tony Lee and they had moved from Gloucester Road, Brighton. (Update: amended thanks to Tony Lee 31.03.20).  

University of Sussex Bookshop, Falmer, Brighton, BN1 9RH.
The University of Sussex was established in 1961. It had a bookshop on campus that was based in Falmer House, the initial part of the modern building, and was managed by Harry Hunter. They apparently had an ‘uninspiring’ collection of records. From 1970 the bookshop moved to the Refectory Building, later Bramber House and in 2007 was sold to John Smith & Son. The bookshop later moved into the university library and closed down in 2012. (Update: Alternative Brighton by Noyce & Jarman flagged up by Shelley Guild 30.03.20). 

‘Unknown’ 1: Waterloo Street, Hove.
There was apparently a short-lived shop in Waterloo Street, that was run by a guy called Kaz who used to manage Fine Records. It went bust very quickly though.

‘Unknown’ 2: Western Road, Brighton.
I seem to recall being reasonably shocked when I first saw The Damned debut album, as I was initially under the impression that they had smeared themselves in something unsavoury on the cover. The record was in an ‘allsorts’ shop on the North side of Western Road, nearly opposite Hanningtons around 139 Codrington Mansion. The shop had various vinyl albums at the back of the shop that was up a couple or steps or so.

Uptight Records, 178 Sackville Road, Hove, BN3 7AL. Online HERE.
Bob Smith has built up an extensive knowledge over 30 years of record buying and collecting which enables him to deliver the best in Soul, Jazz and Funk. He uses Discogs.

Urban Records, 24 Gardner Street, Brighton, BN1 1UP.
Urban Records opened in 1997 and closed in 2005. They were a popular dance music specialists and starred in Phats & Small’s 1999 video for ‘Turn Around’ – watch the video HERE. The demise of house music coupled with the growth of downloading spelt the end for the shop and was replaced by a couple of takeaways specialising in Cornish pasties.

Vinyl Demand, 92a Trafalgar Street, Brighton, BN1 4ER.
Vinyl Demand second hand record shop came into being when Geoff Finch started trading in Redcross Street, Brighton in 1978. He then expanded his operation by moving into new premises at 92a Trafalgar Street, Brighton, BN1 4ER. He then relocated to 46 Sydney Street, Brighton, BN1 4EP from 1987 to 1995, where he had taken over the site from Red Rat. Vinyl Demand later became Music Meltdown.
Interestingly enough, Geoff started the popular Vinylman Record Fairs with Rik Taub. More information HERE.

(Update: Geoff Finch 30.03.20 – “Hello, thankyou for all your efforts on the Brighton Record shop scene. In 1978, Rik Taub and Geoff Finch started stalling out in Upper Gardner Street Market selling records alongside a few other Vinyl traders including the legendary Piers Chalmer’s. Rik and I started our shop Vinyl Demand in 1979 92a Trafalgar Street which is in Redcross Street. We ran that shop together till 83ish then went our separate ways. l moved to 46 Sydney Street in 85 as you mentioned, Red Rat ran a short lived Record hire business from that address. Ps I’ve got pictures if you can use them, well done and thanks Vinylman”). 

Vinyl Revolution, 33 Duke Street, Brighton, BN1 1AG.
Vinyl Revolution was co-owned by Simon Parker and Rachel Lowe and founded in July 2016, but sadly closed on 13th July 2019. Their bright and vibrant pink painted store was unmissable and included a basement as well as street level store. They used to stock new and vintage records, record players, their own range of clothing, art and cool things for the home. They occasionally had in-store performances including The Slow Readers Club, as well as pop up shops.

Virgin, 126 North Street, Brighton, BN1 1RE and other locations.
It might be open to debate as to whether the curved Virgin branch that was located opposite the Jubilee Clock Tower at 126 North Street, Brighton, BN1 1RE which opened in 1971 and closed in 1977, was in fact the ‘original’ Brighton store. In 2012 a chap called Ray posted “Before Virgin opened the shop at the Clock Tower, they had a small shop in The Lanes, opposite the Bath Arms…this proved too small and they took over the vacant shop at the Clock Tower which used to be a 24 hour vending machine place called The Automat”. Then three months later in October 2012, a chap called Nick added “I am reassured by Ray’s comment as I remember in early the ’70s a Virgin record store at the junction of Union Street and Meeting House Lane, by the church now a bar (The Font?). Scruffy place, bearded soul in an Afghan coat that looked like a young Branson”.

The North Street branch certainly had some notoriety with the back of the shop littered with bootleg albums, and hippies lounging around on beanbag cushions all day. Apparently, Gong played in the store to maybe 15 people, with Steve Hillage sporting a long knitted bobble hat and sleeveless afghan coat.

My fondest memories were during their punk and post-punk days, when they moved across the road to the more compact 5 Queens Road, Brighton, BN1 3WA, branch which was originally Hayden’s Tailor Shop. I was always in there and the staff got to know me. I remember tall Vic who had a massive smile and was studying at Sussex University and also a guy called Steve. Steve was pretty good at pointing me in the right direction of the latest releases as he knew my taste. I can remember being invited up to the staff room upstairs on occasions. I was most envious of the Tubeway Army 7” ‘Are ‘Friends’ Electric?’ picture disc adorning the wall, as I didn’t have one at the time. I have known people buy records just because of the covers. The only time I have ever done so was in this store, when I discovered ‘Europa & The Pirate Twins’ 12” by Thomas Dolby. I loved the boffin cover. When I got it home, I loved the record even more – result!

Branson’s empire had by now outgrown this site and so business was transferred to Unit 2, 157-162, Western Road, Brighton, BN1 2BB from 1985 to 1998. This new store included the two floors above street level as was initially occupied by DIY chain Fads until the mid 1980’s. Virgin was now solidly in competition with HMV. They were selling CD’s, books, posters etc. I can recall being late back to work one day as I got carried away flicking through the rows of music and immediately outside the store was to my surprise Björk with two older ladies in fur coats. I was a fan, but didn’t stop to talk – I wish I had. She was going out with Goldie at the time and he was playing in Brighton that night, I found out later, so it definitely was her.

Brighton’s final Virgin Megastore was at M S U 5, Churchill Square, Brighton, BN1 2TB, which was nearly opposite HMV on the ground level. The store had several levels and certainly was the business. It became one of their Zavvi stores. T.H. Baker Brighton jewellers now occupies part of the old site.

Viva-Vinyl, 63 Queen Victoria Avenue, Hove nr Hangleton, BN3 6XA. Online HERE.
Viva-Vinyl was established in 2017 by Julie and Brian Rosehill who manage the cafe, restaurant and pop-up record shop. They buy and sell rare vinyl and mainly specialise in progressive, psychedelic, blues, folk and folk rock, rock and pop mainly from the mid 60’s to the mid 70’s.

W.H. Smith & Son – various addresses including 69 Churchill Square, Brighton, BN1 2TA. 
Back in the day, W.H. Smith used to sell records and cassettes along with a lot of accessories like PVC sleeves, record cleaners, 7″ record sleeves and cassette racks from their Brighton and Hove stores. In fact some stores had quite large record departments.

W.J. East, 22 Gardner Street, Brighton, BN1 1UP.
This shop used to sell gramophones and 78rpm records around 100 years ago. (Update: listing added thanks to Josh Dean 16.04.20).

Wadmans, 99 St Georges Road, Brighton, BN2 1EE.
Wadmans was known to have existed pre war.

Well Rounded Vinyl Vendors, 104 Trafalgar Street, Brighton, BN1 4ER.
Established in 2012 and closed in 2017. They were underground 12” vinyl dance music specialists, who also liked to do some pop-up shops. Were based at the same premises as Rarekind Records.

Wickham Kimber & Oakley Ltd, 8 George Street, Hove, BN3 3YA.
In 1935 a music shop opened at number 8 that was later known as Wickham, Kimber and Oakley. Richard Wickham and Ernest Kimber worked for several years at Godfrey & Co., 88 Western Road, Hove, BN3 1JB, before making the decision to branch out on their own. Mr Wickham had been a pre-war dance band pianist and the stock reflected this. They used to sell sheet music as well as records.

In the 1940’s they opened their second shop in George Street at numbers 95 and 95a, at the same time taking Harold Oakley into partnership. From the late 1940’s, Saturday afternoons there became a regular meeting place for Jazz and Blues lovers. Derrick Stewart-Baxter, who wrote a column in Jazz Journal called ‘Preachin’ The Blues,’ was paid a retainer and sat in an upstairs room, acting as an adviser on the quality of the latest (American) jazz and blues records that were available in store. Apart from his work at the shop, Derrick was a frequent compere at Brighton Dome when it was graced by a Jazz or Blues evening, so it was at the Dome that many folks were able to hear American bluesmen like Howlin’ Wolf, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee and Lightnin’ Hopkins, plus of course all the British Trad and New Orleans jazz bands of the time.

In 1966 at number 8 Mr Wickham had a total record stock of 30,000 items and the BBC used to buy some items for their sound archive. This shop closed on 31st March 1974.

Winchester’s, 20 George Street, Hove, BN3 3YA.
“The sleeves look older with a picture of an inter – war radiogram on them and the additional information of ‘Authorised Columbia Dealer’, or even better ‘Columbia, Zonophone, Regal and Winner Records.’ The last mention I could find in the Directories was in 1936………in the 1930’s it was normally recorded as Walter Frank Winchester, Gramophone Dealer. Going further back it is recorded as John Winchester during the 1920’s; possibly the father. I was surprised that the shop had been established before the First World War, as early as 1910 and 1912, it was recorded as “Phonograph Stores”,. The first mention of J. Winchester is 1910. The first mention of a shop at the same premises is as early as 1906 , with the descriptor “Mrs. Wallis – Phonograph and Incandescent Company”.It is a fabulous name. The MHMS entry for George Street in 1908 is HERE.” (Update: listing added thanks to Chris Nichols 13.04.20).

Wizard Records, Sydney Street or Gardner Street or Queens Road, Brighton.
There seems to be some confusion as to exactly where this shop was. I have found mention of this record shop, which didn’t last long, when it was located in Sydney Street, by the corner of Gloucester Street, and being run by a guy called Gary with long blond hair. There are other mentions of it in Gardner Street, Brighton and also near Brighton Station on Queens Road.

Woolworths (F.W. Woolworth & Co. Ltd.) various locations.
In the late 1970’s and 1980’s Woolworths was always a good store to visit immediately after the new music charts had been announced as those singles and albums that had dropped out of the Top 40 (as from 1978) would be greatly reduced. They weren’t as cred as Virgin or HMV, but if they were quite a bit cheaper, then it didn’t matter.

Their 181-185 Western Road, Brighton, BN1 2BA was the first Brighton store. It opened on 5th August 1916 and in 1968 it was modernised and reduced in size, with the right side being sold to Clinton Cards. It closed on 30th December 2008. I have a fond memory of my Brighton Technical College mate Mark Brady, running into this store and yelling ‘Warrior In Woolworths’ and legging it out. The tune was found on the X-Ray Spex November 1978 album ‘Germfree Adolescents’ – it was a very punk thing to do back then.

Two further Brighton stores were opened in 1927, namely London Road and 26-28a St James Street, Brighton, BN2 1RF branches. The London Road store opened on 29th October 1927 and was located on the corner of Cheapside at 1-2 London Road, Brighton, BN1 4JH. On 8th June 1934, the store was extended. There’s a post from Horace Harris who recounts “I bought my first gramophone records from a branch of F. W. Woolworth in London Road, Brighton, in 1937. They exclusively sold Crown records, which were 78 rpm speed but 9 inches in diameter, rather than the usual 10 inches. They cost six pence each. My favourite was “Is It True What They Say About Dixie?” by The Swing Rhythm Boys, which was a pseudonym for London dance band musicians”. In 1965 Woolworths left the premises at 1-2. Sainsbury’s, who were next door at No.3, took it over to become a larger self-service supermarket at 1-4. It is now occupied by Aldi.

Woolworths relocated up the road to 27-31 London Road, Brighton, BN1 4LE, a larger Art Deco building (a former department store called Roslings) with 3 floors, and started trading from 28th May 1965. The store was re-modernised in the 1980’s, and then there was an arson fire in the basement in 1987 – so they had to close temporarily. The basement was never reopened, with the stairs covered up with a large display. They too closed on 30th December 2008. The premises are now a Poundland.

The 26-28a St James Street, Brighton, BN2 1RF ‘Woolies’ branch opened in 1927 and In the 1950’s the store extended to the left, taking over the old Dairy shop. Then in either the 1960’s or 70’s, the store halved in size and traded from the right side. Then this Woolworths closed down in June 1986.

(Update: ‘bekis’ 1.4.20 – “Don’t forget Woolworths in Blatchington Road, Hove. Bought my first single in there, my friend worked on the pick n mix and used to sneak us the odd free sweet while we checked out the records”).

XS Music & Video, The Waterfront, Brighton Marina, Brighton, BN2 5WA.
I seem to recall a CD and DVD shop located at The Waterfront on the ground floor along from the petrol station. The newer shopping area opened in 2002 and has the ‘Walk Of Fame’ stars on the pavement. (Update: David McLaughlin 03.04.20 – “XS Music & Video on The Waterfront. Think it was a v.Shop previous or one of the failed Virgin phone music hybrids”). This was originally posted as ‘Unknown’, but thanks to David’s assistance is now listed under the shop name.

Zavvi, Unit M S U 5, Churchill Square Shopping Centre, Brighton, BN1 2TB.
This was the former Virgin Megastore chain, which was one of the last 18 stores that closed just before Friday 20th February 2009, with the loss of 446 jobs.The chain went into administration on Christmas Eve 2008 after it was crippled by the collapse of Woolworths‘ Entertainment UK wholesaling division. It was the country’s largest independent entertainment retailer, with 114 stores in the UK and 11 in Ireland and more than 2,300 full-time staff.

UPDATED INFORMATION FROM PAUL K (KAZ)……………..

“Back in Ye Olde Days of vinyl, records would be deleted as soon as sales started tailing off – usually a matter of weeks after release. The only way to find an old tune was to trawl through second hand shops”.
Well, yes and no. Records were normally deleted en bloc at certain times of the year during some sort of audit process. I’ve still got loads of old record catalogues from the 60s and 70s, and a quick browse shows that most of the Rolling Stones singles (and The Beatles of course) were still available 10 years after their release. Deletion of other records only really happened when the stock ran out. As well as the ever-popular stuff such as Abba, even obscure material was available years after release if they didn’t sell out and were easily available through normal stock ordering. I think the impression records got deleted quickly came from the fact most record shops couldn’t be bothered to order anything that wasn’t in their stock.
At Fine Records, we were well known for ordering whatever people wanted, and often spent months hunting copies of obscure German and Russian singles and the like. We were one of the first shops in the country to sell Demis Roussos records, after one of the local antique dealers came back from Greece summer 1972 raving about him. Of course a year later he was enormous (in several ways).
We bought most of our imports through CRD, a company based in Bexhill, who imported many great delights such as old bluegrass albums, ‘world records’ before they were called that, classical records from Russia and obscure jazz albums.
A couple of quick asides:
# in 1977 you could still order 78s of a number of the Beatles early singles on the Indian Parlophone label through EMI, and a couple of Elvis ones!!! They still had their own section in the Popular Music Guide, which was the bible of such things.
# On one bored Monday in 1976, as a joke I idly added to our EMI order the catalogue number for the long-deleted Small Faces album ‘Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake’ on Immediate Records, supposedly unavailable since 1969 and never in a catalogue past that date. EMI duly sent 6 copies OF THE ORIGINAL PSYCHEDELIC FOLDOUT COVER version, even then gold dust and fetching a good sum from collectors. We sold them at normal top retail price, and reordered almost every week for several years. Never told anyone how we got them until now. After that, I used to go through old catalogues and bung in a few numbers to the orders each week to see what turned up, occasionally scoring well.

77 Records:
The address as ‘Kensington Gardens’ probably comes from the common use of that name for the North Laines area in general. Probably a habit that’s died out as the area blossomed, I guess.

Attrix Records:
“It was the only place in Brighton where you could buy records by decent bands – Joy Division, Siouxsie & The Banshees, The Clash, The Specials – as well as the more obscure stuff that John Peel would play on his radio show”.
“the shop suddenly closed in 1981. By then High Street shops like HMV and especially Virgin were selling alternative music in competition with Attrix”
Not even close. Both HMV and Virgin were open long before Attrix did, and stocked all of the above and more. And especially let’s not forget Fine Records and Megawatz.

Avery’s:
Immediately opposite Woolworths. In the early 70’s they only had one small rack of records, mainly high end MOR such as Sinatra and Johnny Mathis and film soundtracks; plus the ‘test records’ EMI, Decca and other labels produced for people to test their new stereo (a whole sub-genre I’ll not dig into right now or I won’t be seen for months!).
There was a copy of Count Basie’s ‘Atomic Basie’ LP in the window for years.

Barnards:
I think that’s probably Rediffusion Rentals on the shopping row just round the corner from Kemp Town Post Office. They sold tvs and mainly low end radios, record players/gramophones and electrical goods such as kettles, and were especially useful as you could buy on hire purchase. I remember staring in the window one afternoon while my mum bought the week’s vegetables from the greengrocer next door, and it had The Beatles ‘Revolver’, Rolling Stones ‘Aftermath’, Beach Boys ‘Pet Sounds’, John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton’ and The Yardbirds ‘For Your Love’ on display, which makes it around July 1966. No idea why that picture remains in my head, but it’s a grand one.
No idea when they opened or closed, but they were certainly open in 1964, and there until at least the mid-70s. They may even have lasted until Rediffusion shut down in 1984.
There were other Rediffusion shops around town (see below)

Boots:
The Western Road Boots sold records upstairs, through a side entrance to a long staircase – it’s the shop that Virgin took over. Mainly MOR stuff – the racked ‘Golden Hour’ compilations and cheap reissues (‘Decca World Of’ series etc), and the ‘Top Of The Pops’ cover version albums.
# Another aside: despite producing mainly cheap MOR compilations until the 1970s, Pye Records did release a couple of excellent cheapies on their ‘Marble Arch’ label, including a Captain Beefheart compilation of almost impossible to find early stuff!
# That upstairs at Boots was a bit sparsely stocked, more like a warehouse attachment. They also had several of the legendary 60s bad taste paintings for sale – the blue-faced lady and the naked couple and swan – plus other similar monstrosities. Wish I’d bought them now.

Brighton Records, 19 Brighton Square, Brighton, BN1 1HD.
This is the address for Fine Records. They certainly couldn’t have been a precursor of Fine Records as Brighton Square wasn’t built before Fine Records opened (see below). A faint niggle says that it may have had this name for a short while after Fine Records finished and it became Rounder, but I can’t be sure.

Brunswick Record Exchange:
I remember this as Brunswick Exchange, and the Alternative Brighton entry calls it the same. It seems likely that it changed name at some point before mid-1973, although as they sold lots of other stuff, it may just be someone didn’t quite remember correctly.

Connections:
“was on the left hand side of North Street as one walked up towards the Clock Tower”.
Sounds Unlimited, and therefore Connections at the same address, was on the right hand side of North Street walking up. It was in the little recessed row of shops opposite the junction with Ship Street, where Poundland is now. Sounds Unlimited was at the eastern end of the row.

Debenhams, 97-99, Western Road, Brighton, BN1 2LY
“It has been put forward to me that Debenhams apparently sold records, although I have no recollection of this”.
Both Debenhams and Plummer and Roddis before them did indeed sell records. Mainly mainstream/MOR stuff, but they also sold Top 40 singles and the latest releases. My brother worked in the store in 1975, and he remembers the floor-walker managers (ah, those were the days, ‘Are You Being Served’!), constantly berated the girls for having the music too loud, which ‘disturbed the customers’. The record section was at the back of the store, running lengthways in a separate area from the open main shop, near the lifts.

Ernest Watts:
Another Hallmark/ Marble Arch etc stockists. The shop was almost entirely given over to musical instruments and quality record players.

Exspantion:
I can recall visiting an obscure dance record shop which was located down the little passageway by the side of the building and climbing up the stairs at the rear in order to get to the first floor of the building where the records were on display. I’m assuming that this was either Expantion Record Store or Jelly Jam Records. (Update: Barry Parks 13.04.20 – “Exspantion Records moved from Hove to an upstairs shop on the south side of Duke Street (nearer the West St. end). Later, it was in Middle Street – on the street, not down a passageway – that was a club of some sort. Tickets for the Rolling Stones gig at Big Apple were sold there, with a queue a long way down the street. We got to about 20 people in front, when the last ticket was sold. Mike Clayton (manager of Mike Stuart Span) ran these shops. It then it moved to the Lanes and became Tiger Moth. There was also a branch in Portsmouth, I think. Then the money ran out, I assume”).
A bit muddled here. Let’s try and clarify:
Mike Clayton was the ex-manager of local band Mike Stuart Span (hence EX-Span-tion, also a reference to Mike spreading his wings outside of management). He was something of a ‘character’, to put it blandly. There’s a fascinating TV documentary about his attempts to get the band in the charts and other managerial shenanigans – ’Big Deal Group’, part of the series ‘A Year In The Life’ (which is usually confused with the actual title).
The first shop was just off Portland Road, Hove, opened early 1968.
The second shop was on Duke Street, on the left-hand side above Middle Street heading towards West Street. It was upstairs (though not down a passageway, that’s conflating this shop with the later one in Middle Street and the alleyway at the side of it which led to ‘The Cottage’, the legendary hippy coffee bar, not ‘ club of some sorts’ though that description fits rather well).
I believe the upstairs shop lasted less than a year, before moving round the corner to Middle Street, (the first cottage style shop towards the sea from Duke Street, almost opposite ‘The Victory’). They later changed the name to Tiger Moth Records (I can’t recall when; I still have bags for each of the shops, but of course they’re not dated). They didn’t ever move to The Lanes.
Exspantion/Tiger Moth was without doubt the key record shop in Brighton 1969-72(ish). They were the only shop selling US imports, giving us access to all the psych rarities – Grateful Dead, Moby Grape, Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver, Silver Apples – the list is endless. Expensive imports, but essential listening. As mentioned, they also sold tickets for gigs (as per the Rolling Stones all-night queue mentioned – hundreds of people down one side of Middle Street and back up the other – see the Evening Argus front-pager the next day). Magazines too – IT, Oz, Rolling Stone etc (most of which they purchased from Unicorn Bookshop up the road). And you could stand in there for hours gossiping music with Mike and Pearl (his lovely wife) while drinking bottled cokes (selling them was a master move). I recall hearing Pink Floyd’s ‘Umma Gumma’ and ELP’s first album months before release. Mike and Pearl sort of adopted this precocious 15 year old brat fixated on music and let me spend much of my out of school life there (and some of my school time too!) and sometimes let me help out. Kevin Eade who worked there (and later moved to bigger things with CBS Records) taught me how to listen to a record’s production using Floyd, ELP etc. I vividly remember spending a whole quiet afternoon playing Chicago’s first album over and over listening to how the various parts were recorded – a valuable lesson never forgotten.
I can’t remember when they closed, but it was all rather sudden. Mike and Pearl announced they were moving to Australia, and within a few weeks that was it. They kept in contact for years (I still have the letters and postcards), but nobody else seemed to know where they’d gone, so I wouldn’t mind hazarding a guess it was to do with money.
Never found another shop quite like it, and I’ll be forever grateful for their part in setting me on the path to what I am.
# another aside: Mike Stuart Span actually kept their associations with Mike Clayton and became Leviathan. The gimmick was they were a 2 guitarist, 2 drummer, 2 bass player line-up. Didn’t really work, but interesting. They were launched at The Dome, on a bill with Edgar Broughton, David Bowie and others. I stood in the shop for a whole day colouring in copies of the handbills for school distribution (the art-nouveauvhandbill is an extreme rarity sought after by Bowie fans).
# and another – I bought my copy of the first Hawkwind LP there the day it came out, but from leader Dave Brock’s car outside Exspantion. Mike wouldn’t pay the price they were asking for copies (they added a bit on for themselves above the usual trade price, of course) but as he’d sold out of it, allowed them to sell it outside for an hour!

Fine Records, 32 George Street, Hove BN3 3YB and 19 Brighton Square, Brighton, BN1 1HD.
Hang on to your hat .. Here we go with the mammoth one ….
First of all – the legend.
It has been said that Fine Records in Brighton opened on the day ‘Sgt Peppers’ was released in 1967, when The Lanes area wasn’t even properly open, and that over 500 people trod over the planks over unset concrete to buy it! Sounds like ‘folklore’
Sometimes folklore is based on truth!
Fine Records did open on the day Sgt Pepper’s was released, and yes, the Brighton Square end of The Lanes at least wasn’t open yet. The owner, Ralph Barrett (a shrewd businessman), was bloody determined not to lose out on sales because the shop was not actually due to open for several weeks. As the paving hadn’t been laid, people had to walk across crawlboards to the side entrance as it wasn’t possible to access the door onto the Square.
I’ve seen Ralph’s photographs of the place – it was a bloody mess. But he sold hundreds and hundreds of copies in two days that week (no Sunday opening then!), so it was worth it. They sold very little else, as most of the shop stock hadn’t arrived yet! That ‘500 people’ may be an exaggeration, but I doubt it, and that was always Ralph’s line. I’d suggest it’s very likely though, bearing in mind the number of likely fans and the relatively few record shops in 1967.
As to the date – the LP is usually quoted as being released on either the 26th May or 1st June. 26th May is almost definitely right. It was a Friday, and EMI label releases in the 60’s were either Tuesday or Friday. 1st June was a Thursday.
# an aside arrives: by the mid-1970s release dates were seldom accurate. I’ve spent some time down the years explaining to people that delivery dates seldom matched official release dates on promotion and adverts. For example CBS records deliveries always arrived on Mondays and Thursdays, so releases for Friday might actually be in the shop on Monday or Thursday that week.
and it has been stated that Fine Records in Brighton might have previously been known as Brighton Records – see above for refutation.
There were three Fine Records. The Brighton Square one was first, then George Street, Hove and Worthing (I don’t have dates for those, I’m afraid).
They all had a policy of only playing classical music and a little classic jazz on racy days (a reflection of Ralph’s impeccable taste), although they sold all genres of music, especially an excellent assortment of jazz, and were known as the best shops in the area for classical music knowledge.
The Hove branch used to specialise in jazz and classical music. Ian Wallace joined the firm in 1986
The shops didn’t specialise as such until much later. Worthing maintained a generalised view, although they were classical record specialists. Brighton was extremely well known for its classical knowledge almost since opening, Hove was a general record shop. Ian worked under me during 1975-76 when I was busy turning it on its head as a punk specialist (a man with superb classical music knowledge, Ian never got comfortable with The Damned and Sniffing Glue and moved to the Hove shop when there was a vacancy there, running it from then on. This is the point at which they specialised in jazz and classical music).
I started work for Fine Records August 1972, after leaving school. There’s no doubt my experience at Exspantion/Tiger Moth in knowledge, ordering and stock control helped immeasurably. I took over as manager late 1975, and soon after started stocking Punk/New Wave magazines and odd records beginning to arrive from the USA – Television’s ‘Little Johnny Jewel’, The Ramones etc, and (carefully) the odd bootleg that nearly fitted the punk mode. From there I built up a network with the specialist labels (Stiff, Chiswick etc) and the legendary Rough Trade in London, who set up the first distribution system for small punk labels and magazines.
When punk hit, we were the only shop stocking it south of London. For some peculiar reason, Virgin weren’t allowed to! (various stories are told – Branson didn’t want the bother of dealing with hundreds of small labels / it didn’t fit the Virgin image, none attributable). So their manager Steve used to pop in for a few copies of things for him and his friends, and I vividly recall boxes of Patti Smith, Television singles, fanzines and Tom Petty and Eddie and The Hot Rods bootlegs wending their way secretly to a very excited Virgin Records in Southampton.
Fanzines sold by the shedload (editor Mark Perry used to send me letters with my mass orders of ‘Sniffing Glue’). Members of Eater, The Damned, Clash associates, a brace or two of Stranglers, The Buzzcocks, blah blah used to drop in regularly.
Ralph, bless his heart, resisted a bit, but essentially gave in when he saw the sales figures.
We’d been a drop-in site for musicians for a while: Ian Dury, Leo Sayer (there’s some tales), Robin Scott of M, Den Hegarty from Darts, Ron Geesin, Peter Hammill, Andy Fairweather Lowe, Keith Emerson, The Buzzcocks and shedloads of others. Kid Jensen made a very early appearance, broadcasting a Radio Luxembourg programme from the shop (replacing Peter Powell, who we didn’t want anyway). Typically Tropical once seemed to spend all afternoon playing their one hit ‘Barbados’ outside. Carl Douglas did a signing for ‘Kung Fu Fighting, nobody turned up.

I moved on in the blistering hot Summer ’77, to work on opening Megawatz, which happened in September that year. Paul Skinner (who helped edit the local trailblazing underground magazine ‘Attila’ back in the early 70’s after Unicorn gave up on it) stayed on to manage Fine Records, and for several years did some excellent leftfield gigs locally as the wonderfully named ‘Price Addis Bin’.
Ralph kept Fine Records until he sold it Rounder, then moved to the USA, where he opened a jewellery business.
# aside warning: Incidentally, Ralph owned the exquisite 78 record player in the shop window (which was also the shop logo). We used to crank it up every now again to ceremonially play Clara Bow’s recording of ‘The Lost Chord’ which was the record that sat on the turntable.
# I was in Brighton last year and the shop was being gutted for new tenants. The builders were kind enough to let me look around. The old polystyrene tiles were still on the ceiling, and the ‘Fine Records’ sign glue marks and faded remnants of the words were still visible on the shop fascia. Turned out one of the builders had many memories of the place as a youth and was one of my customers!
The Alternative Brighton entry (1973) says: an intelligent selection, recommended for classical.

Gamut: Duke Street ADDITION
Opened probably sometime early in 1968, and probably closed in 1972 or perhaps early 1973 (they’re missing from ‘Alternative Brighton’, which was published September 1973).
Gamut was a ‘head shop’ selling incense, beads, kaftans, Eastern paraphernalia etc. One of the first in town.
It was on the right side of Duke Street heading up, directly opposite Middle Street.
They had several racks of records, one in the doorway, the others inside, which displayed exotic records we’d now file under ‘World Music’ – from EMI India’s releases of Ravi Shankar, Imrat Khan and Ustad Vilayat Khan to African artists such as Babatunde Olatunji, Mustapha Tetty Ady, Fela Kuti; Miriam Makeba, Dervish music, Tibetan chants, Native American recordings and probably some of that dreary Pan Pipe stuff. They regularly played ‘Missa Luba’ and the ‘Jujouka’ album recorded in Morocco by Brian Jones over the shop speakers, and summer 1968 constantly played Dr John’s seminal voodoo/swamp music album ‘Gris Gris’. I bought most of them and still have them.
My intro to infinite musical possibilities.

Godfrey & Co:
replaced Cramer, Watts & Co, who were in the same business and had been trading from 1873 to 1889, but I suspect that they had not sold these ‘new’ records as the phonograph had only been invented on 18th July 1877 by Thomas Edison and his team.
Almost certainly correct. Cylinder records and players weren’t sold in any quantity in the UK until 1888, although there are a very few random titles from 1887, mostly imported. As the entry says ‘phonograph cylinder late 1880’s’.
#aside time: the invention date is still contentious, fuelled by the late patent application, and until 1884 the ‘graphophone’ wax cylinders didn’t exist, recordings were on paper, and very few were commercially sold.
https://www.loc.gov/collections/edison-company-motion-pictures-and-sound-recordings/articles-and-essays/history-of-edison-sound-recordings/history-of-the-cylinder-phonograph

Hannington’s:
“It has been put forward to me that Hanningtons apparently sold records, although I have no recollection of this.”
Yep. They did. The record department was through the west entrance in North Street, and was almost separate from the rest of the store. I can still picture it.
Fiercely MOR, in keeping with their traditional Department Store attitude. However, their winter sale was a marvel! They not only savagely reduced their unsold stock, but bought in shedloads of cutouts (deleted/unsold stock) as well. I used to go there on day one, which was an OAP rugby scrum, and pick out stock for the shop for £1 or less plus all sorts of obscurities for the ever-growing collection; US imports and minor label bands. It was mayhem! Hannington’s stopped the winter sale in this manner around 1977.
(for Anthony Squires) astounding they sold such modern stuff as XTC. They would barely go near a chart record, let alone seditious post-punk! We used to grin when people came in for singles saying ‘the old dear in Hannington’s said ‘perhaps you might want to try Fine Records in The Lanes for that kind of stuff’.
The Alternative Brighton entry says: large (unadventurous) mixed range, good sales, publish their weekly Top Ten in The Gazette.

Hayes and Hayes:
My mum used to mention Hayes and Hayes. She occasionally brought dance records home from there in the late 1940’, which she was allowed to play on the radiogram (look it up!) on Friday evenings as they were ‘too frisky for Sundays’. However, she was warned that the shop was frequented by unsavoury characters, so should be careful.

Highcroft Service Station, Dyke Road Hove:
Mentioned in ‘Alternative Brighton’ as ‘there’s a ‘cassette bar’. So it was open by at least summer ’73, and could have opened any time from around late 1966.

HMV
“They both were specialising in some vinyl, mainly CD’s, with DVD’s books and posters”.
A bit petty perhaps, but not an elegant sentence. How about ‘They mainly stocked CDs and DVDs, some vinyl, books and posters.’

Ina’s, London Road:
The Alternative Brighton entry says: emphasis on pop/teeny. As Alternative Brighton was published September 1973, that suggests they were still around as late as early summer ’73.

John Beal and Son (Stationers):
“They also had listening booths with doors for intimate listening.”
Although they mainly kept to the middle of the road and pop, for years they had a good jazz record stock.
The listening booths were massive wooden affairs, big enough to fit 3 at a crush and had a folding door to make it an enclosed booth. Having enclosed space meant they could turn the volume up. The trick on a Saturday was to persuade the assistant that you wanted to hear side 2 of Pink Floyd’s ‘Saucerful of Secrets’ or Tyrannosaurus Rex’ ‘My People Were Fair’ but had nothing to do with the person who coincidentally asked for side 1 earlier. I bought my copy of ‘My People Were Fair’ from there, but only months later!
The Alternative Brighton entry says: records confusingly arranged, booths with doors for intimate listening.

Kemp and Turner:
The full address was 11 Carlton Terrace, Portslade (see Alternative Brighton, who don’t bother with a description.

K. J. Bredon, 70 East Street, Brighton, BN1 1HQ.
Bredons at 70 East Street had a superbly eclectic record stock. Their jazz section was unsurpassed, and Richard who managed it had astounding knowledge. He used to come in to Fine Records once a week with lists of records to order he couldn’t get because of their restricted dealership with record companies, and taught me most of what I know about jazz. I hated it, he brought me gently through early Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Grant Green, the Blue Note collection and later John Coltrane and more difficult material, and then I lost him because I got into the emerging funk side of things, which he considered a travesty.
The Alternative Brighton entry simply says: good for classical.

Lyon & Hall Limited:
There’s no doubt Lyon and Hall were special. However my recollections are somewhat shameful.
I’d heard anecdotally years back they were the only people in town who accepted Rockers, Teds etc and stocked rock and roll records. However, by the early 70’s the shops heyday was effectively over and it became a relic of the past. They worked on with the usual fare against increasing competition, but it was upstairs that held the major attraction.
In a long room with varnished wooden floor, there was a massed row of record racks full of deletions, cutouts and dumped imports, with cardboard boxes under the racks, and wooden and cardboard boxes on the other side full of the same. A lot of rubbish, but in retrospect a purchase of a couple of hundred lps then would actually set you up with a deposit on a house. There were loads of 50s jazz albums, psychedelic lps (Blue Cheer, 13th Floor Elevators, Sopwith Camel and many so obscure I can barely recall them myself), weird later jazz obscurities (Sun Ra, ESP label material) and much more.
And singles – old Yardbirds, Vamp, Circus Maximus, Kaleidoscope (both versions) Heavy Jelly, Skip Bifferty.
All cheap, very cheap.
The trick was, wear a school blazer with an inside pocket big enough to carry a single, carry a satchel, and buy an album. Stuff singles in the blazer and satchel, put a couple of albums and singles in a carrier bag if you were really brave. And always put three singles in the album cover, 5 if it was a gatefold. The staff weren’t bothered, look at how many you were holding (careful not to spill out those singles, ring up the album price (5/- for an album (25p), 2/- for a single (10p). Or distract the assistant with mindless chatter about an LP while your mates wandered out with a dozen carefully chosen records for splitting later.
Yep. I’m ashamed. But just think about all the records I saved for posterity.
The Alternative Brighton entry says: pleasant, lots of music books & sheet music.

Megawatz, 55 Preston Street, Brighton, BN1 2HE.
This was a short lived shop in 1977/1978, that was the probably the first to stock punk rock tunes as well as US Soul imports.
OK, the mega-entry part 2. Feel very free to dilute!
When I left Fine Records it was to set up Megawatz together with a couple of other people I’d prefer not to mention (for their sakes) even after all these years. My expertise, their money. Having staked Fine Records reputation as THE punk shop south of London, it seemed sensible to cash in on the rep. So Megawatz opened late August 1977, just in time for the full-hurricane of punk.
We stocked all records, but specialised in punk and new wave, reggae, and 12” singles, which were just beginning to hit. We were at the time the only shop that sold imported reggae – Cultures ‘Two 7’s Clash was an enormous seller. And yes, we did sell soul imports before most people, but the jewel in Brighton’s crown for that was King Jerry at Sounds Unlimited (see later)
Loads of things to mention:
The week the Sex Pistols ‘Never Mind The Bollocks’ was released we had a full window display put up. The police arrived on the Saturday morning just after opening, took the display down and seized it, telling me I’d be prosecuted for obscenity. We changed the display to show carefully slashed paper bag copies and the logo ‘Never Mind the Fuzz’. Eventually, after the London Virgin store case for the same thing, I wasn’t charged. The day they returned the items, I made the police put the display back up! Not only did they oblige (rather neatly, too) but one of the officers bought a copy of the album and became a regular.
Megawatz had run-ins with the police a few times. I was arrested in Churchill Square for wearing a ‘Megawatz sells Cokane’ t-shirt (‘Cokane’ was a 12” single by Dillinger, at the time only available on import and people were mental for it. We sold hundreds). It was returned by a sheepish policeman some hours later when they worked it out.
I got arrested again a week later for wearing the infamous McLaren ‘two cowboys’ t-shirt. Again, it got returned, though I was lucky to get away with that one! There were regular visits from the boys in blue in case drugs were being passed around, though we never had anything to do with that and our fave reggae local ‘Sticksman’ was always absent on such occasions.
Many musicians and punk celebs frequented the place. The Damned and Stranglers both did appearances (coupled with private gigs in a bar down the road). The Damned’s appearance involved them signing everything in sight – the record racks, counter, walls, anyone who moved, and the odd copy of their new LP. Conversely The Stranglers, promoting ‘No More Heroes’, refused to sign anything as there were ‘No More Heroes Any More!
Mink DeVille, Dr Hook. The Vibrators, Ultravox and others also appeared in the shop. Jordan of McLaren’s Sex fame and her entourage used to come down from London regularly to make our Saturdays a colourful circus. With a bit of swift carpentry by ginger giant Rik Wilkins (who built the shop counter and racks long into the night), the sizeable basement became a practice area for local bands. We became quite a little community very quickly.
Sadly, there was little support from the others involved in Megawatz, who failed to comprehend what the deal was. I quit in February 1978. The final straw was local punk band Wrist Action being stitched up at the last minute over recording an album for a new label we were supposed to be setting up because they a certain partner couldn’t be bothered to sort the recording out. Megawatz closed just over a month later and were declared bankrupt shortly after. The judge declared that the company spent an extraordinary amount in a short time for a small enterprise. One of the partners had bought a Triumph TR7 and took his girlfriend to Ibiza for 6 weeks (a bit daring in those days, but it didn’t help the cash flow).
I’ve always been proud of that shop, despite its short lifespan. It was one of a kind. Attrix followed our example beautifully.
# another aside: we became national treasures when I found boxes and boxes of old reggae records behind a rack in a warehouse in London owned by Lugtons, a wholesale record distributor in London. We bought what we could, then hid the rest behind boring MOR albums, and came back over the following month to get the rest. In Megawatz too brief existence we sold 400+ copies of the likes of The Skatalites ‘Guns of Navarone’ and Prince Buster’s ‘Al Capone’.

Millie’s Smile Bazaar, Grand Parade ADDITION
Sited near the corner of Grand Parade, heading north from Edward Street. Memory glitch doesn’t let me be any more specific, but it was definitely near the Edward Street end (was it replaced by the Brighton Tech building on the corner?). c late-67, Millie’s was a cornucopia of indoor hippy stalls, a sprawling indoor market. There was a reggae stall, which played wonderful early Ska and Bluebeat very loudly through a pa system. It specialised in UK releases from Trojan and direct Jamaican imports. Astounding stuff for a 13 year old.
Millie was Millie Small, who had Top40 hits with ‘My Boy Lollipop’ and ‘Sweet William’ and used to hug me whenever she saw me, her ‘dear reggae kid’. I used to go there mainly for the comics stall, where I got my early fixes of Dr Strange, Thor, Spiderman and the worlds of Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby, but the reggae shop remains firmly in my mind.

Public House Bookshop, Preston Street ADDITION
Richard Cupidi’s magnificent alternative bookshop, with its instantly recognisable psychedelic frontage, also had a small selection of records. Similar to Gamut’s selection of world music, Indian, Tibetan, gamelan, North African dervish music, Native Indian music, voodoo ceremonies …
They also sold bootleg records – when I was unable to get further supplies of the Sex Pistols ‘Spunk’ bootleg, Richard acted as wholesaler for the various versions of the LP to us for several months.

Rediffusion:
There were loads of these around town, including the one in Kemp Town I mentioned, and a small one on St James’s Street immediately opposite Old Steine Gardens and next door to the small pub on that row (I’ve forgotten the name!). This Rediffusion specialised in the hire purchase side of sales. I bought my first record player (a Dansette box ) there in 1968, together with a copy of Pink Floyd’s first album and the singles ‘Arnold Layne’ and ‘See Emily Play’, ‘Magic Bus’ and ‘My Generation’ by The Who, and an early Pretty Things album, all for 29/11d payable over 18 months. That’s about £1.50!!!!

Rounder Records:
An addendum to the Fine Records story, really, but one of Fatboy Slim’s cds has a picture of Norman Cook standing in front of an enormous record rack in the booklet. That’s actually the ‘master bag’ shelves of Rounder Records, originally built for Fine Records when they opened.
‘Master bags’ were a shop’s stock control and ordering system for records. One copy of each record was put into a plain white sleeve with the title, catalogue number and label, and when the record was sold, it was taken out, and reordering was done from the master bag. Numbers ordered were put on the master bag, with the date ordered, so you could see when you ordered and how many. Geek stuff, really. Sadly, I can still recite the numbers of all the Beatles lps in sequence from their catalogue number!
# yep. An aside: We took down part of the racking in 1977 for some reason I forget. Behind it was a book titled ’English/Hindi Hindi/English’. It had the marvellous phrase ‘My elephant has a thorn in it’s foot’. I can only assume it belonged to Rashid, the first manager of the shop.

Royce Radio:
Another shop I still dream of. Dusty and grimy, almost Victorian. Full of randomly heaped up junk, but they also had had copies of delights like Moby Grape’s ‘Wow’, the first (US) Kaleidoscope LP, the psych classic LP by Tomorrow and several other psych gems in the window for years and years.
The shop was seldom open, and when it was old man Royce would only allow one inside at a time and followed you around watching like a hawk. Often he wouldn’t let you move records on the pile, you could only browse the top one. I bought shedloads of rare 60’s singles from him eventually, but he wouldn’t go into the window for that Tomorrow LP. It was still there when they closed, taunting me, and still does in my sleep.

Select Records:
Puzzle over. Select Records was opened by Martin ???, who had managed the Worthing branch of Fine Records since before I started in the Brighton shop in 1972.
It was a classical record specialist, no pop, which pissed Ralph Barrett off mightily as Martin took a fair bit of our regular classical record buffs trade away. I think they opened somewhat later than 1970 – vague memories it was about 1974 and one of the reasons that eventually I was allowed to move us away from classical records. To be fair, Martin always pointed people who wanted non-classical stuff to us, but we weren’t supposed to reciprocate.

Sounds Unlimited:
Technically Sounds Unlimited was a hi-fil shop with King Jerry’s record domain in the basement. Sounds Unlimited was the go-to place for hi-end hi-fi – Bang and Olufsen, Bose, etc etc.
However, King Jerry’s basement was a revelation and deserves much more recognition for its place in Brighton’s music scene. Jerry ran the tiny, steamy, disco lit room like a club. Constant flow of wonderful music, endless streams of DJs and other buyers would flock there from miles around. Saturdays were manic and more like a rave (although the DJs preferred Friday afternoon’s to pick up the new imports in time for the weekend sessions).
Rare music and styles, mostly imports, and always streets before anyone else. I couldn’t obtain most of it (he always joked about it when I came in for the week’s funk fix – once sold a record to the guy behind me, joking ‘No problem, he’ll buy something else and you look like you need it more’). Jerry introduced most of us to deep soul artists like Jerry Butler we’d never have heard of otherwise (though his predilection for tack/smut like Blowfly never quite made sense).
According to the Pirate Radio Hall of Fame ( owner Tony Monson has been a highly respected dj since the 60’s) Sounds Unlimited opened in 1971, and was still open in late 1977. Tony had quietly been working on getting me on board to change the shop in August to something more like Megawatz, which was never publicly discussed, but I chose to move to Virgin in London instead. Tony is very much an unsung hero of Brighton’s music scene and Soul music in general. Fascinating man.
http://www.britishrecordshoparchive.org/disc-empire.html
http://www.offshoreradio.co.uk/djsmo.htm
The Alternative Brighton entry says: Sound (sic) Unlimited best feature a singles basement with 2nd hand ‘oldies but goodies’ + US Imports.

Subway Records:
Ah, a mystery that’s puzzled me for years.
I recall a record shop at the top of North Street (left hand side, above the Film Theatre and next door to Moss Bros or whatever the clothes shop on the corner of North Street/West Street is/was). Memory says the sign/logo was red and like the underground sign.
It was definitely open in 1968. They were busted for displaying the nude women cover to Jimi Hendrix’ ‘Electric Ladyland and forced by the Council to display it in a paper bag. They also got in trouble for The Fugs lp ‘It Crawled Into My Hand, Honest’, largely for the accompanying sticker that said ‘Get Fugged’. They removed them from the window and let me have the last 20 or so they had left when I bought the LP (it wasn’t a big seller).
I don’t recall the shop being open past about 1973, but ‘Computerworld’ was issued in 1981, which matches, so if that memory is right they were open years beyond what I thought.

University of Sussex:
The full (uncredited in the article) Alternative Brighton (1973) entry says: small general shops at Sussex Univ Bookshop, uninspiring.
Vague memory of it, although there was no need to go there if you lived in town. At times (open days, fairs etc) there would be a stall in the main entranceway, usually in blazing sunshine. People soon discovered sunshine=warped record!

The Cottage:
The Cottage was another Brighton wonder. They were a superb resource for old albums, especially jazz and old psychedelia, and their prog rock etc selection was always grand. Very particular about condition. They were infuriating for getting advance copies of new lps long before the record shops did – reps from the companies used to regularly say ‘I suppose you’ve already got a copy of this’ when they proudly uncovered a white label of a new album. The Cottage used to get their advance copies from all over the place, they never revealed where although we laughed about it. And yes, those reps I mentioned often sold to them!
I wasn’t living in Brighton at the time, but I’d always been under the impression that the murder took place near Brighton Station, not Powys Square. Not impossible, and both were gay haunts at the time (the shop name was somewhat apposite) but Powys Square is quite a distance to walk a dog, and the ‘stabbing spree’ fits better in the station area, rather than a several mile spread. I don’t have time to check the Evening Argus at the moment, but there’s articles.
The Alternative Brighton (1973) entry says: 2nd hand, sometimes has review copies in near perfect condition, lots of singles and nasty knick-knacks, they buy preferably ‘recent stereo LPs in first class condition’.

The Record Box and The Record Album:
Both lumped together in Alternative Brighton as ‘pokey 2nd-hand shops that we would not recommend, but they buy records’.

Tiger Moth Records, 25 Meeting House Lane, Brighton, BN1 1HB.

See the Expantion entry above, which explains it all. Mike Clayton did explain why ‘Tiger Moth’ years ago, but I’ve been to sleep since then.

‘Unknown’ 1: Waterloo Street, Hove.
There was apparently a short-lived shop in Waterloo Street, that was run by a guy called Kaz who used to manage Fine Records. It went bust very quickly though.
See Megawatz, Preston Street. Waterloo Street wasn’t ever in it!

‘Unknown’ 2: Western Road, Brighton.
“I seem to recall being reasonably shocked when I first saw The Damned debut album, as I was initially under the impression that they had smeared themselves in something unsavoury on the cover. The record was in an ‘allsorts’ shop on the North side of Western Road, nearly opposite Hanningtons around 139 Codrington Mansion. The shop had various vinyl albums at the back of the shop that was up a couple or steps or so”.
There was never a record shop behind or near Waitrose c early1977 (The ‘Damned Damned Damned’ album was released late Feb 77, and I was the only shop in town that stocked it). This has to be a second-hand shop, not a record shop. I have vague memories of buying some books in a second-hand shop set in a house round the corner from Waitrose some years later, clothes and bric-a-brac in the front, records and books up some stairs at the back, so it might have been that..

Virgin, 126 North Street, Brighton, BN1 1RE and other locations.
I don’t remember a record shop near the Bath Arms (though that’s not to say it’s not possible). If so, it was short lived, and must immediately predate the Clock Tower site.
“The North Street branch certainly had some notoriety with the back of the shop littered with bootleg albums, and hippies lounging around on beanbag cushions all day. Apparently, Gong played in the store to maybe 15 people, with Steve Hillage sporting a long knitted bobble hat and sleeveless afghan coat”.
The Alternative Brighton entry (1973) says: ‘Virgin, a place many people go to just to sit around and listen’, and in a separate entry: mostly rock lps at discount prices, some US, German imports, current singles at 40p, headphones and cushions, hypie effete place. (there was something of a snobbish backlash against Virgin among the older alternative cognoscente).
There was a curved rack that formed the back end of the counter that had the bootlegs and German imports (Kraftwerk, the Ohr label stuff – Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze etc). I recall the Gong gig, rather more than 15 people, but less than 50. I think Suzie who managed it went to Virgin’s recording studio The Manor later, and she’s on the cover for an album recorded there. Despite being fierce competition for us, she was always pleasant, and sent me postcards after she left).
“also a guy called Steve. Steve was pretty good at pointing me in the right direction of the latest releases as he knew my taste”.
Steve was the manager, and a great guy. He was endlessly frustrated they weren’t allowed to sell punk records (see the Fine Records entry above), especially as he was one of The Fall’s greatest fans. He was utterly frustrated when, being able to sell the Sex Pistols first lp the shop closed down days before its release for the move to the old Boots site on Western Road. I had a desperate week trying to keeping the album in stock, and much to Steve’s chagrin he was told by Virgin Head Office that as they were closed, he was to transfer me their 250 copies against my account to tide me over!

W.H Smith, 69 Churchill Square
Never really bothered going in there as they were so generic. The Alternative Brighton (1973) entry says: cramped, with a turnstile, too much. Last, Alpert etc.
There was a lot of frustration among staff when punk started that they were not allowed to stock anything so contentious. Ordering was done centrally, with very little allowance for local tastes and Smiths were extremely strict on who they dealt with (they couldn’t stock the pop and folk records from smaller companies like Transatlantic, let alone punk).

Wickham Kimber & Oakley Ltd,
I remember them being one of the biggest sheet music sellers in the area when I was young.
“Derrick was a frequent compere at Brighton Dome when it was graced by a Jazz or Blues evening, so it was at the Dome that many folks were able to hear American bluesmen like Howlin’ Wolf, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee and Lightnin’ Hopkins, plus of course all the British Trad and New Orleans jazz bands of the time.”
I believe these would have been record evenings with talks, not live performances. Obviously I’ve got no personal memory of that time, but as far as I know none of the major blues revival tours that broke the music in the UK in the early 60s hit Brighton (Croydon was the nearest). Spreading the live music was limited to shops and places like the Starlight Rooms and other small clubs. I’ve been working on Brighton gigs for years, and haven’t come across anything in the early 60s that would help with this.
The Alternative Brighton entry says: strong on pop singles and Classical
Woolworths (F.W. Woolworth & Co. Ltd.)
In the late 1970’s and 1980’s Woolworths was always a good store to visit immediately after the new music charts had been announced as those singles and albums that had dropped out of the Top 40 (as from 1978) would be greatly reduced.
We used to top up a few items for our Top 40 backstock cheaply, and the stuff they were persuaded to take ‘a couple of copies of on sale or return’ from the cheap racks. One I nearly missed was when a regular dropped in one mid-week afternoon to smugly show off the black cover version of ‘Anarchy he’d just picked up for 20p. I left him in the shop, and scorched tarmac to Woolies in Western Road to pick up the other 8 copies. Never seen the black cover before!
Woolworth’s was by the mid-70s largely an MOR/Budget label racked outlet, with Top 40s singles.

Unknown, Boundary Road, Hove ADDITION
Around 1981-85 there was a second-hand shop that sold records at the bottom of Boundary Road almost opposite the Blue Anchor (life is so much easier when it’s signposted by pubs). It later became a record shop. I’m not sure whether that is one of the ones mentioned in the article. I do remember buying The High Number’s (The Who) ‘Zoot Suit’, some early Who and Cream singles and a Graham Bond for 20p each and getting out of the shop as fast as possible before they realised!

Unknown, Boundary Road, Hove ADDITION
Just below the junction with New Church Road, on the opposite side, there was a chain stationers/newsagent that sold cut-outs and deletions between 1981-4 at least. It was full of recent albums as well as the usual MOR suspects – Blancmange, Lotus Eaters, ABC, Ultravox etc. Their stock changed rapidly, so it was a walk from work several lunchtimes a week to come back with an armful of joy for peanuts. Unfortunately, I can’t remember their name.

Record reps, record labels and how shops stocked up
Thought you might also be interested in some of the mechanics of buying records back in the 70s. Not entirely relevant without stretching the subject, but good fun. I’ve given it a local slant where possible, so some of it may be useful.
Back in the early 70’s most of the hundred or so record labels collected under bigger conglomerates, either because the big company owned them (ie Parlophone – EMI, Polydor – Phonogram) or they had distribution deals or licensed them (Island Records, Trojan and Chrysalis – EMI, Epic Records – CBS, Vertigo – Phonogram). The big conglomerates were CBS, Decca, EMI, Polydor (later Phonogram), Pye, RCA, and the runt of the litter, Transatlantic Records. As well as the main labels, all of them had their own cheap ‘carousel rack’ labels of compilations and reissues for the MOR oriented outlets and general stores).
There were also centralised warehouses such as Lugtons that sold minor labels, old stock and acted as a more expensive backup for mainstream label purchases in an emergency. Some of them had reps, although you wouldn’t see them very often.
Imported records were a struggle. Sometimes the reps would have a few items to fill in before their general release, but generally imports relied on a few London distributors (and we used CRD in Bexhill for all sorts of obscurities). Virgin had a central import ordering system for their shops through their London warehouse.

By the punk days in the mid-70s purchasing became a logistics nightmare as although bands like The Clash and The Stranglers were on major labels and some labels were affiliated to the conglomerates, (such as Stiff with EMI), there was a stream of independent labels with no affiliations. You had to order them individually (Eater used to drop theirs in on Saturdays when their 15-year old drummer’s mum came over from Eastbourne to go shopping with him in tow). Thankfully, independent distributors like the legendary and much missed Geoff Travis of Rough Trade quickly set up as distributors of small labels, imports and punk magazines and became invaluable for regular stock.

Each conglomerate had their own rep, who would circulate the shops in his area monthly (though to be honest some of them skipped most of them as a waste of time as they weren’t open to anything outside of their usual bubble. Most used the time to pop in for a long chat and maybe a beer more often than monthly. Your rep would bring advance advertising for new releases for window/shop displays, take orders for stuff that was released the following month, and get the sales gossip. Pye, RCA and Transatlantic reps used to come around fortnightly as they had vans containing their stock and you picked it up from there.

Some of the licensed labels had their own reps – Island Records’ Neil Storey was a much-loved favourite and stayed over many a time to party or go to a gig. Trojan Records handled their own reggae inventory until around 1977 – their rep Adrian ploughed a lonely furrow trying to sell early Bob Marley, Lee Perry, U Brown and the like to disinterested shops. We first had a reggae section in early 1975, so he loved us! (Adrian always said reggae would be enormous, 3 years before it happened). Nigel from ABC/Anchor (affiliated with CBS) and I were instrumental in getting Ace signed (‘How Long’ was their big hit, and their singer was Paul Carrack). I still have the cheque for £25 in thanks, but that’s all for another day). Our Polydor rep (another Nigel) was part responsible for Demis Roussos being a UK hit. He caught them by surprise when I mentioned we were selling loads on import and he took a copy of his first album on the Greek Philips label (part of Polydor) back to Head Office. Sadly that means I believe I may have been partly responsible for Mr Roussos’ fame in this country.

Many of the shops never saw a rep – WH Smiths and Woolworths had central office ordering and no influence on their stock. Virgin were largely ignored at first as they also had a central ordering system through the Virgin Warehouse.
The monthly rep call was an exciting affair for us – lots of goodies supporting the new records and advance copies (often treasured early ‘white label’ versions). At Fine Records we were lucky as the reps knew our market and would deluge us with anything punk or rock related – t-shirts, all sorts (I had a copy of ‘God Save the Queen’ literally months before everyone else, and got invited to dozens of parties on the back of that!).

Sign of the times – we only ever saw one female rep. It wasn’t regarded as a job for a woman, and she was soon moved on.

Other than using reps for new releases, the normal way to order was to phone in a list of requirements to the answerphone systems for the big companies. This was a tedious affair involving reciting long strings of catalogue numbers and quantities into the phone, only to be told on Monday morning by a cheerful member of EMI’s staff ‘sorry, we lost the recording after the first 10 minutes, somewhere around PCS7027’ (that’s ‘Sgt Pepper’s’ btw).

Records arrived usually Tuesday from the Saturday order, Friday for the Wednesday one. Although there were official release dates, new releases came in as and when (see elsewhere for a bit on that) – CBS and EMI normally on Monday and Thursday.

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