Harlequin was perhaps the godfather of the chain-stores that dominated record and tape retail in the eighties and nineties (Virgin, Our Price, HMV, etc.) The Harlequin shop at number 1, New Market Square was large enough to stock a good range of genres and was very much on-the-ball in terms of current tastes. Basingstoke was Harlequin’s 51st store but its arrival was trumpeted in a two-page advertisement/feature in the weekend Gazette of May 31st 1974 which includes a personal message of good will from Deep Purple. In 1980 the Harlequin chain was itself purchased by Our Price and for a short while Basingstoke had two Our Price stores; the other was originally in the parade of shops opposite Rumbelows (in the space now occupied by Greggs’ or the T-Mobile shop) before re-locating to Castle Square in the Malls in the space which is currently Jessops.
Thanks to razrazzle Basingstoke Music History
1990
