digging in london
- Thread starter Lawrence
- Start date
....this could take a while...
OK, good start with the notting hill gate exchange, also in notting hill are Intoxica and Honest jons (both on portobello road, honest jons is a LONG walk down the portobello from the notting hill gate tube but well worth it)
Camden has a few good market stalls and another good exchange shop on camden high street, theres also a good shop just off camden high street that sells some good 45s but i forget the name (london strutters help!)
Oxford Street area- has berwick street and poland street coming off it, has revival records (previously wreckless), sounds of the universe (soul jazz's store) another MVE exchange shop, vinyl junkies (can be good selection but kinda always on an overpricing tip)
Islington & Angel- haggle is a good place but the owner is crazy as F*ck, theres also flashback in that area which is good but some of their wall pieces get overpriced.
Theres much more but these are the places i aim to hit if i've only got a day in london, if you're really short on time i'd say just aim for the trade stores, you can find some gold in there for next to nothing.
OK, good start with the notting hill gate exchange, also in notting hill are Intoxica and Honest jons (both on portobello road, honest jons is a LONG walk down the portobello from the notting hill gate tube but well worth it)
Camden has a few good market stalls and another good exchange shop on camden high street, theres also a good shop just off camden high street that sells some good 45s but i forget the name (london strutters help!)
Oxford Street area- has berwick street and poland street coming off it, has revival records (previously wreckless), sounds of the universe (soul jazz's store) another MVE exchange shop, vinyl junkies (can be good selection but kinda always on an overpricing tip)
Islington & Angel- haggle is a good place but the owner is crazy as F*ck, theres also flashback in that area which is good but some of their wall pieces get overpriced.
Theres much more but these are the places i aim to hit if i've only got a day in london, if you're really short on time i'd say just aim for the trade stores, you can find some gold in there for next to nothing.
this thread has been done before- check the search function
when i go to london, i only bother checking the record and tape exchanges on notting hill and in camden town because everything else is pretty much a giant waste of time and energy.
portebello road is very nice and close to notting hill so def. go down that way but the record shops there are just ridiculous for price. intoxica has a great selection but prices are more than double the ebay high end prices (he was trying to sell herbie mann records for more than 60 dollars american). honest john's also has awful prices and an extensive but completely bland selection.
for that matter the shops on berwick in soho have really dried up in the past little while. there used to be 6-8 decent record shops on that street and maybe there are 3 left. sounds of the universe is great if you like re-issues and stupidly over-priced common jazz and funk.
there are so many great things to do in london, i highly recommend you don;t spend too much of your time shuttling around from one record shop to the next...
when i go to london, i only bother checking the record and tape exchanges on notting hill and in camden town because everything else is pretty much a giant waste of time and energy.
portebello road is very nice and close to notting hill so def. go down that way but the record shops there are just ridiculous for price. intoxica has a great selection but prices are more than double the ebay high end prices (he was trying to sell herbie mann records for more than 60 dollars american). honest john's also has awful prices and an extensive but completely bland selection.
for that matter the shops on berwick in soho have really dried up in the past little while. there used to be 6-8 decent record shops on that street and maybe there are 3 left. sounds of the universe is great if you like re-issues and stupidly over-priced common jazz and funk.
there are so many great things to do in london, i highly recommend you don;t spend too much of your time shuttling around from one record shop to the next...
I moved out of London in 2001 but even then the pickings were slim. Try and seek out Gerald Jazzman's stall in Camden Market. Prices are on the high side but his selection is second to none. My boys there often come up with bargains in the RTEs so they are definitely worth a look.
However almost everyone agrees London is but a shadow of its former self these days with regards to records...
However almost everyone agrees London is but a shadow of its former self these days with regards to records...
gerald's stall no longer exists i think- hes only online now. London is still good for the records but i was never there in its "heyday" so cant compare.
Intoxica is crazily overpriced- i said before on here that the record that shocked me the most in there was a mandrake som- sombossa being sold for ??120- double/triple the ebay price, but some hipster probably picked it up, such is what happens in a place like london. I dont know what you mean by honest jons pricing tho, i picked up my lyman woodard reissue from them for cheaper than wax poetics themselves were selling it for!! but i agree, selection is not the best but it is a small shop. SOTU- yes only for reissues, are on a crazy overpricing trip for common stuff but they still turn up some
but just less frequently, on the whole berwick street area is somewhere you can pick over in half an hour. i would also recommend just hittin up the trade stores (check PMs lawrence) if you're short on time but with some more time on your hands, you can still come away with some dope stuff in london.
Intoxica is crazily overpriced- i said before on here that the record that shocked me the most in there was a mandrake som- sombossa being sold for ??120- double/triple the ebay price, but some hipster probably picked it up, such is what happens in a place like london. I dont know what you mean by honest jons pricing tho, i picked up my lyman woodard reissue from them for cheaper than wax poetics themselves were selling it for!! but i agree, selection is not the best but it is a small shop. SOTU- yes only for reissues, are on a crazy overpricing trip for common stuff but they still turn up some
I guess Gerald is just running by appointment from his warehouse now then. I used to enjoy Sunday trips to Camden Market and Gerald's stall too.
do not bother looking for records in london.
if you can't resist a browse, hit up portobello road on market day and quickly do intoxica, honest jon's, and the og rough trade (off on some side street).
intoxica is well edited but he must own the building because it's basically a museum.
oddly enough when i was working in notting hill in '97 i encountered a record buyer who flew in from detroit to stock up. crazy what the currency rate exchange was back then!
if you can't resist a browse, hit up portobello road on market day and quickly do intoxica, honest jon's, and the og rough trade (off on some side street).
intoxica is well edited but he must own the building because it's basically a museum.
oddly enough when i was working in notting hill in '97 i encountered a record buyer who flew in from detroit to stock up. crazy what the currency rate exchange was back then!
ahhhh you're overreacting but still sort of right
what i meant is if you're visiting for a few days then don't waste time in an amazing city just to find shit like bob marley kaya ??30 or herbie mann for ??50.
my point was only directed at the tourists.
yeah i do that sometimes...sorry. what you said is a valid point, it is an amazing city but you've gotta be in it for the long run to start getting good finds, the ??50 herbie mann's are there for the hipsters/tourists, any self respecting digger will know to avoid this kind of stuff, especially at london prices.
Haha, fishmongerfunk, I remember your UK digging rants from about 1-2 years ago. DJ Sheep was shitting on UK digging too as I recall. I wish I could find that thread. You still live there or are you back in (more plentiful, reasonably priced) US territory?
Seems that it's a bit more difficult to find good (and affordable) records in the UK compared to other countries. At least that's what I'm hearing from several people (not just on Soul Strut). This was the impression I got too when I was there, but that was many years ago, so I wouldn't really know.
I dont think it's that bad here - i've been living in London for almost a year and have found some good stuff, in the last week I've found Jorge Ben - Negro E lindo, the Wille D soundtrack and that Reuben Wilson LP with got to get your own all for under a tenner.
At the same time I've seen mental pricing - ??125 for that Ensemble Al Salaam LP was crazy - that was at intoxica though.
You just have to know where to look!
At the same time I've seen mental pricing - ??125 for that Ensemble Al Salaam LP was crazy - that was at intoxica though.
You just have to know where to look!
[quote just off camden high street that sells some good 45s but i forget the name (london strutters help!)
Thats the spot on Inverness St right? I scored a nice Egyptian jazz 45 for a few pounds in there... plus a few nice soul things (Sweet Charles etc) for a fiver each... there are no dollar bin / 50 pence come ups in London though.
Have always ended up getting atleast one nice record from Sounds Of The Universe... and their reish back catalogue is great.
I lived in London for a few years from 98-03 and always reckon the best spot to pick up the good stuff (though not cheap by any means) is the Kilburm Record Fair (http://www.dtrecords.co.uk/fair.htm)... some of the bigger dealers (Nick The Record etc) would be there and you'd be going up against Gilles Peterson, Norman Jay and the guys from 4Hero etc - invariably the dealers put a whole swag of stuff aside for them and everyone else got to pick through the left overs.
There are also some tiny little stores way the hell up in north London... passed them as we drove back into town last year and didn't get the chance to stop... I know some big dub, reggae collections chnage hands up that way.
Thats the spot on Inverness St right? I scored a nice Egyptian jazz 45 for a few pounds in there... plus a few nice soul things (Sweet Charles etc) for a fiver each... there are no dollar bin / 50 pence come ups in London though.
Have always ended up getting atleast one nice record from Sounds Of The Universe... and their reish back catalogue is great.
I lived in London for a few years from 98-03 and always reckon the best spot to pick up the good stuff (though not cheap by any means) is the Kilburm Record Fair (http://www.dtrecords.co.uk/fair.htm)... some of the bigger dealers (Nick The Record etc) would be there and you'd be going up against Gilles Peterson, Norman Jay and the guys from 4Hero etc - invariably the dealers put a whole swag of stuff aside for them and everyone else got to pick through the left overs.
There are also some tiny little stores way the hell up in north London... passed them as we drove back into town last year and didn't get the chance to stop... I know some big dub, reggae collections chnage hands up that way.
There's bound to be a London guide in here that may have some overlooked spots:
http://www.verygoodplus.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=18
(You have to be a member to view that part of the site)
http://www.verygoodplus.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=18
(You have to be a member to view that part of the site)
Lewisham. World's most accurately named shop.
Run by 70s drug casualty intent on playing Graham Parker records at full volume to cynical diggers. Records randomly placed, covered with dust, packed tightly. All genres. Musty stale piss stench everywhere. Many crates on the floor; some under the racks. No room to swing a cat. Best score: Ray Munnings 'Funky Nassau' 12 for two quid. Was heavenly. Now closed. WMIC.
Run by 70s drug casualty intent on playing Graham Parker records at full volume to cynical diggers. Records randomly placed, covered with dust, packed tightly. All genres. Musty stale piss stench everywhere. Many crates on the floor; some under the racks. No room to swing a cat. Best score: Ray Munnings 'Funky Nassau' 12 for two quid. Was heavenly. Now closed. WMIC.
Haha, fishmongerfunk, I remember your UK digging rants from about 1-2 years ago. DJ Sheep was shitting on UK digging too as I recall. I wish I could find that thread. You still live there or are you back in (more plentiful, reasonably priced) US territory?
i have been back in north america for a minute now and have rediscovered my love of digging because here i can actually find good things that i want for decent prices on the regular.
the only thing worse than spending hours and hours of turning absolutely nothing is finding records that you really want that are obscenely priced. i'm with sheep- uk is just fucked for digging, unfortunately.
its not that one can never ever find a good record at a fair or even cheap price, it is that this happens so damn rarely. the amount of effort and hustling a person has to put in to find good records is totally out of proportion to make it worthwhile.
that must have been a trade store find, but nonetheless its a dope find- is it by any chance a spare?
anyway, i like the digging here, but the consensus that there are many overpriced rubbish stores is slightly true, but very exaggerated.
that must have been a trade store find, but nonetheless its a dope find- is it by any chance a spare?
anyway, i like the digging here, but the consensus that there are many overpriced rubbish stores is slightly true, but very exaggerated.
Yea it came from the music and video exchange in Notting Hill - not a trade unfortunately - it's one of the best albums i've picked up over here. You planning on going to the vip record fair this weekend? I got some cool stuff at the one in November, but it was off international dealers mainly.
