A beloved West Norwood institution – a secondhand book and vinyl shop that is also a bar, built from one man’s 40-year record collection
The Book and Record Bar in West Norwood holds a hundred and seventy reviews and a 4.6 – a strong score on a fair sample – and it is one of the most genuinely lovable and distinctive venues in this whole survey: a secondhand book and vinyl record shop that is also a licensed bar, built from one man’s forty-year record collection, in the old Gipsy Queen pub.
Records, Books, Coffee, Beer
As the chalkboard outside gruffly declares, the Book and Record Bar offers “Records, Books, Coffee, Beer” – and that simple list captures its whole wonderful, unlikely, lovable character. It is, all at once, a secondhand bookshop, a vinyl record shop, a coffee shop and a licensed bar – a genuine hybrid, a haven for slow readers and vinyl-diggers and coffee-drinkers and beer-lovers alike, all under one cosy roof. It is exactly the kind of characterful, independent, one-of-a-kind place that gives a neighbourhood its soul – and it has become, in a little over a decade, a beloved West Norwood institution.
The Record Man
The Book and Record Bar is the creation of one man – Michael Johnson, known locally as “the Record Man,” an avid vinyl collector and music enthusiast who lives in West Norwood. Johnson spent some forty years building up his vast collection of records – thousands upon thousands of them, starting, the story goes, with money from a paper round – and became known as a genuine expert, even contributing to the Rare Record Price Guide. He began selling records at a stall at the local West Norwood Feast market, and his stall proved so popular that he took the plunge and opened his own permanent shop – the Book and Record Bar – in August 2013.
The shop is built, quite literally, on Johnson’s own life-long collection – thousands of carefully curated records spanning every genre, from psychedelic rock and punk to soul, jazz, funk, disco, reggae, house and electronica, alongside a wonderful trove of secondhand books. This is “crate-digging with a difference” – browsing a genuine collector’s life-work, curated with real knowledge and love. It is not the cheapest record shop, but the care, knowledge and quality are real, and collectors have come from as far as Italy and the United States to dig through its rare stock. It is a genuine labour of love – one man’s passion made into a shop.
The social hub
But the Book and Record Bar is far more than a shop. With its licensed bar (beer, wine, cider and spirits) and its coffee machine, it is a genuine social hub – a warm, cosy, welcoming gathering-place for the neighbourhood. It hosts live gigs, DJ nights, monthly soul nights, and “bring your own vinyl” nights where anyone can turn up with three records and DJ their own tracks. It is even home to a radio station – the WNBC, the West Norwood Broadcasting Company, which broadcasts from the shop. DJs of real note have played there, including Dr Alex Paterson of The Orb – unexpected luminaries turning up in this charmingly bookish record shop, well off the beaten track of Soho’s famous vinyl emporiums.
Fittingly, the shop occupies an old pub – the former Gipsy Queen, complete with its glazed-tile exterior and hanging sign – so that its life as a warm, social, licensed gathering-place continues the building’s own long history, in a wonderful new form. The Book and Record Bar is a genuine treasure – a warm, cosy, characterful, one-of-a-kind place, built from one man’s lifelong passion for records and books, and grown into a beloved community hub. It is exactly the kind of independent, characterful, soulful venue that this survey most admires, and its strong score reflects the real love it inspires.
The bar
A strong, beloved venue doing a good 4.6 across a fair sample – a secondhand book and vinyl shop, coffee shop and licensed bar all in one, built from “Record Man” Michael Johnson’s forty-year collection, in the old Gipsy Queen pub.
Verdict
Strong, beloved, and gloriously one-of-a-kind – the Book and Record Bar, offering “Records, Books, Coffee, Beer,” a warm community hub built from one man’s lifelong passion for vinyl and books.
Go to the Book and Record Bar to dig for vinyl, browse the secondhand books, drink good coffee or a beer, and enjoy the warm soul of the name – “Records, Books, Coffee, Beer,” one man’s passion grown into a beloved West Norwood institution.
Alan Nafzger was born in Lubbock, Texas, the son Swiss immigrants. He grew up on a dairy in Windthorst, north central Texas. He earned degrees from Midwestern State University (B.A. 1985) and Texas State University (M.A. 1987). University College Dublin (Ph.D. 1991). Dr. Nafzger has entertained and educated young people in Texas colleges for 37 years. Nafzger is best known for his dark novels and experimental screenwriting. His best know scripts to date are Lenin’s Body, produced in Russia by A-Media and Sea and Sky produced in The Philippines in the Tagalog language. In 1986, Nafzger wrote the iconic feminist western novel, Gina of Quitaque. He currently lives in Holloway, North London. Contact: [email protected]
I’ve read this three times and found something new each time. Properly layered.
An MP said The London Prat was damaging his constituency campaign because voters were reading it and understanding how government actually operates. Apparently understanding was damaging.