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The 30 best record shops in London

Expand your music library by browsing new and second-hand vinyl at these brilliant London record shops

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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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London’s best record stores

  • Shopping
  • Music and entertainment
  • Kingston

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.

Flashback Records Islington
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  • Music and entertainment
  • Islington

The stock at Flashback’s oldest store is mostly second-hand and is treated with utmost respect. There are usually a few boxes of bargain basement 12-inches going for pennies outside the front door, but inside, the records are scrupulously organised.

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Atlantis Records, aka Rough Trade owner Geoff Travis’s musical clearing house, is located on the site of what was the Pacific Social Club café on Clarence Road in Hackney, this place exists to sell Travis’s sizeable record collection (including acetates and cassettes). You can expect ‘all styles and genres’, which is quite the promise when you think about it.

Rough Trade East
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  • Music and entertainment
  • Brick Lane

In normal times, the East End addition to the RT stable welcomes live performers of pretty much every persuasion and boasts not only more space and a café, but also – far more importantly – a purpose-built stage, with standing room in front sensibly factored into the planning. Gigs happen early in the evening (usually 7pm) and admission is more often than not free (with a pre-collected wristband) or free with purchase of the new album by whoever’s playing.

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  • Greenwich

After 20 years of trading through a stall at Greenwich Market, Casbah Records upgraded its breezy surroundings to the more permanent confines of a bricks-and-mortar shop. Here the emphasis is placed on edgy girl groups, garage, psych and ’60s soul, but the store also stocks a variety of classic rock, indie and electronica, along with books, DVDs, prints and vintage comics.

Sure, the idea of combining a record store with a fancy wine shop sounds a little snooty, but don’t we all love a bit of snooty sometimes? Columbia Road’s Idle Moments specialises in jazz and experimental music but also boasts a massive and ever-changing range of Japanese imports. Crate-dig for slinky city pop and brain-rattling free jazz, then take home a bottle of something special.

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Started by local Leyton resident Jon Clifford, the aim is for Dreamhouse Records to double as a communal space for musicians in the area. The music will cover all sorts of genres and be a mix of new represses and second-hand fare. Dreamhouse also sells locally roasted coffee from Good Folk and some nice buns from Sunday Bun Day.

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All Ages Records
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  • Music and entertainment
  • Camden Town

As one of the best-known punk and hardcore record stores in London, All Ages attracts a very specific kind of customer. But it’s got a fairly wide range of things dark and heavy, from the ’70s to the present day, so unless you hate guitars you’ll probably find something you’re into.

  • Music
  • Trafalgar Square

Maestro Records, Peckham’s oldest record store founded over 20 years ago, sells an eclectic range of music – from roots reggae to pop, jazz, hip hip and dancehall. It's run by music enthusiast Michael Fountaine, who claims that Maestro is a family affair: many customers come in for a browse with their mums, dads, and siblings.

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This Shepherd’s Bush store is the kind of booze-coffee-and-music hybrid that probably horrifies decrepit purists but thrills everyone else. The three guys who started the shop are mates with entertaining food person What Willy, stock very good wine and have a bit of a focus on electronic music. Oh, and they have outdoor tables

Reckless Records
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  • Music and entertainment
  • Soho

This Soho stalwart sells everything from rare rock vinyl to classic drum ’n’ bass, as well as punk, reggae, jazz and a good range of original Mo’ Wax and Blue Note vinyl. Reckless will buy most kinds of music (including CD box sets, limited editions and DVDs) and will make house calls to check out large collections.

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  • East Finchley

This traditional record shop serves up a range of authentic vintage vinyl, retro tapes, CDs and original memorabilia for music fans to browse through. Priding itself on its non-discriminatory approach, the store's weekly restocks – of over 700 new items – include a wide selection of new and old records, from pop and rock to reggae and dance. It's a wonderful spot for all ages and tastes to shop in, and previous customers include Ray Davies of The Kinks and Jarvis Cocker. Staff are knowledgable, happy to answer questions, and will even serve up tea and coffee if browsing through the vast collection has you plum-tuckered out.

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  • Soho

With its battered leather sofas and egg-shaped chairs, this Soho store almost has a ’70s gangster feel: perfect for housing its pristine selection of relatively deep and edgy club music. 

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Out on the Floor
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  • Music and entertainment
  • Camden Town

This three-level, three-shop operation is a sanctuary for serious record collectors in an area short on decent options. Out on the Floor is in the basement and stocks guitar music – there’s a particularly interesting selection of heavy metal seven-inches and plenty of punk, prog and 1960s and ’70s rock.

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  • Notting Hill

The original branch of Rough Trade offers a pointed contrast to its flashy little sister Rough Trade East: poky and well-stocked, it’s really hardly changed in years.

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  • Music
  • Trafalgar Square

Named after Jim Jarmusch’s 1984 film Stranger Than Paradise, this leftfield record store is hidden away in a converted warehouse home to Mare Street Market. Its owners used to work at Rough Trade East and it focusses on post-rock/indie music, as well as plenty of contemporary British jazz and classics. 

Kristina Records
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  • Music and entertainment
  • Homerton

A bright and airy independent record shop that attracts locals from the Dalston area, as well as crate-diggers from across London. It’s where a discerning selection of new and used vinyl across all genres (including some hard to find gems) meets books and ephemera. Kristina will also buy or exchange single records or collections.

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Sounds That Swing
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  • Music and entertainment
  • Camden Town

A-rockin’ and a-rollin’ just off Camden High Street, Sounds That Swing specialises in rockabilly and blues records – you’ll spot Buddy Holly and Roy Orbison staring from the racks as soon as you enter the shop. There are CDs here, but a quick glance will tell you that the owner is a vinyl enthusiast. Tucked away behind the rock ’n’ roll, there’s also a good collection of female-fronted soul and R&B.

Honest Jon’s
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  • Music and entertainment
  • Portobello Road

This legendary record shop’s owner had the good foresight to lend former hired hand James Lavelle £1,000 to set up Mo’ Wax records in the early 1990s. Prints of old blaxploitation posters crowd the technicolour walls, a sign that jazz, soul, revival reggae and global sounds remain the house specialities.

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  • Kentish Town

Bucking the trend for niche shops to get the hell out of central London, Intoxica! have recently upped sticks from Portobello Road to the West End. They’re stacked with everything from reggae, funk and ’60s beat to exotica and easy listening; there’s also a good range of alternative and new wave from the 1970s to today, a great soundtrack selection and plenty of soul, blues and jazz. And the new premises has plenty of space for instore gigs, too.

‘Amateur and non-amateur music’ is World of Echo’s immensely broad pitch – and that’s exactly what it delivers. This swish Hackney crate shack specialises in rare and one-off releases, from experimental session EPs to esoteric oddities by legendary bands. But there’s a decent share of better-known, commercially-viable stuff, too. Plus, with its very swish, minimal design, World of Echo is simply a lovely place to stop by and break off from the bustle of Columbia Road.

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Soul Brother Records
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  • Music and entertainment
  • Putney

This small funk and soul specialist is just around the corner from East Putney tube station. Leaning towards CDs rather than vinyl, the stock is comprehensive when it comes to funk, soul and especially blues, and the staff are helpful and passionate about the sounds they sell.

  • Music
  • Trafalgar Square

With a slick exterior to match its equally trendy location on Hackney Road, Yo-Yo records specialises in U.S. Originals and Vintage pressings. Here you'll find all sorts of funk, soul, jazz, fusion, Brazilian, Latin, bisco, boogie, rare grooves, Afro and psych music. The store split from Cosmos Records in 2020 and re-opened as an independent on the same location. 

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Lion Vibes
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  • Music and entertainment
  • Brixton

A newish reggae shop for Brixton, Lion Vibes (literally and metaphorically) filled the gap in Brixton Village that was created by the closure of Music Temple. Opened by Matt Downs as a spin-off of his existing Lion Vibes online shop and Jamaican record label, it sells new music and fresh imports as well as vintage Jamaican records. Oh, and Lion Vibes’s stock is strictly vinyl – so don’t come round here looking for that Bob Marley greatest hits CD.

  • Music
  • Trafalgar Square

Supertone Records started out in 1969 as a big, bassy soundsystem, blasting reggae music all over the country. The shop was born in 1984, operating as a reggae specialist, selling soul, soca, calypso, rhythm and blues, roots and Caribbean music. It's now one of the oldest reggae record shops in the UK, and a local hub for the West Indian community.

 

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Started by British metal icon (and former Cathedral frontman) Lee Dorian, Rise Above has long been a record label synonymous with doomy, psychedelic music. You’ll now find its brand-new physical manifestation, Rise Above Records and Relics, on Archway Road in Highgate. As you’d expect it specialises in musty, fuzzy music that will have you saying things like ‘Far out, man’ and ‘Geezer Butler wasn’t happy on Sabbath’s sixth album, and, if you listen carefully enough, you can tell.’

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  • Music and entertainment
  • Soho

Bright and breezy, this stylish store in the heart of Soho has a broad remit: grime and dubstep 12-inches jostle for space alongside new-wave cosmic disco, electro-indie re-rubs and Nigerian music compilations. 

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  • Shoreditch

At the top of Brick Lane, the newest branch of Flashback (after Flashback Islington and Flashback Crouch End) stocks two floors of new and second-hand vinyl, CDs and DVDs – some of it rare, most of it at a pretty decent price. There are listening points to give potential purchases a spin.

  • Music
  • Soho

Jack White (of The White Stripes, The Raconteurs, The Dead Weather, Kool And The Gang etc) has opened his first UK record store with a bright yellow exterior. It sells White’s trademark pressing in obscure, limited-edition vinyl formats, plus a live venue and a ‘record label HQ’. You can also press your own vinyl in-store, and dig to your heart's content. 

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