Vinyl Demand, 92a Trafalgar Street
Photo by Debbie Lias
Another great favourite of mine, run with love and verve by Geoff Finch of Brighton Records Fairs fame for a number of years. This one opened up at the start of the 80s and was situated on two floors, with an excellent and fast-changing stock. I bought stacks of LPs here – many of which were real bargains. (I think it later changed its name to ‘Discolator’.)
Vinyl Demand – 46 Sydney Street
I think the Sydney Street shop preceded the one in Trafalgar Street but my memory is curiously blank on this one.
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I can’t recall the Sydney Street Vinyl Demand, though I knew the Trafalgar Street shop well. I was in a band called Venus In Furs in 1983. Our drummer was a builder by trade (the small notice in an edition of the Evening Argus that noted we had cancelled a gig at the Alhambra (now occupied by the Ramada International Hotel) because ‘drummer breaks foot’ was not uncommon!). I once did some labouring work in the basement of Vinyl Demand with our drummer and was paid in both cash and records! Incidently, Geoff’s long-time assistant in the shop, Mark Arscot, was Venus In Furs’ manager (and also worked at or ran Red Rat Records you mention elsewhere). When we recorded a demo tape at a studio in Burgess Hill, we did not have quite enough funds, so Mark, finding the engineer to be a Marc Bolan fan, as was he, paid the balance in records!
I remember it too. I was the drummer, Paul “ludo” Martin, bass and the infamous Shaun Times. What a band, what great days. To all who were around back then, the very best.
I remember this place very well. I bought a few records here. Deep Freeze Mice being one I remember. I also remember very well Venus in Furs. I was at one time a close friend of Stuart Jones and so he introduced me to his twin brothers band. I remember buying the EP Momento Moi and loving it to bits. I am going to have a show on Brighton and Hove Community Radio and I wanted to play the title track but it’s very long. Does anyone have any other recordings that could be played in the future?
Yes indeed, I started this shop ‘Vinyl Demand’ in late ’79 with RikTaub, we were a partnership for about 4 years and then split. I employed Marc Arscott who worked very hard on my behalf and when we moved to Sydney Street – no: 46. We occupied 3 floors jam packed with vinyl. Fabulous days.
I used to go in Vinyl Demand after I moved to Uckfield in 1988. At that time it was upstairs only, and when one got upstairs it wasn’t like a shop at all, more like a stock room. Vinylfinch (Geoff) took a bit of getting used to (though I think I’ve got used to him by now), he had a rather stern manner. I remember that he bought all the old record library from Armed Forces Network radio, I picked up numerous early ska singles at what would now be bargain prices indeed.
Small world really isn’t it! I used to work at the aforementioned Evening Argus and used to deal with Geoff Finch for the shop and visit his Brighton Record Fairs looking for rare items. Geoff was a bloody nice bloke. I can remember buying boxes of stuff from him. It was very handy being situated in Sydney Street a stones throw away from the old Argus building. Prior to working at The Evening Argus, I worked at a place in Wood Way in Goring called Control & Readout and I think that a member of Venus In Furs also worked there.
I remember Vinyl Demand from its early days. Six people in there and it was crowded! I wish I had a time machine to go back and buy some of the vinyl I saw but never purchased. The racks outside the shop held 20p singles and many bargains were found… records I still possess and play. I got tons of great punk, psych, reggae records in there… The Mothers, Velvet Underground, LSD Capitol album, Capt Beefheart 7″s, Bob Dylan…. loads of stuff. One Beefheart 7″ I bought ws £7 – an absolute fortune at the time. You had to go into the shop at least once a week or you’d miss something good. Money was tight back then but fortunately I was working in my 1st job – earning £50 pw in a bank. I gave my mum a tenner a week and spent the rest on records. Years later I ended up working for Geoff for quite a few years – but that as they say is another story.
I was mad on The Who back in the ’80s and used to visit Vinyl Demand on Sydney Street fortnightly, looking for rarities and bargains. Not sure what I got there, if anything. It looks, from the office where I am now sitting, like it’s an art gallery (or Independent Rag, I can’t remember exactly). Anyway, I’ve just got the pun: Vinyl Demand = Final Demand. Brilliant!
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