Some footage of Blackmarket Records in the 90s. I very rarely ventured downstairs - far too intimidating lol (Ray Keith can be seen in this clip).
I went into Notting Hill MVE today for the first time since Covid and found it all a bit heartbreaking. The bargain basement where you used to be able to spend a couple of hours digging is full of charity shop shite and classical, the rock / pop section is a shadow of its former self, literally nothing remotely interesting, and the soul/dance section upstairs is half empty. Some decent stuff but not competitively priced. The whole place felt like it’s waiting to close to be honest, and seems to cater to Portobello tourists not people who are really into music. Sad to see. I guess online and the “boutique” shops, plus more and more competition for fewer good collections explains it. I used go to this shop weekly when I lived in Shepherd’s Bush and those days seem a long time ago 
I used to cycle past it everyday when I was working in Shepherd’s Bush and would spend hours in there on the way home sometimes. It used to be amazing
I got so many amazing records from there and so many cheap punts for a couple of quid. Maybe all the decent records have gone over to the Greenwich branch
I’m nearer to that now will need to check it out
Yeah its not been the same since it moved from the previous location a few doors down. Loved that place.
Its definitely down to the online thing and people maximising their returns by selling stuff themselves. In the old days you could regularly pick up brand new promos in those shops that journalists and DJs had dumped in there.
I used to take all our shops promos that we didn’t want from labels and distributors to notting hill exchange every Friday before inspiration information and just take the tokens never cash. You’d get way more tokens I had literally hundreds and used to get loads of good stuff whenever it cropped up. Notting hill branch was teeming will all manner of different stuff as was the Greenwich branch as I used to live there. All the staff were super knowledgeable sure Sean P used to work in notting hill. Both shops were a great source for collecting for both rare and bog standard vinyl of all genres. To be honest I’m surprised that the notting hill branch is still going as long as it is. That’s a good run. So many good shops finished years ago including ours.
Yes Sean worked there and also Hector. Honestly I wish I hadn’t gone in there today. I don’t think I’d been for a good five years or maybe longer and it just felt like a totally different place. The MVEs in NH, Camden and Soho all spots I found brilliant records for buttons at a time when I earned fuck all. Nothing stays the same I guess.
the one one Goldhawk Rd? I have loads of 12s from there
Were you at Flying when Oli was there? Used to go in a lot, Oli then had an office behind our house for Papa from memory?
I don’t recall ever going there, which is weird, but it may have closed before I moved to Shepherd’s Bush. I know lots of people say it was amazing for cheap soul and disco.
Wow that’s going back. Not far from peckings wasn’t it.
@jolyon this won’t appease you but I found loads of oasis promos in the soho branch of MVE on creation. Columbia and acquiesce 12’s and live forever I recall possibly others I darent look at what they’re going for now as I’ve since sold them on.
Worked with Oli yes. Not for long as he left do focus on his label.
I can’t remember who it was that told me they bought a stack of Arthur Russell World of Echo LPs in the Goldhawk Road one for 10p each!
I seem to have completely missed this thread, but I have a few not mentioned above that some of you may or may not know 
-
Boots The Chemist - my first record / record shop
Woolworths wasn’t the only big chain that sold vinyl, Boots did too, and thats where the 6yr old me was taken when I insisted on getting Ride A White Swan for my birthday. It was on the whole of the 1st floor so I was left there to rummage while mum did her shopping downstairs and I loved it. I remember being fascinated by all the sleeves, starting a lifelong obsession. The cleanest record shop I’ve ever been in. -
Diamond Duel - my first import / double copy
Situated right next to a suburban station, this was one of the most important dance music specialists outside the West End in the early 80s - I know a lot of the big soul jocks shopped there, people came from right across the SE. It introduced me to the idea of paying what seemed like silly money for US imports, my first being Tony Cook’s On The Floor (Rock It) which really hit the wallet as I also had to have 2 copies! Some of you might have bought from Steve who still sells on Discogs.
-
Vinyl Solution Basement - lessons in House
I’d been travelling at the end of the 80s so totally missed acid house, but got properly schooled when I discovered this incredible shop in 1990 when I started a job in Portobello. Phlash worked there part time, but really it was the baby of the incredibly knowledgeable Mark Ravenhill who had this knack of just knowing everyone’s taste. He’d frisbee sealed records at customers (dangerous in this tiny basement), and you’d just put them in your bag, no need to listen - he was always right and many remain my favourites. I’ll never forget the happy hours wasted, hanging out in the sunshine on Portobello, smoking with other customers, as we waited for the import van.
-
Roundabout Records - my first business
I’d bought so many great records at this stall in a covered market in Epsom (Peech Boys, Ex Tras, etc etc) that in a Victor Kiam/Remington-esque fit I swerved uni, borrowed from my parents, and bought the shop! It was basically a disaster - the previous owner knew an Our Price was on its way, and I didn’t do the research. I stretched it out to a couple of years (84-85) by specialising in reggae & punk 7’‘s and dance 12’'s (and mod parkas & flouro disco belts apparently) but it was basically doomed from the off. Lesson learned.
Skeleton has always been a great shop
Just came across this fab pic of breakdancers outside Solar Records in Brixton.
Believe it or not this dance (& a bit of reggae) shop was actually inside Brixton tube station, situated on the right just at the bottom of the steps.
It survived thru into the early 90s, and we always checked what imports they had on our way in to the west end shops.
*Solar featured in a little film about some 80s Brixton soulboys that was on YT but seems to have been taken down. I’d be grateful for a link if anyone can find it.
i was in that one a couple of months ago and i didnt spend long for the same reasons you outline above…