Harlequin (Watford)

Name: David N
Comment: I used to buy all my records from Harlequin in Watford High Street circa 1975-76. I was 13 and had a Saturday job in the nearby market and I spent almost all my wages on singles which were 59p each at the time. The two guys who worked there were a bit camp and were obviously gay but were always very friendly and helpful and let you change things if you didn't like them.

The shop is featured in the 1975 Robin Askwith comedy Confessions of a Pop Star.

The shop lasted until 1981 when the chain was bought out by Our Price. The shop was turned into a branch of Our Price (where I later briefly worked) and the shop next door (formerly Mr Peter Clothing Outfit) was for a short while Our Price's bargain shop.
(1 July 2016)

Name: Adrian Cooke
Comment: When I used to go there in the 1970s there was an unfriendly Asian woman working there: even when I bought Asian music there she wasn't friendly 🙄
(2020)

Name: Carole Jones
Comment: My brother was the manager there at one time.

Name: John Mchugh
Comment: Does anyone remember the Harlequin coffee bar?

I remember the mirrors on the walls when drinking coffee and having a sneak look if you were with a girl to check your hair was in place.

Name: Sylvia Talling
Comment: I used to go there regularly at dinner times and on Saturdays lunchtime when I finished work.

Comments

ShawnGBR

17 Jun 2023 at 11:16

Harlequin Records is also mentioned in the book “High Fidelity” by Nick Hornby. It’s his first novel, and the main character mentions being brought up in Hertfordshire near a street with a VG shop, a newsagents, and an off-licence. It’s mentioned in the first chapter, in events that started in 1975. The author was born in 1957, and in the book the protagonist is in 6th Form, which is true for the time period and suggests he wrote from personal experience - however, the author grew up in Surrey, so the places have been changed to protect the innocent.

Dave Harwood

20 Oct 2023 at 01:01

I found a concert listing in the ‘Southall Gazette’ dated 24th September 1976: “FLYING BURRITO BROTHERS plus BARBARA DICKSON at Watford Town Hall, Sunday, 26th September, 7.30 p.m. Advance tickets available from Harlequin Records, 77 The Parade, Watford. Tel.: Watford 20627.”