This little record shop punches well above its weight. As well as selling new releases on CD and vinyl, Banquet (an offshoot from the old Beggars Banquet franchise) is at the centre of the Kingston music scene: in the Before Times, its packed acoustic in-store shows and regular gig nights brought big artists to this corner of the London suburbs.
Vinyl is back, baby. After decades in the dumps, records are now even more popular than CDs and are officially the best-selling of all physical music form. Suddenly your parents’ dusty Fleetwood Mac collection in the attic is looking a bit cooler, eh?
London is one of the world’s best cities for crate-digging. Driven by stuff like dazzling vinyl-only editions and massive events like Record Store Day, this city’s independent record shops are thriving. And far from only found in classic music-geek hotspots like Camden, Brixton and Soho, these days stores are flourishing everywhere, with fab ones dotted all the way throughout the capital.
Whatever your music taste, from reggae and hardcore to new wave and hip-hop, there’s a London record shop for you. Here are 30 of our absolute favourites. Get thumbin’ through those discs!
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