Staffed by three of THE most unlikely looking individuals ever to grace a record store (Grace Bros. perhaps!) this was for some time THE place to go and always seemed packed. Budget Records musta bin around circa 1968 - 1970? They stocked an amazing amount of US rock and progressive British music. Comment: John Crack
The Budget Way to Add to a Collection
Soon, I discovered another source to boost my burgeoning record collection. Tucked away off the High Street was a narrow lane leading to the Castle. At the end, was a shop called Budget Records. It was manned by one tubby gentleman, a tall, thin fella and a woman, possibly one of their wives. At the front of the counter were a dozen or so singles’ bins. These were chock full of 45s, most of them ex-jukebox discs. And I would often pick up a gem or two. I think my Chicken Shack, I’d Rather Go Blind single came from there.
I rarely bothered to look at the albums which, although mostly second-hand, were beyond my pocket money spend.
Occasionally, a single I’d bought ‘skipped the groove’. Upon taking it back, they would play it for me after cunningly sticking a penny coin on the arm of the turntable. Of course, this extra weight forced the stylus into the groove, and they would triumphantly return the disc to me as being perfectly playable. Andrew's Post
Very interesting article reminding me of a lot of the names of our lost record shops such as Howard Leach and the outlet Howard's Classical records as it reminded me of the Carmen LP I brought for my supervisor on her retirement.
I also brought the single "Saved by the Bell" by Robin Gibb from Budget Records and probably paid 25p (or 5 shillings) for it as most of my singles came from there and they all seemed to be 25p. I used to buy 4 at a time at least. That was in the days of course when singles had gone up a lot and 25p was cheap. When I was a lot younger singles were 7/6 (37.5p) so 25p was certainly cheap in mid 70s when I'd started work.
