Record Sleeves - Edinburgh Record Shops

Photos

Photo 1

Mad Hatter - Backtracks
17 Brougham Street, Edinburgh

© Tommy Robertson, Backtrack Music & Games Shop, 17 Brougham Street, Edinburgh

Photo 2

A Bartholomew
21 Elm Row, Edinburgh

© Tommy Robertson, Backtrack Music & Games Shop, 17 Brougham Street, Edinburgh

Photo 3

Nicolson
1 Haddington Place, Edinburgh

© Tommy Robertson, Backtrack Music & Games Shop, 17 Brougham Street, Edinburgh

Photo 4

The Music Specialists
109 Princes Street, Edinburgh

© Gus Coutts, Duddingston, Edinburgh

Photo 5

The Music Specialists
109 Princes Street, Edinburgh

© Gus Coutts, Duddingston, Edinburgh

Photo 6

James Beaton, 'The Gramophone House'
96 Lothian Road, Edinburgh

Photo 7

D C Roberts, 'Wireless and Gramophone Specialists'
91 Lauriston Place, Edinburgh

Photo 8

S Robertson
21, South Bridge, Edinburgh

Recollections
1.	Tommy Robertson Tollcross, Edinburgh	- Brougham Street record shop - Other Edinburgh record shops
2.	Gus Coutts Duddingston, Edinburgh	- 106-109 Princes Street
3.	Winnie Lisowski Dunbar, East Lothian, Scotland	- Methven Simpson - Gordon Simpson - Hot Wax
4.	Winnie Lisowski Dunbar, East Lothian, Scotland	- Hot Wax - The Other Record Shop - GI Records - The Record Exchange
5.	Andrew Gordon Borders, Scotland	- Bandparts - Ard Radio
6.	Robert Laird Longstone, Edinburgh	- Jeffrey's
7.	Winnie Lisowski Dunbar, East Lothian, Scotland	- The Other Record Shop
8.	Phil Wilson Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Scotland	- Jeffrey's - GI Records
9.	Tommy Robertson Tollcross, Edinburgh	- Edinburgh Record Shops - A Bartholomew
10.	Tommy Robertson Tollcross, Edinburgh	- Edinburgh Record Shops - A Bartholomew
11.	Douglas Roberts New Town, Edinburgh	- Specialist Record Stores - mid-1960s
12.	Gordon Davie Abbeyhill, Edinburgh	- 1970s - Bruce's Record Shops - Slogans
13.	Michael Kerr	- 1970s - Bruce's Bags and T Shirts - Bruce's Rose Street Shop - Virgin Records Shop
14.	Jim Suddon	- Record Exchange in Elm Row - Record Exchange, Lawnmarket

Recollections

Tommy Robertson

Tollcross, Edinburgh

Thank you to Tommy Robertson for the comments below about photos 1, 2 and 3 that he sent to me:

Tommy wrote:

Edinburgh Record Shops

Brougham Street

"Alan Raeburn in Tollcross Recollections 4 asks about a record shop in Brougham Street that sold 45s.

I believe there may have been another previously, but Backtracks Music & Games shop 17 Brougham Street opened on 30 October 1989 selling LP records, singles, tapes, etc.

Now, 23 years later, we have added everything musical from instruments to record players, digital TVs and ipods. Here is an internet page about the Backtracks shop.

Other Edinburgh Record Shops

I also have record covers from:

- A Bartholomew Gramophone Record Dealers, 21 Elm Row

- Nicolson, 1 Haddington Place photos attached

- Jenners, Princes Street

Tommy Robertson, Tollcross, Edinburgh: October 23, 2012

The Mad Hatman

The figure in the first photo on this page is 'The Mad Hatman'.

As well as owning Backtracks Music and Games Shop at Tollcross, Tommy runs Mad Hatman Discos.

Peter Stubbs, Edinburgh: September 6, 2013

Recollections

Gus Coutts

Duddingston, Edinburgh

Thank you to Gus Coutts for the comments below about photos 4 and 5 that he sent to me:

Gus wrote:

Edinburgh Record Shops

"These record covers are from Clifton's. Their shop was just to the west of JW Mackie in Princes Street.

Tommy Robertson, Tollcross, Edinburgh: October 23, 2012

106-109 Prince Street

Here is a photo, taken in 2010 showing the shops at 106-109 Princes Street, together with a small table showing who the occupants of the shops had been in 1970 and 1950:

Peter Stubbs: October 30, 2012

Recollections

Winnie Lisowski

Dunbar, East Lothian, Scotland

Thank you to Winnie Lisowski, for writing about several music shops in Edinburgh.

Winnie wrote:

Princes Street

Methven Simpson

"I see that Clifton's record shop was at 109 Princes Street and the proprietrix was Catherine C. Simpson. I wonder if there was any connection with Methven Simpson. **

Between 1953 and 1957, I went for piano lessons at Methven Simpson in Princes Street. My teacher was Mr Alfie Weston.

It was a very large shop. It sold all types of musical instruments on the ground floor and music lessons of all kinds took place upstairs."

** In his recollections of Shops in Central Edinburgh, Bob Sinclair has also written about Methven Simpson. Bob wrote:

Methven Simpson

"Methven Simpson were at No 83. They sold pianos, sheet music and radios, and were well frequented by music lovers.

They were next door to The New Club (at No 85) where my mother did the odd function as a waitress, being sent there by Mackies"

Bob Sinclair, Queensland, Australia: December 10+11, 2009

Stafford Street

Gordon Simpson

There was also Gordon Simpson's shop in Stafford Street which sold loads of instruments. Maybe there was no connection at all but found it fascinating that the Simpsons were all connected with music.

Brougham Street

Hot Wax

"There was a shop in Brougham Street, Tollcross was called 'Hot Wax'.

Perhaps this is the shop that Alan Raeburn was asking about, in 2010. ***

However, I remember 'Hot Wax' as selling only LPs."

*** It was in Tollcross Recollections 4 that Alan wrote:

"Does anyone remember a shop on Brougham Place/Street that used to sell second-hand 45s, where you could sometimes trade-in records that you had bought the previous week for different ones?

I cant remember the name of the shop, but it was an older guy who ran it and he was OK."

Alan Raeburn, Perth, Western Australia, Australia: April 24, 2010

Winnie Lisowski, Dunbar, East Lothian, Scotland: October 31, 2012

Recollections

Winnie Lisowski

Dunbar, East Lothian, Scotland

Thank you to Winnie Lisowski, for writing again:

Winnie wrote:

Hot Wax

"Hot Wax started up in Stockbridge then moved to Dalry Road and eventually to Tollcross but as the shutters were always halfway down. I don't know how long it existed there."

The Other Record Shop

"The Other Record Shop was in St Mary's Street. Graham Ingram ran this shop.

GI Records

"GI Records opened in St Cockburn Street Street in the 1970s.

The Record Exchange

"The Record Exchange in Clerk Street is the oldest shop I recall in Edinburgh.

Winnie Lisowski, Dunbar, East Lothian, Scotland: October 31 + November 3, 2012

Recollections

Phil Wilson

Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Scotland

Phil Wilson added:

Jeffrey's

"Robert Laird's memory in Recollections 6 above is correct. The full name of the shop was Jeffrey's Audio House.

I bought my first single there in 1963, when they cost 6/8 each - 3 for £1.

Major albums usually cost 32/6, although cheaper popular labels were available.

GI Records

"GI Records, run by Gordon Inglis and mentioned by Winnie Lisowski, was later in Raeburn Place, Stockbridge for a while in the 1970s."

Phil Wilson, Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Scotland: November 16, 2012

Recollections

Tommy Robertson

Tollcross, Edinburgh

Thank you to Tommy Robertson for writing again.

Tommy, who wrote Recollections 1 above, added:

Edinburgh Record Shops

21 Elm Row

"I've been looking into the history of record dealers in Edinburgh.

Can anybody tell me anything about A Bartholomew, Gramophone and Radio Dealers? Their shop was at 21 Elm Row many years ago, before my time.

The shop has now become Greggs bakers shop. Perhaps this recent photo will jog a memory."

21 Elm Row

Tommy Robertson, Tollcross, Edinburgh: August 28, 2013

A Bartholomew

Record Shop

I don't know for how long the Bartholomew shop was at 21 Elm Row, but it seems to have been there for quite a while.

The Edinburgh & Leith Post Office Directories show that it was there in 1930 and still there in 1950, but gone by 1960.

Peter Stubbs, Edinburgh: August 28, 2013

Recollections

11.

Douglas Roberts

New Town, Edinburgh

Thank you to Douglas Roberts who wrote:

Specialist Record Stores

The mid-1960s

"In the mid-1960s Edinburgh still had a relatively narrow range of record shops. Bandparts was at the most commercial end of the market, selling ‘chart’ singles and sheet music, whilst the likes of Jeffrey’s (in Bread Street) carried a wider range of choice, with both albums and singles, but still a rather mainstream selection of music. However, two strikingly different shops stood out as targeting a much more niche demand:

- T P Winter and

- Cairn’s Coffee and Record Shop.

US Blues and Soul Singers

"The emergence in the UK (in the early 1960s) of:

- The Beatles

- Stones

- Yardbirds

- Who

and their like had stimulated an interest in those US blues and soul singers and groups that had influenced the UK bands.

T P Winter, a tiny shop at the Easter Road end of Brunswick Road, specialised in the releases of just such artists. It consisted of two small rooms (back and front), selling records by the likes of:

- Howlin’ Wolf

- Bo Diddley

- Sonny boy Williamson, etc,

mainly as singles. At that time, these recordings were just not widely available elsewhere in Edinburgh.

Cairns

"Cairn’s was on a much grander scale, being on two levels, housing a coffee shop, and a downstairs record shop. It was located deep in the university area in Teviot Place, directly opposite the McEwan Hall

Its range of records reflected contemporary developments in both folk music and jazz.

Folk and Folk Blues Singers

The emergence of the likes of:

- Bob Dylan

- Joan Baez

amongst others had led to a revival of interest in folk music.

Consequently, Cairn’s carried a wide range of imported folk blues albums by the likes of:

- Dave Van Ronk

- Mark Spoelstra, etc

on the Folkways label.

As these blues artists were an inspiration to singers of folk music they were more likely to be associated with acoustic blues, compared to the more electric, urban blues artists that
T P Winter sold.

Jazz

"The other dominant genre that Cairn’s carried was jazz. The emergence of the exciting strain of jazz, bebop, in the late 1950s, featuring the likes of:

- Charlie Parker

- Dizzy Gillespie

- Thelonious Monk (among others)

had broadened the appeal of jazz to a wider audience

... and weren’t students meant to be most receptive to new musical forms? The shop's location was not an accident. As with the blues recordings, much of the stock was imported from the US.

The Cairn’s hybrid model was very much akin to The Grail model.
(See 'Cafes and Restaurants, Recollections 42')

The Grail

36 George Street

- The Grail was a bookshop that sold tea, coffee and eats, or was it a tea/coffee shop that sold books?

- Cairn’s was a record shop selling coffee, or was it the other way round?

Either way, the sum was reckoned to exceed the parts. It would be many years before Waterstones revived the Grail model for books – and, to my knowledge, the hybrid record shop has yet to be revived in Edinburgh."

Douglas Roberts, New Town, Edinburgh: September 8, 2014

Recollections

12.

Gordon Davie

Abbeyhill

Thank you to Gordon Davie who wrote:

1970s

Bruce's Record Shop

"I notice that nobody has yet mentioned Bruce’s Record Shop. It used to be in Shandwick Place.

I remember buying some Emerson, Lake & Palmer albums on audio cassette there. That must have been after I started working, so around 1976."

Slogans

"The shop’s slogan was “I Found it at Bruce’s”

The slogan was printed on their carrier bags, which were bright red with black lettering, if my memory is correct.

I once heard of someone who had a T-shirt in the same colours saying “I Found Bruce At It!”

Clearly, the slogan was well-known enough for him to assume that people would get the joke."

Gordon Davie, Abbeyhill, Edinburgh: September 10, 2014

Recollections

13.

Michael Kerr

Thank you to Michael Kerr for following up 'Recollections 12' above with his comments:

Early-1970s

Bruce's Bags and T Shirts

"I also recall :

- 'I found it at Bruce's' bags. They were red and black bags, square LP size and smaller 45rpm size.

- 'I found Bruce at it' T shirts, in similar colours, I think.

Bruce's Rose Street Shop

"Before the shop moved to Shandwick Place, it used to be in small premises in Rose Street in the early 1970s, ,just on the right hand side if you entered Rose Street from Hanover Street, heading west.

I remember listening to David Bowie's newly released 'Hunky Dory' album on Bruce's headphones, inside the shop, so it was probably 1972-1974 at latest.

Virgin Records Shop

There was also a rival record shop that appeared on the scene in tiny premises somewhere near Thistle Street: Virgin Records. They used to be playing their own record label's Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield every time I passed by."

Michael Kerr, Edinburgh: December 1, 2014

Early-1970s

I've checked Wikipedia pages and they tell me that:

- 'Virgin Records Ltd.' was founded by Richard Branson in 1972.

- The original release of 'Tubular Bells' was in 1973

Peter Stubbs, Edinburgh: December 21, 2014

Recollections

14.

Jim Suddon

Thank you to Jim Suddon who wrote:

Record Exchange Shop in Elm Row

"The Record Exchange that used to be in Elm Row is now a chip shop. It was a branch of the Record Exchange of Clerk Street, located South of the New Vic Cinema.

Records were expensive in the 1950s and 1960s."

Record Exchange Shop in Lawnmarket

"There was also another Record Exchange in the Lawnmarket where the Bank of Scotland is now located. The owner of that shop wrote an interesting book about his business in Edinburgh and he also ran a well known Restaurant called ‘The Farmhouse’ in Princes Street. His book is in the Edinburgh Library on George IV Bridge."

Jim Suddon: 24 March 2019