Record Shops - a misspent youth

Your favourite days out round Leeds
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cnosni
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Post by cnosni »

Clankylad wrote: Boodle Am still sells hippy gear and is still in the same location. I was surprised to see it was so old!Record shops tend to be pretty ephemeral apart from the big chains. I remember a good second hand vinyl shop on New Briggate. Amazing Records, I think it was called. Singles upstairs, albums downstairs. Rare Frank Zappa records and the like up on the wall for £20. And there was also Bostocks in the Merrion Centre, which sold cheap albums. ‘Old Bosty’s’ was where most of my mates got the foundation of their metal collections. I think (although I'm willing to be corrected) that the shop in the Merrion Market was called Gerol's.Virgin also had a shop near the bottom of Briggate. It was where the ‘Free Spirit’ clothes shop is now. In the late 80s it moved up the street to what’s currently Borders. Gerols records is correct.
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oldleedsman
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Post by oldleedsman »

Clankylad wrote: Boodle Am still sells hippy gear and is still in the same location. I was surprised to see it was so old!Record shops tend to be pretty ephemeral apart from the big chains. I remember a good second hand vinyl shop on New Briggate. Amazing Records, I think it was called. Singles upstairs, albums downstairs. Rare Frank Zappa records and the like up on the wall for £20. And there was also Bostocks in the Merrion Centre, which sold cheap albums. ‘Old Bosty’s’ was where most of my mates got the foundation of their metal collections. I think (although I'm willing to be corrected) that the shop in the Merrion Market was called Gerol's.Virgin also had a shop near the bottom of Briggate. It was where the ‘Free Spirit’ clothes shop is now. In the late 80s it moved up the street to what’s currently Borders. Boodleam is not quite in the same place: it's now in County Arcade. Still smells of joss-sticks though.I remember getting quite a few bargains from Bostocks. Was Gerols the one near the Heath Robinson-type flying machine in the Merrion Centre?

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cnosni
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Post by cnosni »

oldleedsman wrote: Clankylad wrote: Boodle Am still sells hippy gear and is still in the same location. I was surprised to see it was so old!Record shops tend to be pretty ephemeral apart from the big chains. I remember a good second hand vinyl shop on New Briggate. Amazing Records, I think it was called. Singles upstairs, albums downstairs. Rare Frank Zappa records and the like up on the wall for £20. And there was also Bostocks in the Merrion Centre, which sold cheap albums. ‘Old Bosty’s’ was where most of my mates got the foundation of their metal collections. I think (although I'm willing to be corrected) that the shop in the Merrion Market was called Gerol's.Virgin also had a shop near the bottom of Briggate. It was where the ‘Free Spirit’ clothes shop is now. In the late 80s it moved up the street to what’s currently Borders. Boodleam is not quite in the same place: it's now in County Arcade. Still smells of joss-sticks though.I remember getting quite a few bargains from Bostocks. Was Gerols the one near the Heath Robinson-type flying machine in the Merrion Centre? Gerols was in the merrion market
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LeeRatbag
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Post by LeeRatbag »

Clankylad wrote: Boodle Am still sells hippy gear and is still in the same location. I was surprised to see it was so old!Record shops tend to be pretty ephemeral apart from the big chains. I remember a good second hand vinyl shop on New Briggate. Amazing Records, I think it was called. Singles upstairs, albums downstairs. Rare Frank Zappa records and the like up on the wall for £20. And there was also Bostocks in the Merrion Centre, which sold cheap albums. ‘Old Bosty’s’ was where most of my mates got the foundation of their metal collections. I think (although I'm willing to be corrected) that the shop in the Merrion Market was called Gerol's.Virgin also had a shop near the bottom of Briggate. It was where the ‘Free Spirit’ clothes shop is now. In the late 80s it moved up the street to what’s currently Borders. Yep, I frequented all of those. Bostocks were fantastic, they had piles of absolute classics for £1-2 a throw. Amazing Records got all sorts of cheap imports, and also did a great range of t-shirts that you couldn't get anywhere else. Gerol's was a bit hit and miss, as is the way with second-hand shops, but sometimes there were some gems to be found in there...

wiggy
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Post by wiggy »

electricaldave wrote: One of the main reasons I used to go into Leeds town centre as a youthful person was to buy record, vinyl and since I wasn't exactly rich, this meant haunting the record shops that sold second hand or ex-juke box, but that didn't stop me going into places like Boots to browse all the lp covers.So here are a couple of my hauntsKennedys at the side of the market - you used to see adverts inside buses for them. They used to be really good for ex-juke box, they must have had the biggest turnover in Leeds as it was always heaving since their prices for new stuff was lower than anyone else's.Scene and Heard - never bought anything from them but there were always lots of trendy scruffy dressed folk in there, so it must have had something going for it. Good for LPs, .Merrion Centre Superstore - It always seemd to be a misnomer, it never seemed 'super' to me, but in the indoor market place there used to be a secondhand record dealer that was great for getting hold of older stuff, and since it was close to my school I used to go in there a lot.There used to be a good few secondhand shops down North St back in the derelict days of the mid 1980's and they were good for a few bargains, but you had to dig through a huge amount of junk, like 'Peters and Lee' LPs and 'The World of the Bachelors' to find it, and it was very often scuffed and without the sleeves, but occasionally something like Eddie Cochrans 'Somethin' else' would turn up - it used to pass an idle afternoon.I know there were loads of other outlets, such as in Vallances, one in Boots when it was in one of the arcades off Lands Lane, I've just maned a few to get started.I wonder how many can recall the Mill Hill shop, wasn't there long but the guy running it would go to loads of trouble to get stuff for you.ha ha! great memories sparkie,i still had a kennedys 7'' paper bag up to a couple of years ago,green and white vertical stripes,with that couple dancing round an old mono record player...i think the bloke had a cravat on!
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Trojan
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Post by Trojan »

cnosni wrote: oldleedsman wrote: Here's a picture of The Batchelors at Vallences in 1964, courtesy of Leodis.As for Scene & Heard. A great shop. As well as lps, I used to get my concert tickets from them. Mott The Hoople at Leeds Town Hall in summer 1972, followed by Deep Purple about 2 weeks later (although I didn't pay for that one - got in using 'pass outs' at the interval). Richie Blackmore playing endless solos (before he became a wizard).... I hate you oldleedsman,you were old enough to see Deep Purple in their Mk2 heyday,i was only born in 66 and didnt get into the Man in Black til 80. My god. I'm old enough to remember the Beatles coming to Leeds Odeon. Not that I could afford to go. We stood on the Headrow with the crowds of screaming girls hoping to catch a glimpse of the Fab Four.You could go into Vallances on Vicar Lane in the sixties and have records played, the assistants but them on a turntable and you went into a cubicle to listen. There was no obligation to buy, but you couldn't do it too often.
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The Parksider
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Post by The Parksider »

oldleedsman wrote: Here's a picture of The Batchelors at Vallences in 1964, courtesy of Leodis.As for Scene & Heard. A great shop. As well as lps, I used to get my concert tickets from them. Mott The Hoople at Leeds Town Hall in summer 1972, followed by Deep Purple about 2 weeks later (although I didn't pay for that one - got in using 'pass outs' at the interval). Richie Blackmore playing endless solos (before he became a wizard).... Mott re-appeared at Leeds Town Hall a year or so later.I saw Sparks ("SMILE RON") at Leeds Town hall too. the acoustics for Rock were awful.Ian Hunter sang of the 96 decibel freaks and i think the council environmental health people had just started up and were pulling plugs on amps.I'm pretty sure it was Mott who were supported by an up and coming group called Queen. the lead singer (who he) towards the end of their set announced they would play one more song, "sun and moon" or something.In the silence of listening someone shouted Gerrofffffffff.Freddie said "not til we have finished"!!!!!Remember "Wally"???

Bramley4woods
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Post by Bramley4woods »

Trojan wrote: cnosni wrote: oldleedsman wrote: Here's a picture of The Batchelors at Vallences in 1964, courtesy of Leodis.As for Scene & Heard. A great shop. As well as lps, I used to get my concert tickets from them. Mott The Hoople at Leeds Town Hall in summer 1972, followed by Deep Purple about 2 weeks later (although I didn't pay for that one - got in using 'pass outs' at the interval). Richie Blackmore playing endless solos (before he became a wizard).... I hate you oldleedsman,you were old enough to see Deep Purple in their Mk2 heyday,i was only born in 66 and didnt get into the Man in Black til 80. My god. I'm old enough to remember the Beatles coming to Leeds Odeon. Not that I could afford to go. We stood on the Headrow with the crowds of screaming girls hoping to catch a glimpse of the Fab Four.You could go into Vallances on Vicar Lane in the sixties and have records played, the assistants but them on a turntable and you went into a cubicle to listen. There was no obligation to buy, but you couldn't do it too often. When she was about 16 yo My wife worked at Panthers Ladies Hairdressers opposite the Odeon. They let her out of work to see the Beatles arrive. And yes at Vallances they did play records for you in listening booths, the downside being that the record you bought as new could have been played by none too expert hands on well worn equipment many times previously.Part of her job was washing NHS wigs supplied to brain surgery patients in an open bucket of petrol (as in petrol station petrol) and hanging them out to dry on the railings out the back of the shop. The railings were over looked by the snooker club, the denizens of which used to shout "inappropriate" remarks as she did it. None of this would be either PC or HSE acceptable nowadays.Having cleaned her wigs she had to box them up, tie them with string, sealing them with sealing wax, and post them back to the patients at the post office 2 doors down. She wasn't allowed any new string, it goes without saying she had to re-use the string on the incoming parcels by untying the knots.Next door one way was Carling and Wright's TV shop. The other was a Wimpy Bar . They had their bread cakes delivered early in the morning and left outside the back door. One Morning she went out to clean her wigs and found scores of dead rats lined up in the back yard. The Council rat catchers had been. The story was that rats in their many thousands used to range up and down Briggate and the Headrow in the middle of the night.I haven't had a "Wimpy" since she told me that.
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Trojan
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Post by Trojan »

[Next door one way was Carling and Wright's TV shop. The other was a Wimpy Bar . They had their bread cakes delivered early in the morning and left outside the back door. One Morning she went out to clean her wigs and found scores of dead rats lined up in the back yard. The Council rat catchers had been. The story was that rats in their many thousands used to range up and down Briggate and the Headrow in the middle of the night.I haven't had a "Wimpy" since she told me that.Well it's said that you're never more than 10ft from a rat, but you seldom see them. That's why I always think the "winter of discontent" photo of a rat on top of a pile of rubbish must have been a set up by the press
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Si
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Post by Si »

My great aunt (born 1901) used to tell a story of when she was walking back home to Armley after a night out in Leeds. The only other person on the street (not sure which one) was a policeman. He stepped into a shop doorway, and told her to do the same. Seconds later, hundreds of rats came running down the street like an army, filling the roadway. The bobby told her it happened most nights. I suppose this would have been about 1920ish?

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