Alibaba Records
Before I discovered Crown Records I would occasionally venture into the scarey basement shops of Alibaba Records and Marina Records in South Road, Waterloo, although they were often frequented by 'smellies. Comment-Touchline Dad.
(Nov 29, 2013) Mike Brady said:I worked in the South Road shop over the summer of 79 before I went off to University. We used to walk down from school in the lunchtime and loiter around; I kept it up in the early part of the summer until Mike Hemmings (? - I think he ended up as House Manager or similar at the Everyman but that was about 10 years ago)offered me a job for four days a week (strangely, not on a Saturday). I can't remember the name of the shop manager now, but I remember Helen, who would have been a year or two older than me, tasked with running stock to Walton or Smithdown Road in her yellow Renault 5 (I can remember her surname but I'll respect her privacy, just in case).
I'd spend most of what I was paid (which wasn't much) on buying records - including 1-2 obcure new wave releases I'd convinced them to stock - at staff discount. The store room upstairs was, for me, full of hidden treasures in the 2-3 times I was allowed up there: no doubt for everyone else it was full of love and returns they'd forgotten to return (including boxes of "Vibing Up The Senile Man" that had apparently been cut backwards?). a shop full of unruly kids were alway dealt with in the same way - Mike would put A Clockwork Orange OST on the turntable, worked every time. Good times!
(Sept 8, 2013) Chris Hill said:I remember buying 'In the Hearing of' by Atomic Rooster in Alibaba as it was a regular drop in for me on my way home from school. I now spend far too much money buying the records I couldn't afford at the time - sounds familiar!
Name Peter Power Comment: I remember the space invader game in the shop on Walton vale👍
I also bought my first record there, The Jam Eton rifles 7" . ( Dec 27, 2016)
Name Nick Vernon Comment: I worked in Alibaba from 1985 to 1991 with Nick Robinson, Ron Downing owned it. Great place to work. (July 4, 2017)
(Nov 29, 2013) Mike Brady said:I worked in the South Road shop over the summer of 79 before I went off to University. We used to walk down from school in the lunchtime and loiter around; I kept it up in the early part of the summer until Mike Hemmings (? - I think he ended up as House Manager or similar at the Everyman but that was about 10 years ago)offered me a job for four days a week (strangely, not on a Saturday). I can't remember the name of the shop manager now, but I remember Helen, who would have been a year or two older than me, tasked with running stock to Walton or Smithdown Road in her yellow Renault 5 (I can remember her surname but I'll respect her privacy, just in case).
I'd spend most of what I was paid (which wasn't much) on buying records - including 1-2 obcure new wave releases I'd convinced them to stock - at staff discount. The store room upstairs was, for me, full of hidden treasures in the 2-3 times I was allowed up there: no doubt for everyone else it was full of love and returns they'd forgotten to return (including boxes of "Vibing Up The Senile Man" that had apparently been cut backwards?). a shop full of unruly kids were alway dealt with in the same way - Mike would put A Clockwork Orange OST on the turntable, worked every time. Good times!
(Sept 8, 2013) Chris Hill said:I remember buying 'In the Hearing of' by Atomic Rooster in Alibaba as it was a regular drop in for me on my way home from school. I now spend far too much money buying the records I couldn't afford at the time - sounds familiar!
Name Peter Power Comment: I remember the space invader game in the shop on Walton vale👍
I also bought my first record there, The Jam Eton rifles 7" . ( Dec 27, 2016)
Name Nick Vernon Comment: I worked in Alibaba from 1985 to 1991 with Nick Robinson, Ron Downing owned it. Great place to work. (July 4, 2017)