Business as usual on Record Store Day despite ‘politics’ preventing street party

IT WAS business as usual on Record Store Day at Pie & Vinyl as some people queued for more than a day to make that all important purchase.

This was despite the trendy Castle Lane in Southsea not being closed-off for its customary street party that is awash with independent traders, stalls and live music after ‘politics’ got in the way.

Nonetheless, scores of people were dazzled by the array of special edition vinyls on display while others rocked out to live band music playing inside the record shop all afternoon and into the evening.

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Pie and Vinyl owner Steve Courtnell said: ‘It’s the first time in five years we’ve not had the street closure but it has made things less stressful for me to be honest.

‘But it’s all about Record Store Day and we’ve had a lots of people turning up creating a fantastic atmosphere. We had five national touring bands and DJs playing inside the store.

‘Record Store Day is about meeting up with people and having a good time once a year and buying those sought-after records which hopefully leads to people coming back afterwards – helping to keep record shops open.

‘People love to come out for the day and we’ve had people queuing since the morning on Friday. It’s all about suffering to get that much needed record and having that physical attachment you can look back on.’

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Traders in the street told The News it was ‘disappointing’ the street was not closed off for a big carnival style event as in previous years – with them insisting it was down to an application going in too late to the council by the organiser.

But the Pie and Vinyl owner said ‘politics’ put a halt to the street party with some Castle Road traders slow to support the event. ‘Next year we will look to take it on entirely and plan to have the street closed off again,’ Steve said. 

The absence of a street party did not appear to dent the enjoyment of people who attended the store, though. Ria Sweeney, 50, of Baffins, said: ‘I got here at just after 7am and there were already 100 people in front of me. It’s been great though, I managed to get some of the records I wanted such as Fleetwood Mack and Gorillas.’

Record enthusiast Paul Millard, 46, added: ‘It’s been really good – lots of great stuff to buy. It gets better each year. If you go back 20 years Record Store Day was quite a small thing but now it is really big.’