EAST OF ENGLAND: A RECORD SHOP SOJOURN
From Suffolk to Yorkshire - via Norfolk and Lincolnshire - your intrepid guide hunts out record shops off the A roads and hidden deep in the flatlands.
Sister Rosetta Tharpe in all her glory circa 1938. She toured the UK in 1964 and blew minds.
As regular readers are well aware, I spent my summer holiday freezing on a Yorkshire campsite and then dodging downpours at Maverick Festival in Suffolk. The English summer, bliss it tis to be alive… Inevitably, my travels find me hoping to check out the local record shops.
In many regions this can be a challenging task – while London and Brighton overflow with brilliant boutiques selling new and used records, cities that once were so central to making British popular music now have few emporiums of note: Birmingham, Sheffield, Manchester, Glasgow, Cardiff, Swansea and Newcastle are not destinations I’d suggest any crate digger travelled to in the hopes of finding the good stuff.
Leaving the cities and things can get even bleaker: Dorset, Devon and Cornwall are a green desert: there’s barely any record shops across the entire south west (below Bristol: the liberal city is OK for such but no match for Brighton). While north of Liverpool (still worth visiting, for record shops and more) there’s a Northern soul shop in Blackpool and the wonderful Action Records in Preston. But even Lancaster, an engaging university city, lacks an independent record shop. Why do I express concern about the closure of traders who dealt in a now archaic medium? Because these often eccentric emporiums served as not simply retailers but community hubs, places where knowledge was shared and friendships built. The loss of such - to be replaced by chain coffee/fast food shacks and charity shops - crushes the high street and impoverishes communities (economically/artistically/spiritually).
I know, most people stopped buying recorded music long ago – more funds for spending on designer labels and stadium gigs, eh? - but a few troglodytes do still take pleasure in finding oldies but goodies. That is, when we’re not riding our penny farthing bicycles or sending telegrams as our favoured means of communication...
So to the east of England. Not a region many people now travel to, yet an interesting territory for the crate digger. For readers who might not share my passion for collecting old records I’ll note that this middle eastern territory also offers Great Yarmouth, long a destination for cheap seaside holidays. And just up the coast there’s Skegness, if you want a truly depressing seaside holiday. Actually, there’s plenty to explore in these largely forgotten lands. Historically, this region is home to cathedrals and castles from a time when England’s wealth was largely generated by wool and, beyond the occasional war, trade across the channel thrived.
‘Thrived’ in the past tense: today this intensely agricultural area feels becalmed, lacking youth and those essential qualities associated with the young: energy, enthusiasm, imagination. Boston, the town that gave its name to the celebrated US metropolis, has a magnificent cathedral symbolising how important this settlement once was but, today, the town centre’s energy flows not around the edifice but a Bulgarian bakery that exists primarily to feed the East European workers who work the surrounding fields.
I notice a number of Balkan Roma socialising in the town’s square: its likely they came here to work before the toxic twins of Nigel & Boris cast their malevolent spell. That this region relies on cheap East European labour - and cases involving the slave labour of these poor people are occasionally reported - yet whose churlish citizens ensured it registered the UK’s highest Brexit vote (then recently elected a Reform MP) made me ponder on how humans often love a liar (and the lie). There are no record shops in Boston – but there is a Poundland and a Savers (and little else).
Coffee, jukebox, records: 45 Vinyl Cafe, York.
If you read my post of a fortnight or so ago (In The Summertime…) you might recall I mentioned that York’s old town is home to a good black music shop, Earwig Records. Earwig reminded me of Bighton’s wonderful Rarekind Records – not quite as fab’ but still offering interesting stock at fair prices – while the 45 Vinyl Cafe (across the river in the new town) is more focused on selling coffee and snacks than records but does have stock (and cheap country LPs: if Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner are in your bargain bin then I’m happy).
Further south, Ipswich and Norwich both have used record shops called Out Of Time. They’re not actually part of a small chain, being owned by different chaps who don’t really seem to know how the two largest cities in this region ended up with the same name. No jokes on retail incest, thanks. The Ipswich shop is run by a very friendly guy who, if you are willing to bend your knees, puts bargain records out on the floor – I once found a Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan LP here. If sightseeing interests you more than finding old Nusrat LPs then Norwich is the more historically intact (and attractive) city.
In the leafy Suffolk town of Framlingham there is a large castle (they put on mock-jousting events in the summer) and Better On Vinyl, a used record shop only open Thurs/Fri/Sat’. I’ve occasionally found interesting things here – once an LP by the late South African exile/jazz saxophonist Dudu Pukwana – but most of the stock is mainstream pop/rock. This time I dug for a while, found nothing, was about to leave and then noted a small pile of 78s. “How much?” I asked. “£5 each” replied the owner.
As demand for 78s is in decline – the generations who treasured them are dying off and there’s not many idiots like me who value shellac – I was sceptical. As I flipped through they all appeared to be post-WW2 mainstream jazz, once so popular (but now ignored). Then I came across Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Marie Knight’s Up Above My Head. Sister Rosetta was a powerhouse singer, songwriter and electric guitarist who lit up gospel, shaped R&B and built a blueprint for primal rock’n’rollers. The 78 is a nice pressing on Brunswick and in excellent condition. As my mum often told me, it pays to be patient.
This is a live performance from the early-1960s of the song I bought in Framlingham – my god, Sister Rosetta is mighty!
While I mentioned Lincolnshire earlier, I didn’t get near the historic city of Lincoln or the coastal resort of Cleethorpes on my recent travels: they’re home to Back To Mono and Howlin’ Jack’s, both recommended stores (note: the latter’s only open Friday – Monday 10 - 2pm). I did, this time, beg driver Tim to make a detour to Spalding, a town I’d never been near before (and unlikely anyone but Lincolnshire locals has heard of).
Here, in a garden centre outside of Spalding, sits Uptown Records, all 25,000 square feet of it. Uptown is vast, its owner having determined to open a warehouse-sized space that is stocked with huge quantities of used LPs and 45s (+some CDs), surely the largest used record shop in the UK (if not Europe).
A corner - one of many - in Uptown Records.
As the A roads from Yorkshire south are packed with lorries and many crossroads, we didn’t reach Uptown until 5.30pm – and the centre closed at 6. Thus I only got to glance at the racks and racks of records on display here. One day I’ll aim to return to spend several hours here (or bring a sleeping bag and camp out). I’ve travelled across continents to hear music so a train from Kings Cross to Peterborough, then changing to one for Spalding, is no great task.
Not too far (as the crow flies) from Spalding rests the best record shop in the East of England – and one of the finest anywhere – in Stamford. Stamford is a town of considerable history and much beauty and the same could be said for Rock On. Ted Carroll first opened Rock On in 1971, initially as a weekend-only stall in Ladbroke Grove selling rare R&B and rockabilly 45s. Demand quickly saw Carroll open another branch in Soho Market stall before both stalls merged and opened in Camden Town.
Here Rock On helped elevate Camden from a decrepit Irish ghetto into the epicentre of British rock (gigs, pubs and record shops): appropriately Rock On features in Take It Or Leave It, the Madness movie. Rock On’s famous clients were legion and they included Shane MacGowan, Lemmy, Lenny Kaye, The Cramps and many others – including Irish rock icon Phil Lynott, who wrote The Rocker about Carroll. Back in the early-1970s Ted’s day job was managing Thin Lizzy, the Irish rock band whose swag outshone all others.
From X-Ray Spex to Elmore James: my Rock On haul!
When Camden property prices went crazy in the mid-1990s, Carroll chose to close Rock On and focus on running Ace Records, the label he had launched in the mid-1970s, initially to reissue rare records of the kind he dealt in – Ace developed into an exceptional label that launched the likes of Motorhead and The 101ers, a pre-Clash Joe Strummer band (Joe bought Vince Taylor’s Brand New Cadillac here when Ted reissued it in 1976), alongside making vast amounts of long deleted soul, funk, Cajun, swamp pop, rockabilly, garage rock and such available.
In 2020 Ted and his Ace partners, Roger Armstrong and Trevor Churchill, decided they wanted to retire so sold Ace’s masters and publishing, generously gifting the business to the label’s employees (who continue to do a great job). Ted then re-opened Rock On in 2022, again as a used record shop – this time it wasn’t in Camden, Soho or Ladbroke Gove, but Stamford in Lincolnshire. This is because Ted now lives in Stamford.
Rock On’s glorious interior: it may be small but, hey, size isn’t everything!
I’d never even heard of Stamford before Rock On reopened here. Tim also has never previously set foot here. Thus we went for a stroll and were stunned by how gorgeous the town centre is. Get this: Stamford’s even more beautiful now Rock On’s opened, this small shop being packed with remarkable records. These range from 50p 45s to very rare psych LPs and collectors’ 45s at high prices. This noted, Carroll is a man who always prices fairly so there are many fine records on offer at reasonable prices. There’s a small selection of CDs – Ace obviously issued thousands of brilliant compilation CDs – and 78s (Ted loves 78s) and cassettes. Ted notes that the resurgence in interest in vinyl means he gets everyone from veteran record collectors to school kids as customers.
“There’s a kind of magic about records, that seems missing somehow, from CDs,” says Carroll. “Records embody so much nostalgia and personality that’s absent from the rather clinical CD. To me records are the ultimate mid-century collectable, especially 7 inch singles. Specialist music or nostalgia is the main driver for most collectors, although many of the younger buyers are attracted to vinyl, because it has become super-hip!”
Rock On’s legendary status means customers have travelled from far and wide to have a dig. “We’ve had visitors from Japan, New Zealand, Canada, US, Ireland, all over Europe and the UK - Southampton to Glasgow. I find our customers are delighted with the wide range of music on offer.”
That most of Rock On’s stock comes from Carroll’s own collection means the quality and range available is exceptional – here I found rare R&B 45s by Little Willie John, Esther Phillips, Irma Thomas and other celebrated figures. Ted didn’t relaunch Rock On because he wanted to profit from the vinyl revival – he’s donating all the money his shop generates to select charities – but because he loves records and record shops and enjoys sharing the magic of music with people. “Given the choice of watching TV or playing golf, I’d much rather be playing records in a record shop,” says Carroll. “I’m never happier than when I’m wheeling and dealing vinyl!”
Did I miss an Eastern record shop you like? Share your favourites! Is there a record shop anywhere else you feel passionate about? Let the readers (and me) know!
ROCK ON, 11.00 - 5.00 every day except Sunday. 4 All Saints Street, Stamford
UPTOWN RECORDS, 10 – 6 every day except Monday. Baytree Garden Centre, High Road, Weston, Spalding
A masterpiece of 20th Century arts: Sister Rosetta Tharpe (and Marie Knight - seemingly her lover for several years) 78 as found in Framlingham.