Does anyone else remember a great little record shop on Christmas Steps in Bristol?  Went there a few times around 1971 or 72.  I'm pretty sure it was run by an elderly couple and it was really unusual because they had a lot of deleted stuff but it was all stored behind the counter in brown cardboard boxes; one for each label.  So you basically had to ask, what have you got on Cameo Parkway?  Anything on Oriole or Stateside?  They would rummage around and produce the goodies (if you were lucky).  It was all 50 pence. My Brother-in-law cleared out a lot of good stuff from there including  quite a bit of Motown on Oriole, and an Eddie Holland Jamie, but I still have a few things I snaffled to this day, nothing really rare but lovely to get in mint condition - things like the Jaynetts Sally go round and Dee Dee Sharp Do the Bird.

 

Never heard anyone mention it - was it completely off the radar, or did I dream it?

Edited February 16, 201510 yr by Dayo

was a shop similar on picton street on the outskirts of st pauls..closed in the late 90s but was run by an old couple and they had a written details on cards of everything they sold and had in stock..got a mention in neil rushtons book soul stories,cant remember who but the first play of Frankie and johnny at yate was bought there apparently

 

all before my time down here I just caught the end of the picton st shop and bought lots of reggae but nothing rare..john stapleton would know more as he was here in the late 70s

Dean

 

Saying Picton Street was ran by an old couple makes me feel bloody ancient. I was in there for 2/3 times a week from 1970 til the early 80's. Ray, the younger of the 2 was about 30 when I first went. I went mainly for contemporary stuff, but a collector called John Gough, who I never met, had a box of recent stuff (US and UK) that he must have got fed up with quickly at 40p each. This was how I got my pink Carstairs.

I used to get around to a dozen or so junk shops in Bristol that always had boxes of records but I never knew about the one on Christmas Steps, famous for it's Joke Shop.

One record shop on Gloucester Rd, Disc 'N Tape, had a box on the counter full of current UK demos for 40p. I always assumed they were left by a Rep. I got half the Grapevine singles on demo and a lot of Motown, including "Rode by the Place" Green Demo.

Was I the only one doing this at the time?

 

John

was a shop similar on picton street on the outskirts of st pauls..closed in the late 90s but was run by an old couple and they had a written details on cards of everything they sold and had in stock..got a mention in neil rushtons book soul stories,cant remember who but the first play of Frankie and johnny at yate was bought there apparently

 

all before my time down here I just caught the end of the picton st shop and bought lots of reggae but nothing rare..john stapleton would know more as he was here in the late 70s

 

I remember that shop well and would frequently visit, albeit mostly unsuccessfully as I'd be left with scraps after the big collectors/etc. had gotten first dibs!

 

 

 

Mike, a bit off topic but I saw an advert you placed in Black Music, think it was August 1975, came across it the other night!

Mike, a bit off topic but I saw an advert you placed in Black Music, think it was August 1975, came across it the other night!

Hi Pete, Haven't got any of my old mags/fanzines anymore sadly, but guess it was requesting certain vinyl, applicable at the time????

Kind Regards

Mike Wilks

Hi Pete, Haven't got any of my old mags/fanzines anymore sadly, but guess it was requesting certain vinyl, applicable at the time????

Kind Regards

Mike Wilks

 

Yeah it was mate, I'll try and find it again, found one from Mick Smith selling soul packs as well, 1974

Dean

 

Saying Picton Street was ran by an old couple makes me feel bloody ancient. I was in there for 2/3 times a week from 1970 til the early 80's. Ray, the younger of the 2 was about 30 when I first went. I went mainly for contemporary stuff, but a collector called John Gough, who I never met, had a box of recent stuff (US and UK) that he must have got fed up with quickly at 40p each. This was how I got my pink Carstairs.

 

Different shop, I think.

 

RCA on Picton Street never sold second hand records, only new stuff, so not sure how John Gough (who's still collecting and DJing here, by the way) could have been selling his records there. I'll ask him next time I see him!

 

They would never have had the Carstairs 45 as they only sold UK releases.

Edited February 18, 201510 yr by john s

 

 

All their stock was there from week of release - Mr. Pugh never had a sale, which is why the killer records were still there, you just had to know what to ask for. I didn't discover it until the 80s, so I picked up funk records - Jackson Sisters, JBs, Equals, Lyn Collins and so on - plus odd bits of 60s soul, ska, reggae and mod that had somehow been left behind. Then a mate went in after me and cleaned out the progressive rock labels - Deram, Harvest, Vertigo, Neon, Nepentha....

Different shop, I think.

 

RCA on Picton Street never sold second hand records, only new stuff, so not sure how John Gough (who's still collecting and DJing here, by the way) could have been selling his records there. I'll ask him next time I see him!

 

They would never have had the Carstairs 45 as they only sold UK releases.

John

 

Definitely the same shop. John Gough had a box left on the counter, 40p a pop, the shop sold them on his behalf.

 

Although memory fades after 40 years I,m sure thats where I got The Carstairs. All John Gough's records had his initials on in a fancy scroll.

 

John

Thanks for the replies.

 

That shop on Picton Street sounds amazing - similar in many ways to the one of Christmas steps I mentioned.  Actually we had originally gone there to visit the joke shop! They had loads of mint British issues but you couldn't browse - had to know what you wanted and ask, they were all stored in those old brown cardboard boxes that held 25 singles in each.

 

Had one or two little hits in the junk shops on Gloucester Road too.  A mint UK demo of Rufus Lumley for 10 pence was one highlight.  Also found a very knackered copy of Landy's Dr Good Soul on Moonshot - how the heck did THAT get there?!  It's odd I can't remember things I did last week, but finding odd records in very ofdd locations 40 years ago?  No problem!

If anyone was, like me, intrigued with the name "Christmas Step, s".

One of my regulars in my shop (a rock'n'roll collector) told me that he used to go in the Picton Street shop in the late 60s, buying the rare London and Brunswick 45s that were still in stock. Mr. Pugh, whose shop it was, originally opened in the mid-50s.

 

In 1977, he decided to switch exclusively to stocking reggae, which he did until he closed up about 10 years ago, stocking all the new 12"s every week - but the 'old stuff' was still there if you knew how to ask. 

Quote

Never heard anyone mention it - was it completely off the radar, or did I dream it?

Your dream is true

8 hours ago, BRSA said:

Your dream is true

well done...8 yrs later, but gets there in the end...gotta love this (site) ...is that a pic of an old bag you've come across? or is it from the web?...

Pete widdison is the man to ask,  he had the Bristol shops sewn up back in the 70's

It was sent to me at my archive.  Am hoping to get the full street number.

40 minutes ago, BRSA said:

It was sent to me at my archive.  Am hoping to get the full street number.

...found this, from How Britain Got the Blues: The Transmission and Reception of American Blues by Roberta Freund Schwartz on the web may be more info in the Dave Hibberd Book?

Excellent I shall add this.. Thank you.