Record Store Day: Vinyl mania at P&C in Harrogate

A music fan started queuing outside a Harrogate shop at 5.40am on Record Store Day at the weekend.

The mystery man was wrapped in a blanket on Saturday morning outside P&C shop, formerly Pomp & Circumstance, in the hope of being first to take advantage of the limited edition vinyl releases on offer.

The shop’s owner, Peter Robinson, hailed the annual celebration of independent, local record shops as the single busiest-ever day for his store.

Peter said: “Record Store Day is always amazing. The queue just kept on growing. When I arrived with my wife Lise and our daughter Laura at about 7.30am it was some way up the road.

“We weren’t due to open until 8am but we gave a free hot drink and croissant served by Lilly’s Cafe to the first 30 people in the queue. The banter was very good-humoured during the wait for us to open.”

In total more than 200 people crowded into Peter’s small shop on Commercial Street which also specialises in classical music and jazz.

Peter said the atmosphere was fantastic all day.

“The place was really buzzing. In my 45 years of selling records, I can honestly say that record collectors are the nicest bunch of people one could hope to meet.”

Before his customers even got int the door, Peter was giving out RSD stock list so that people could choose what they wanted.

This year’s hot releases included Biffy Clyro, The White Stripes, Chvrches, The Sex Pistols while veteran artists such as Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash also sold well.

Peter said: “Most independent record stores like P&C are run by music enthusiasts who are collectors themselves. The owners just as excited about what they sell as their customers.

“Local record shops make a unique contribution to the cultural life of towns and cities across Britain.”

RSD was first launched in the USA in 2007 before being introduced in the UK the following year.

Far from all vinyl fans being grizzled veterans, customers who flocked to P&C on Saturday included teenagers and a little girl with her father, though there was the odd ‘seasoned’ collector, too, Peter admits.

Music fans may like to know on going to press it was only 359 days and nine hours until the next Record Store Day.