SALON NO.117: London's Lost Record Shops

From shellac shops through vinyl dealers to CD megastores and back to vinyl, record shops have played a crucial role in the culture of the city - East End and West End - for over a hundred years.

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East London has always been a major heartland for record buying, from the golden age of the 78rpm disc and the heyday of the 'Top Thirty' 7" single to today's vinyl revival. ALAN DEIN explores this rich musical landscape where market stalls and family businesses became vital communal haunts, and the inspiration for generations of musicians, songwriters, and impresarios.

Alan will chart the remarkable story of Levy's Record Shop from a pitch in Petticoat Lane Market, to becoming the proprietor of major recording studios and one of the UK's leading independent record labels.
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The West End and Soho once boasted the largest concentration of record retailers in the UK - from humble street market stalls to grand department stores with a whole range of specialists in-between.

Many became havens and gathering places for young people and locuses for the city's growing youth culture. LEON PARKER, curator of the British Record Shop Archive, takes us on a tour of some of the legendary, lost, and best-loved shops including Chappells (a department store selling classical/pop and sheet music), Dobells (a specialist in jazz, folk & blues), Lees Record Stall (selling 60's soul) and Maroons (selling Funk, Soul and Reggae).

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ALAN DEIN is an oral historian and radio broadcaster for, among others, the BBC, the British Library, the Museum of London, English Heritage, the Jewish Museum, the Royal Parks, the Guardian, and numerous community-based groups. He has been presenting documentary features for BBC Radio 4 since the mid-1990s, and has received several major radio awards including the Prix Italia, the Prix Europa, and the Sony Radio Academy. He is currently consultant to the exhibition 'Cockney Rebels - Popular Music in Tower Hamlets 1624-2003'

LEON PARKER has been collecting and dealing in music formats since the 1980’s when he started to collect old record shop bags. In 2012 he created the British Record Shop Archive to commemorate those (now totaling 4697) that are gone. In the years since the archive has provided the material for several books on record shops and one on shop bags along with curating several exhibitions.

Our home, , is a unique Grade II listed not for profit, independent arts venue within the only existing unspoilt example of a two-floor, purpose-built stable with public access in London.

Built in 1797 by James Burton. the shell is constructed with London Stocks whilst the interior features a mock cobbled concrete floor and ramps with slats to prevent the horses from slipping. Each floor has five cast iron pillars and several original iron tethering rings.

There will be a small bar to purchase drinks

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

The Horse Hospital, Colonnade, London, United Kingdom