A vinyl lover’s postcode guide. Jazz in Soho, reggae in Brixton, experimental electronics in Hackney, world music on Portobello Road. London has close to fifty working record shops. Here is how to find the right one.
The thing about London’s record shop scene is that it is not organised for your convenience. There is no single street where everything lives anymore. Berwick Street in Soho was once lined with independent shops and most of them have gone, squeezed out by rent increases and the long shadow of streaming. What is left is spread across the city in pockets, and each pocket has its own flavour.
The good news is that what remains is genuinely extraordinary. Whether you are after original Jamaican pressings from the 1960s, recent Berlin techno, rare Ethiopian jazz or the kind of Blue Note originals that require a long sit-down afterwards, there is a shop in London stocking it. You just need to know which postcode to head for.
Jazz, Soul and Global Sounds
Sounds of the Universe
The headquarters of Soul Jazz Records sits in a tile-fronted building on Broadwick Street that has been here since the early 1990s, and it is one of the best record shops in the world for anyone whose tastes reach beyond the Anglophone canon. Owner Stuart Baker started out selling from a market stall in Camden before moving to Soho and building what is now the most comprehensive selection of reggae, dub, Brazilian music, Afrobeat, Ethiopian jazz, Latin sounds and global dance music in the UK. Possibly in Europe.
The basement is where the serious digging happens, full of second-hand jazz rarities and things you did not know you needed until you found them. Touring musicians including Prince and Questlove have been spotted in here. The staff are knowledgeable and will not make you feel foolish for asking questions. Go on a weekday when it is quiet enough to actually browse.
Honest Jon’s
There has been a record shop at this end of Portobello Road since 1974, when a sociology lecturer named John Clare started trading jazz records from a former butcher’s shop on Golborne Road. For two years, a customer who drove a meat lorry paid for his entire record collection in raw beef. The shop is now at 278 Portobello Road and has expanded its range considerably since the butcher era, but the founding instinct has not changed. Honest Jon’s exists to connect you with music you have not heard before.
The range covers folk, blues, reggae, jazz, soul, funk, global electronic music and what the shop describes as outernational music, which is the right word for the kind of records it stocks. The label of the same name, which Damon Albarn has collaborated on, has produced some of the best compilations in recent decades. The staff have genuine expertise and are worth talking to. Come when you have several hours free.
Dance, Electronic and House
Phonica Records
Phonica opened on Poland Street in 2003, which was an act of genuine faith given that vinyl sales were at their lowest point in decades and Dido was outselling everyone. It is now the most important dance music record shop in London and one of the most respected in the world. Four Tet, Floating Points, Caribou and Dixon are among the DJs who come here regularly. Some of them have worked here.
The approach has always been what manager Simon Rigg calls a broad church: rare soul 7-inch singles sitting alongside library soundtrack LPs alongside house and techno 12-inches alongside deep disco. Listening stations let you preview anything before you buy, which is how a record shop should work. Phonica runs in-store events and legendary Record Store Day parties in the basement. It is also one of the few Soho record shops with a proper sense of welcome for people who are new to all of this.
Kristina Records
Kristina started in Dalston in 2011 and has since moved to Well Street in Hackney, where it operates as something between a record shop, a coffee spot and a natural wine bar depending on the time of day. The vinyl selection covers underground and experimental electronic music, ambient, drone, industrial, leftfield disco, avant-garde jazz and the kind of records that serious collectors fly to London specifically to find. There is also menswear, which is an unusual combination but somehow works.
It is a shop with a very particular taste and it does not pretend otherwise. If you like Boomkat, you will like Kristina. The opening hours are slightly unpredictable so check Instagram before you make the journey. When it is busy on a weekend afternoon the atmosphere is one of those rare combinations of serious crate digging and genuine sociability.
Indie, Rock and Everything
Rough Trade East
The original Rough Trade opened on Ladbroke Grove in 1976 and helped define what an independent record shop could be. The East store, inside the Old Truman Brewery just off Brick Lane, is the largest of the three current London branches and the one with the most atmosphere. Designed by David Adjaye, it has an in-house café, a stage at the back for free gigs, and listening stations throughout. The selection runs from punk 7-inches to film soundtracks to new electronic releases to the full canon of indie.
It is a genuinely good place to spend a few hours regardless of whether you buy anything. The gig programme is worth keeping an eye on. Rough Trade has also recently opened a store on Denmark Street, which was named among the best record shops in the world by the Financial Times in early 2025. Both are worth visiting if you are in those parts of the city.
Sister Ray
Named after the Velvet Underground song and opened in 1989, Sister Ray is the last of the great Berwick Street record shops in anything like its original form. At its peak in the 1990s, Berwick Street was the place to shop for vinyl in London, lined with independent shops selling to every taste. Most of them are gone. Sister Ray is still here, on its third address on the same street after successive landlord disagreements, which the shop discusses with cheerful bitterness.
The stock covers new releases, second-hand classics and an unusually deep selection of older drum and bass, rare rock, punk and reggae. The shop keeps most of its best stock in-store rather than selling online, which is a deliberately old-fashioned policy that makes it worth physically visiting. It stocks flexidiscs, football records and the kind of things that do not belong to any obvious category. That is the point.
Flashback Records
Flashback opened its flagship on Essex Road in Islington over twenty years ago and has since expanded to Crouch End and Shoreditch. The Islington store is the original and the best, with new releases and reissues upstairs and a basement that rewards patience. The second-hand selection is broad and genuinely well-organised, with a dedicated section for discounted 12-inch singles that gets restocked regularly and produces finds if you put in the time. There are also turntables in the basement for listening before you buy.
Flashback is the kind of shop where the stock is treated with respect. You will not find records filed carelessly or priced dishonestly. The staff are friendly and know their inventory. Go on a weekday if you can, when the basement is quiet enough to actually dig properly rather than being jostled at the crates.
Reggae, Dub and Ska
Lion Vibes
Lion Vibes began in 1997 as a record stall at Brixton’s art market and is now one of the most respected reggae record shops in the world, with customers who fly in from Europe specifically to dig through the crates. The shop is in Brixton Village, the covered market arcade in Coldharbour Lane, and stocks everything from mento and original Jamaican pressings to current dub and shaka-style steppers releases. The owner runs his own record label and makes regular trips to Jamaica to source new music.
The shop is strictly vinyl. No CDs. On the first Thursday of every month, Selecter Thursday opens up the decks to anyone who wants to play, turning what is already a warm and community-driven space into an even warmer one. If you have any interest in reggae at all, this is your first stop in London. The knowledge in that shop is extraordinary and generously shared.
Supertone Records
Supertone started as a sound system in 1969 and opened as a record shop in August 1984, making it one of the oldest reggae retailers in the country. It is on Acre Lane in Brixton and it has not changed much in forty years, which is the highest possible praise. The stock covers ska, rocksteady, roots, dancehall, soul, soca and Caribbean music in all its forms. The owner Wally B is one of the most knowledgeable people in the London reggae scene and has been since before most of his current customers were born.
This is a shop for people who love the music, not a heritage attraction or a lifestyle store. The crates reward proper digging. Bring time and a willingness to ask questions. The two reggae shops in Brixton, Lion Vibes and Supertone, are each excellent in different ways and both are worth doing on the same afternoon.
Second-hand and Classical
Music and Video Exchange
London’s dedicated classical vinyl scene suffered a real loss when Harold Moores Records on Great Marlborough Street closed a few years ago. It was one of the finest specialist classical shops in the world, with a basement full of wide-band pressings priced in the hundreds, and when it went, it left a gap that has not been fully filled. The people who mourned it are still mourning it.
For second-hand classical vinyl today, the most reliable destination is the Music and Video Exchange at 38 Notting Hill Gate. It is a broad-ranging second-hand shop rather than a specialist, but the classical section upstairs is substantial and constantly turning over as collections come in. Opera, chamber music, symphonies and solo piano all get decent coverage, and the pricing is honest. Check the weekly reductions, which are marked on the sleeves. Come when you have no fixed agenda and are willing to be surprised by what is in the filing that week.
A practical note: many of London’s record shops are small, independently run and in some cases operating irregular hours. Before making a long journey to any of them, check their Instagram or website. Most shops post stock arrivals and any closures there, and the staff tips in the comments sections are often worth reading. One more thing: bring a bag with more room in it than you think you will need. That has never once been a mistake.