RFI: Used vinyl shops in London

'fraid it's slim pickings these days.

MV&E Camden is my most regular visit, there are 2, one a bit further up Camden High St. (were Rhythm Recs used to be).

Berwick St. still has one Reckless (maybe? changed hands?) but it is pretty rubbish, the M&VE is still there, a place next to it selling over-priced disco, reggae and house music.

The record fair at Spittlefields is now on Fridays although it might be bi-monthly. Some stalls are better than others.

Haven't been to the 2 shops on Hanway St. W1, On The Beat and JBs?? for ages but I walk past them when they are shut so I think they are still opening.

Nudge on Hanway St. E1 is still opening I think. There was another on Cheshire St. E1 but that is now a clothes shop.

lots of advice on this thread:

ask Dan Selzer!

I actually really like Reckless. The staff are all lovely (at least the ones I've spoken to) and their prices are pretty reasonable-ish. Depending on what you're after the selection might not be huge, but I've never gone in there and not found something I've wanted to purchase.

...and by Reckless I mean Revival Records. oops.

(yes, it changed hands)

Flashback on Essex Road, plus the other one around there. There's some place on Stoke Newington Church Street that's ok, in the back of a charity bookshop though so a bit difficult to find. Speaking of which, a couple of hundred charity shops, assuming you're after scratched Black & White Minstrel Show albums. There may be some info here too : http://www.verygoodplus.co.uk/

otm, that one in stokey is a great spot.

Thanks for the tips..

Went to MVE in Camden and Flashback and Haggle on Essex Road...

Picked up quite a few bargains - list is below..

Notting Hill tomorrow...

3 quid
Stump - A fierce Pancake

2 quid
OMD - first album
Japan - Tin Drum
Japan - Quiet Life
John Martyn - Grace and Danger
Throwing Muses - House Tornado
The Sundays - The Sundays
Stump - Quirk Out
Scritti Politti

1 quid
Throwing Muses - first album
Style Council - introducing
Thomas Dolby - The Flat Earth
Erasure - Circus
MC5 - Back In The USA (a bit scuffed)
Japan - Gentlemen Take Polaroids
Mataya Clifford - Star Fell From Heaven
Cud - Leggy Mambo
Blue Aeroplanes - Spitting Out Miracles

The Scritti Politti album is Songs To Remember

2 quid
Throwing Muses - House Tornado

1 quid
Throwing Muses - first album

I'm going to London

Greenwich M&VE not getting enough love on this thread

That's a good one. Stuff gets overlooked there.

I suppose on the other hand less Greenwich M&VE love from everyone else = more good stuff left for me to pick through

but in addition to that, it also has in its favour: not being in Camden, not being in Notting Hill, being across the street from the amazing milkshake place, having an actual bargain basement, and having really nice staff ! etc

Totally agree. I'd go there a lot more often except from where I live (way out West) it takes several centuries to reach Greenwich by public transport.

berwick street / soho still has sister ray, sounds of the universe and the other one on poland street i can't remember the name of, and theres those two on Hamlyn Street, that's a pretty good string if you include mve & reckless mentioned above. and rays if you're that way inclined. i would probably go to oprtobello if i was looking for a full on record binge: rt west/honest johns/intoxica/ mve in notting hill gate and that crazy vinyl shop that's split down the middle. rough trade east is brill too, as is Flashback.

Haggle Vinyl is Flashback's poorer Essex Rd cousin, but still has some interesting stuff. It's one of those "I'm amazed it's still going" places!

yeh haggle is a real throwback, it has great stock but is a bit overpriced and they don't always take the greatest care of it. is docs records in holloway still going? i've actually never been there tho i go past the manky old sign most days on the bus. the saddest casualties for me are reckless in angel, rhythm in camden (which in it's day was a brilliant tardis of a shop) and totem on church st, although the aforementioned cubby hole in the back of the book shop (pinnacle, is that it's name?) does go a little way to compensate.

That's Ocean Books on Church St. They do have the occasional great find in there- I saw (but foolishly didn't buy) a Rick James album for £3 the other day!

There's a branch of Flashback in Crouch End now as well, where I've bought one or two interesting, if not exactly WOW, items recently.

Dying breed, of course.

Slightly off topic, I know, but I was in Stockholm recently, and the long strip of record shops on St Eriksplan was impressive, but I was told that the area used to have three times the number of record shops.

DOC in Holloway is still going, as far as I know. Smells like strong, bad aftershave. The first time I went there was a few weeks after I'd had a bit of argy-bargy with some bomber-jacketed scally at a Boredoms gig. He was drunk and pushing people around, and when I refused to budge, he mockingly questioned what I knew about music, etc. He calmed down a bit, but he still seemed like an asshole. It ended but with him saying I should come down to his shop. He gave me a flyer, which I completely forgot about until later. Turned out it was DOC. Although it wasn't actually 'his', but he's tight with the aging South American rocker dude guy who owns it. He followed me down into the basement when I arrived, and I was wondering what he had to say, but he didn't seem to recognise me. He was sort of doing his thing, watching what I was browsing, and he saw that I'd picked up a Roky Erickson picture disc, he got really excited and came over to chat. And he was a really cool guy! We yacked for ages about Krautrock and tape collecting and all sorts of stuff. Maybe used to be in (or involved with) World Domination Enterprises or something. And he teaches guitar. I seem him about still, but I always have to remind him how me met. Think he's a bit of an acid casualty.

Someone needs to tell the people who run Haggle Vinyl that piling up records horizontally is not an inducement to purchase.

They seriously need to slash some prices. I'd go there more if they did.

Yesterday I found a place in Clerkenwell that's sneakily hid under a Sushi bar. It's got lots of Japanese editions of latin/jazz/soul LPs. I've never seen so many OBI strips. Pricey though.

Do you remember the address, or at least the street, gnarly? That sounds like it's up my street, so to speak.

That's Ocean Books on Church St.

I was there on Sunday. Got the Boys of the Lough 2nd album for £1, I regret not buying that "Patrick Cargill Sings" album tho :(

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT??????????????????????

Right, I'm off to Stoke Newington this weekend and it better bloody still be there!

it's a good shop but it's no totem and i sort of prefered that charity shop that used to be down stairs in the old voertex, before they hacked it down and replaced it with an upscale nandos.

rough trade east is brill too

^ ban this maniac, worst shop ever

i like it because it was the only place on/around brick lane i could buy a t-shirt (that didn't have a mecha motif) as opposed to vintage BS and crazy leather

no way! i don't think i've ever managed to spend less than 2 hours in rough trade, it's really well stocked, it's a nice open space, the staff are pretty friendly and obliging if a bit scatty, they sell nice cake and the coffee is okay too, i'm sure it's probably quite good fun to go to instores there though i never have, they let you use nice computers for free, they have clean toilets. i mean i would never attempt to use their mail order service again and of course you can get a lot of things cheaper on the interweb but really...

No, "of course you can get a lot of things cheaper on the interweb" is frankly what it comes down to now. They can't justify charging £15 per CD. Haven't they made enough money out of the Strokes and the Libertines?

Do you remember the address, or at least the street, gnarly? That sounds like it's up my street, so to speak.

It's under a restaurant called 'Life', at the junction of Old St and Goswell Rd.

Someone needs to tell the people who run Haggle Vinyl that piling up records horizontally is not an inducement to purchase.

-- Dingbod Kesterson, Tuesday, 5 August 2008 10:22 (1 hour ago) Link

personally this exactly is what defeats my "of course you can get a lot of things cheaper on the interweb" ennui every time. the joy of... stuff!

truly boggled you could spend 2 hours in rough trade east; cake, internet, TOILETS???, and all that empty wide open space that just makes you wonder what the old rough trade under slam city could have achieved. (sure it's probably got the same stock as it ever did, but idealogically it's a billion miles away.) i have no need for that lifestyle guff. and there's the two coffee @s up the road thank u v much.

talking of vintage bs & crazy leather - that shop more or less opposite absolute vintage, is that nudge records? that's also quite good yeah, though it used to be better.

have bought the odd good bit in the jazz cafe in foyles.

Foyles has some good cheap 2nd hand LPs, actually. It it Ray's Jazz? Think so. Did anyone ever go to Moles Jazz on Kings Cross? I never saw it alive, but I pass it by on the way home. Just sat there decaying, like Reckless in Angel.

Nudge has some great 7"s, but I recall it being quite pricey.

And I also like the carnage at Haggle. They don't seem to mind you creating your own piles to get to what's beneath. It's like a vinyl sandpit.

yeh, y'know, my trips to rough trade are with a sleepy one and a half year old and frankly all the factors i mentioned are what permit me to do this on quietish brick lane saturday mornings , i don't take her to intoxica or berwick st. i take your point though. i would generally go for the no frills record emporium myself, rough trade is just a pleasant enough, accessible place thats pretty well stocked

the one time i went to mole jazz it seemed like the decay had set in long before. kings cross always puts me in a bad mood though, perhaps i'm being harsh.

i always wonder about that classical place on the corner of poland street & great marlborough. it seems an oasis or something or other - how does it get by on that prime real estate?

ooh can this be the thread where we track record shop staff diasporas? last time i saw the bald idiot from bongo's was working in greenwich mve. kish from bongo's seemed to turn up at every night out i went to, for a while. best of all liam, the beardy balding spaced-out fella from rough trade covvy, is now in a band with the chubby latino 12 year old from selectadisc!

the scary looking girl from reckless berwick street was playing in the television personalities last time i looked. doesn't the baldy spaced out fella work in brick lane now? i spoke to some dude who fits that description who i recognised from neals yard last time i was there.

Thanks (xxxxxxx... post)

reviving this since I am heading to London in a few weeks. Looking mainly for post-punk but also dub/reggae lp's. Any recommendations? Staying in Notting Hill. Thx!

Music and Vinyl Exchange is still in Notting Hill, not far from the underground station. Is good for 2nd hand dub/reggae and post-punk, I'd say.

I don't know that I'd recommend anywhere for 2nd hand dub/reggae these days, I just don't know of anywhere with a decent selection which isn't astronomically expensive.

If you feel like embarking upon a heroic odyssey to a bit of London far from your base, try Wanted Music in Beckenham, who are pretty good for reggae and (I seem to recall) post punk also.

You might try Rat in Camberwell if you fancy going less far for a smaller selection but I wouldn't make a special journey if I were you. They often have some unusual bits and bobs though.

If you feel like embarking upon a heroic odyssey

I do, you make it sound so noble....

Thanks!

Totally heroic. I don't know if you know Chicago but the day I decided to go from Andersonville to Beverley's Records in Beverley (116th Street IIRC) using entirely public transport was a great day and provided me with at least one great story, and at least one of my favourite LPs ever.

I'm a former Chicagoan. That's quite a trip. I'm guessing the Western Ave. bus was involved.

Red line as far it went, longish bus journey, bit of a walk... the way back was simplified by a kindly fellow customer taking pity on me and giving me a ride back to the Red Line, all the while explaining to me why I was crazy to have made the trip.