Lost record shops

[Roger Webb]

A question for French Frank & Roger - triggered by Bristol HMV memories.
In the mid 1980s, was there a (classical) music shop on the Christmas Steps in Bristol? As a student, I think I bought tapes there...

That was my first shop!...called Pastoral Music, in 1992 I moved to Broad St (next to the Grand Hotel) and changed the name to Bristol Classical Discs......I think FF knew BCD not Pastoral Music.

[french frank]

I think FF knew BCD not Pastoral Music.

I knew Colston Classics when Nick W was there c. 1980. It was actually at the top of Christmas Steps in Colston Street. Not sure where Pastoral Music started.

[Roger Webb]

I knew Colston Classics when Nick W was there c. 1980. It was actually at the top of Christmas Steps in Colston Street. Not sure where Pastoral Music started.

Ah, yes, I worked, firstly for, and then with Nick W, and yes Colston Classics was next to the Post Office in Colston St. I then moved just round the corner to Christmas Steps (first shop on the right, opposite Trevor Jones brass instrument shop and next to violin bow maker John Stagg) and that was Pastoral Music.

[Pulcinella]

Ah, yes, I worked, firstly for, and then with Nick W, and yes Colston Classics was next to the Post Office in Colston St. I then moved just round the corner to Christmas Steps (first shop on the right, opposite Trevor Jones brass instrument shop and next to violin bow maker John Stagg) and that was Pastoral Music.

I lived in Bristol Summer 1987 to Christmas 1989 and remember both establishments, so the transition must have been during that time.
I don't remember the PO but I do remember the brewery tap nearby (next door on the other side?).
I also remember suggesting offering an ironing service at Pastoral Music, with me sitting in the window ironing merrily away listening to music, and customers dropping off their shirts in the morning as they trotted down the steps and collecting them in the evening on their way home. I don't think it would have paid the bills, though!

[Roger Webb]

I also remember suggesting offering an ironing service at Pastoral Music, with me sitting in the window ironing merrily away listening to music, and customers dropping off their shirts in the morning as they trotted down the steps and collecting them in the evening on their way home.

We could have called it 'The Pressing Plant'!

[vinteuil]

.

... they'm all here - the Bristowl mafial

[AuntDaisy]

That was my first shop!...called Pastoral Music, in 1992 I moved to Broad St (next to the Grand Hotel) and changed the name to Bristol Classical Discs......I think FF knew BCD not Pastoral Music.

It's a small world - but Bristol is clearly at the centre.

Finally found the Nicol Williamson "The Hobbit" tapes - fairly certain I bought them on the Christmas Steps.
Do you recognise this receipt from 1986?

[Roger Webb]

It's a small world - but Bristol is clearly at the centre.

Finally found the Nicol Williamson "The Hobbit" tapes - fairly certain I bought them on the Christmas Steps.
Do you recognise this receipt from 1986?

No, as Pulcinella says above I would have moved to Christmas Steps in '87 and you didn't buy it in Colston Classics as we didn't have a mechanical/electric till.....just a biscuit tin under the counter - when we had a robbery the loss adjuster asked how we would improve security,
quick as a flash Nick said we'd put an Lp sleeve over the biscuit tin!

That colour price sticker looks like one from Rayner's in Park St....did £8.99 seem expensive?...if yes, it must have been Rayner's...

This is like Fake or Fortune when they examine the verso of an old master!

[AuntDaisy]

No, as Pulcinella says above I would have moved to Christmas Steps in '87 and you didn't buy it in Colston Classics as we didn't have a mechanical/electric till.....just a biscuit tin under the counter - when we had a robbery the loss adjuster asked how we would improve security,
quick as a flash Nick said we'd put an Lp sleeve over the biscuit tin!

That colour price sticker looks like one from Rayner's in Park St....did £8.99 seem expensive?...if yes, it must have been Rayner's...

My dodgy memory!!! Not horrendously expensive, it was a 3 tape box-set (I never got in to records).
I vaguely remember Rayners. Wish we had some photos of 1980s Bristol music shops, it would help...

I loved your biscuit tin story & Pulcinella's ironing . Did you and Pulcinella know each other back then?

[Pulcinella]

My dodgy memory!!! Not horrendously expensive, it was a 3 tape box-set (I never got in to records).
I vaguely remember Rayners. Wish we had some photos of 1980s Bristol music shops, it would help...

I loved your biscuit tin story & Pulcinella's ironing . Did you and Pulcinella know each other back then?

I spent some time working at the Institute of Physics Publishing division (offices right next to St Mary Redcliffe) and got to know both Nick and Roger while there. My partner and I used to occasionally help out in the shop, allowing Roger (and Barbara) to have some well deserved time off. I might have been introduced to my first pint jug of moules during that period too.

[Roger Webb]

My dodgy memory!!! Not horrendously expensive, it was a 3 tape box-set (I never got in to records).
I vaguely remember Rayners. Wish we had some photos of 1980s Bristol music shops, it would help...

I loved your biscuit tin story & Pulcinella's ironing . Did you and Pulcinella know each other back then?

Pulcinella worked in (in fact he helped me move into) Pastoral Music...he usually was payed in CDs!....and a pint or two in 'The Brewery Tap'!

[Retune]

Somewhat germane: I was in town this morning and happened to spot an HMV shop so I thought I would investigate. Probably due to the download explosion that the very large ground floor (of two) was mainly full of T-shirts ("I'm 99% certain I don't care"), rucksacks and posters.

Upstairs there was a microscopic corner which had a 'Classical' notice above it. On inspection it contained a(n un)healthy proportion of celebrity-named compartments (Katherine Kenkins, André Rieu, Andrea Bocelli (nec dubito alios quos non cognovi) with a few for named composers. Having checked the tracks, I picked up the two CDs and name card for someone called Carla Paoli and deposited them between Elaine Paige and Gene Pitny in Easy Listening. As an exercise in futility it somehow seemed emblematic of the scale of the task now facing the arts.

It's a similar story at the recently reopened 363 Oxford St branch, the original HMV store. I wonder what Elgar, who opened it in 1921, would have thought? If there's any shop in the country where a proper dedicated classical section might actually thrive, it's here. The basement in the former flagship store at 150 Oxford St is much missed. Even the Virgin Megastore further up Oxford St and Tower Records at Piccadilly Circus used to have reasonable stocks. Today, I'm not aware of anywhere in London with a better selection of CDs than Foyles on the Charing Cross Rd. Or, for that matter, anywhere else in central London with a decent selection of new classical CDs at all (the sheet music shops usually carry a few, and you can still find secondhand discs at Music & Video Exchange). I suppose nearly all classical CDs in the UK must now be sold by (or via) Amazon, Ebay, Presto and Europadisc. It's hardly surprising that discs go out of print so quickly, with little opportunity for national distribution.

[vinteuil]

.
... yep, sad. I haven't bought a CD in a proper shop here for many many years - and yet earlier in my life it was a regular delight, both in the big and small London shops and further afield. I still buy a fair amount : but it's usually presto, amazon, or amazon sellers - and occasional lucky calls in charity shops.

.

[Petrushka]

Pulcinella worked in (in fact he helped me move into) Pastoral Music...he usually was payed in CDs!....and a pint or two in 'The Brewery Tap'!

I had a six month stay working in Bristol over the winter of 1988/9 and, as it was on route from office to flat, I used to pop into a CD shop in Park Street. Trouble is I've completely forgotten the name of the shop...

[Roger Webb]

I had a six month stay working in Bristol over the winter of 1988/9 and, as it was on route from office to flat, I used to pop into a CD shop in Park Street. Trouble is I've completely forgotten the name of the shop...

Rayner's (see above).....I even bought LPs there myself before I opened my own shop, and at Bristol Wireless in Queen's Rd...both shops had the advantage of being either above or below the main university building....so separating students from their grants was reasonably easy!