Sanctuary Records

Name: Steve Panter.
Comment: Sanctuary Records, Lincoln, circa 1979. Genuinely legendary record shop located on Park Street, a narrow lane off the High Street. The epicentre of the East Midlands punk and post-punk music scene for three years, and closely linked with local record labels Dead Good and Company Records. On Saturdays, you'd see members of XS Energy, the Cigarettes, Psuedo Existors, Half Life, and other local bands, and a guy named Errol would be smoking jazz cigarettes, while the sound system played The Pop Group or The Fall. It provided paid work for a young Mixmaster Morris Gould aka the Irresistible Force. There was a section for The Homosexuals (the band). The shop even had their own t-shirts!

Aside from the original Rough Trade shop, this was the most vibrant record shop I have ever been to. Fantastic and much-missed. People still talk fondly of the shop thirty years after it closed.

Name: Paul Martin.
Comment: Great to hear about Sanctuary again. I remember the shop pre-punk and think I purchased a Tangerine Dream album from there as a first purchase. Really came into its own during the punk era and I have very fond memories of spending most Saturdays in there.

Name: Russel Smith
Comment: Dark, gloomy, and wonderful, with a special smell - I remember buying Alex Harvey Live and The Penthouse Tapes and The Wonderful World of Wreckless Eric on green vinyl and a Rachel Sweet picture disc - life-changing stuff.

Name: Steve.
Comment: The Sanctuary was on Park Street, opposite Ruddocks. As everyone says, it was at its most vibrant during the late 1970s. I was at secondary school and I walked past the shop every day on my way home from school. That usually meant stopping in to sit and listen to an album in one of the couple of listening booths they had with enormously thick aviator-style headphones. I bought all my Genesis, Yes, Pink Floyd, Baker Gurvitz Army, and many other progressive rock albums in there. It had a great smell of patchouli in the store - the strange smell mentioned in other posts. Sure, it was a great place for punk, but they had the best Prog-Rock selection as well. A great place, sadly missed.

Name: Paul Devereux
Comment: Yes, a unique shop and very much missed. I was introduced to the ECM record label here and purchased several hard-to-get albums for my brother who lived in Portsmouth at the time. Interestingly Sanctuary had access to more off-beat stuff than many record stores down south. We have lost so much in Lincoln - far too much corporate stuff.
(17 December 2013)

Name: Steve Knowles
Comment: Spent many a happy hour in Sanctuary records. My peak period used to be around 1977 to 1979ish. I was a police cadet at the time and looked out of place with my short-back-and-sides haircut, but to me Sanctuary was a little piece of heaven. I know in a later life it moved to the market. Although my memory wasn't as good as it was 35 years later, but was the owner a chap called Steve Edwards? If so, whatever became of him?
(17 May 2013)

Name: Steve
Comment: It was down a side street, all the best record shops were in those days. I bought a lot of soft rock from there in the pre-punk days. Albion Dance Band, Rory Gallagher etc. Beanbags and jossticks and black walls. Punk and post-punk it was the place to be, punk singles on the counter in a shoebox. Bought everything from there! Nick Green of Sinking Ships behind the counter, Steve Edwards and his younger sister Bev owned the shop. (They were on TV's Family Fortunes). I used to get freebies for liking the 'weirder' stuff! Sanctuary Records changed my life and I thank them.
(7 April 2013)

Comment: Nearly all my punk singles & LPs were bought from here circa 1977 onwards, a belated thanks to the hippy-looking guy who sold me the Dr Alimantado Best Dressed Chicken In Town LP, Factory Sample 2x7" EP, Joy Division's first 12", Drones LP, Ultravox, Pseudos, Wire, Adverts - the list could go on and on... they did special orders, it was a magical place.
(6 April 2013)

Name: Caroline
Comment: I bought my first 7" single here - Pink Floyd's Another Brick in the Wall - iconic record shop, and have never been in one since that is quite as good as Sanctuary was - much missed still!
(25 October 2012)

Name: Polly Bell.
Comment: I remember the pre-punk days in Sanctuary, I bought my first Be Bop Deluxe album (still a fan of Bill Nelson). You could lose yourself in there, it really was a sanctuary . I was still at school so didn't have a lot of money, I remember when you could buy a single for 50p.
(3 February 2015)

Name: Mark Ingram.
Comment: There has never been anywhere else like 'Sanc'. I recall pre-punk days, ELO singles. I only had a paper round at the time. They had a good secondhand section I got a mint condition Deep Purple Made in Japan for £2.90. Happy days, eh?
(23 November 2015)

Name: Steve Edwards
Comment: Yes, I am still alive and just about kicking, still in Lincoln. Will be (hopefully) 70 this year.

Great to hear Sanctuary still remembered and fondly thought of. Best wishes to all staff and customers who made it what it was.

Amongst my many fond memories was late on a gloomy Friday afternoon regular Sanctuary visitor 'Ebby' asked if I could spare an empty promotional LP sleeve and a Sanctuary bag, obviously I obliged, and with a wink he popped said LP cover in the bag and said time to go home now he had his 'street cred'. Got to smile but if you are still out there Ebby I remember you had all the street cred necessary without the need for the bag.
(16 January 2017)

Name: Paul Brinded
Comment: Spent many an hour on this fantastic shop in the 1970s. Still have great memories.
(2 June 2017)

Name: Michael Rodgers
Comment: Wow, wish it was still here, Sanctuary Records fave, buys Alex Harvey, just to walk in there again to the guys who worked - miss it.
(2019)

Name: Bill Simmons
Comment: Great to find this. I can only agree with the earlier comments about Sanctuary and what a treasure it was. Didn't it morph into 'Pride' when it moved into the market?

I can't believe you're (hopefully) over 70 now Steve.

I understand that Ebby is, sadly, no longer with us but as you said he was always a dude.

How's Bev? Oh my, did I have a crush on that girl, but I was never going to match up to Spizz so it was a love unrequited.

I was chatting to Nick Green's brother a few weeks ago, he tells me Nick is still living the good life which was great to hear.

Take care, peace out.
(2019)

Name: Kevin Byrne
Comment: I spent many hours, not to mention many pounds, in this fantastic little shop.

In particular, I remember buying 'Trace', a Dutch prog rock band around 1975 - still got it, along with many others.

Steve was always very helpful.

Great memories of a lovely little shop.
(2019)

Name: keVo snell
Comment: Sanctuary Records in punk/post-punk days was legendary, still love the record bag design - I'd wear the t-shirt now.
(2020)

Name: Nigel Roberts
Comment: Still got a few Sanctuary Records bags from my time at the tech college - used to be in there every day listening to something. Got all my early Barclay James Harvest albums from there and some obscure albums by Trace and Seventh Wave - happy days. Good to hear Steve is alive and kicking - is Bev still in Lincoln too?
(2020)

Name: Colin Hopkirk
Comment: God yes, what a sanctuary it was. I remember Steve and Tramp, and later Nick Green behind the counter. You were never hassled to buy - they knew it was about so much more. Got my Young Marble Giants and Delta 5 LP s there and my Gang of 4 EP. I saw Martin Patton from Dead Good a few months ago, and am in touch with Trey Welbourn from Sinking Ships still.

Now we’ve just got dead-zone corporate crap like HMV. Tardis trip anyone?
(2020)

Name: Chris Rice
Comment: Spent many Saturday afternoons listening to punk music on the in-store headphones. Returned to Lincoln a number of years ago and miss the atmosphere and Leather & Patchouli oil mist.
(2020)

Name: Mark Ingram
Comment: I've been talking to a few old friends about Sanctuary recently. I dont think it's an exaggeration to say Sanctuary shaped the musical future of our lives! There has never been another place like it. In the mid- to late seventies we would meet at 'Sanc' like you would meet in a pub. I'll never forget the three sets of headphones and customers blithely unaware their appreciation of the music was audible! I didn't realise as a kid but Sanctuary was precisely what that place was. As a parting shot you might like progtopten.blogspot.com
(2021)

Name: Rob Tyler
Comment: I spent a small fortune on albums from Sanctuary and it was worth every penny Used to pop in there most weeks, usually Saturday afternoons to listen to something my ears had never heard before. Remember sitting in one of the booths listening to Robin Trower's Bridge of Sighs for the first time The great laid-back staff created a similar atmosphere. Lovely people, lovely place, lovely memories. ~ Thank you!
(2022)

Name: David Smith
Comment: Just loved this place. Bought all my punk/new wave singles and albums. They would let you listen to a whole album if you wanted and had seats and cans to listen in comfort. I went to Park Street College at the time, but spent more time in Sanctaury than I ever did at college!
(2022)