Vinyl junkies

“Yah Tarqs, I still buy vinyl.” “Me too Lizzie, I couldn’t stop myself buying a load of Ethiopian esoterica in this delightful back-street shop I know. Quaff.” The UK’s premier colonists, lifestyle parasites and general try-hards have done a list of their favourite record stores. Reaction follows:

Rough Trade London W11. Never used the Notting Hill one. Covent Garden version is still a regular haunt with friendly staff. It also used to take our Culls.
Disque Chapel Market, London N1. Shit! Oceans of jazz-funk noodles, overhelpful staff and records jammed into the racks. Staff must be on commission because they’re the only ones who can find stuff in them. But like so many other stores, good for the peripherals of free publications, flyers and other bits and bobs.
Beano’s Croydon. The big second-hand shop? Never been, but I do know that over the years Croydon’s specialist stores have ably served the tech house and dubstep communities.
Selectadisc Nottingham. Always liked this the times I was in the UK’s Murder Capital. Perfect middle ground between out-there and commercial.
Ray’s Jazz London WC1. The original was good so I’m sure the one in Foyles hasn’t lost all its charm and knowhow.
Sister Ray 94 Berwick Street W1. Enthusiastic purveyor of the techno revolution. Took over the London Selectadisc when it moved up the road. Always friendly staff in the old place and probably my most used shop over the years.
Clerkenwell Music Exmouth Market, London EC1. Shit. CDs only. Unadventurous selection.
Haggle Vinyl Essex Road, London. Successor to the Vinyl Exchanges and Recklesses of this world because, after several years of being deluged with deep house and jungle, those two don’t take your old vinyl for much more than 0.5p each now.
Crash Records 35 The Headrow, Leeds. Isn’t it more dance-oriented? I always preferred the one in the Merrion centre. Over to Corky: “I’ve always found Crash to be a bit useless. Upstairs is full of crappy emo/metal and downstairs is staffed by unhelpful elitist ****s. I like Jumbo because the majority of the staff are friendly and knowledgeable about music – they still put stickers on records with helpful descriptions on them.” Jumbo also took Cull and, more than a decade ago, was always the preferred recipient of student grants/dad’s dough.
3 Beat _5 Slater Street, Liverpool. Scouse hedonism ahoy. But what about Probe?
Stand Out/Minus Zero London W11. It’s in W11 so will surely to be taken over by an estate agent’s soon.
Fopp 19 Union Street, Glasgow. Cheap and cheerful chain, but this is the original.
Piccadilly Records Oldham Street, Manchester. Always a good buzz about this place. In the same mould as Selecta/Sister, but probably a wider selection than either.

Barton may know more than me about the provincial stores, but once again The Guardian has produced a survey enormously pleased with itself. All these stores specialise in some way, so how about being more adventurous, looking out to the margins – old stalwarts like Soul Brother in Putney, Dub Vendor in Clapham Junction, repetitive beat exponents such as Blackmarket and Uptown, roads shops like Rhythm Division or popular new ones such as Phonica. Corky again: “For a national newspaper, an article on the best online record shops would be more useful. I use and endorse SisterRay, Boomkat and Warpmart.”