Many Basingstokers of my generation recall a stall in the New Market Square that sold records. In 1975 I had just discovered reggae (my school friends Dave Hill and Debbie Rice were influential) and I used to visit Tony Bregaint’s stall every Saturday to salivate over the new releases he brought from London.
I bumped into Mr. Bregaint in Wote Street in 2014. He retired from his market trading through persistent health problems; specifically arthritis. He had also run a market stall in Berwick Street, Soho; the very heart of the UK music business. As the decade wore on, his stall in the New Market Square began to concentrate on t-shirts, button badges, patches and scarves which seemed to generate more income. Tony is gratified to be remembered and to learn that I still own records I bought from him almost forty years ago!
Q&A with Raz Razzle 13. What was your first job? I worked weekends in the NSS Newsagent at Brighton Hill in 1976. I took the bus Saturday lunchtimes to New Market Square to buy records from Tony Bregaint’s stall.
In 1976 I had a part-time job at the NSS Newsagent in Brighton Hill. Nicole Hood worked there with me while Jenny Durling joined us later. Every Saturday lunch-time we took the bus to town to blow our wages. I headed straight for Tony’s record stall, saving enough for the weekly Black Echoes music paper and monthly Black Music magazine which I bought in Knight’s. (Nicholson’s were rather more mainstream and less likely to stock specialist publications for the discerning aficionado.)
Many Basingstokers of my generation recall a stall in the New Market Square that sold records. In 1975 I had just discovered reggae (my school friends Dave Hill and Debbie Rice were influential) and I used to visit Tony Bregaint’s stall every Saturday to salivate over the new releases he brought from London.
I bumped into Mr. Bregaint in Wote Street in 2014. He retired from his market trading through persistent health problems; specifically arthritis. He had also run a market stall in Berwick Street, Soho; the very heart of the UK music business. As the decade wore on, his stall in the New Market Square began to concentrate on t-shirts, button badges, patches and scarves which seemed to generate more income. Tony is gratified to be remembered and to learn that I still own records I bought from him almost forty years ago!
Q&A with Raz Razzle
13. What was your first job? I worked weekends in the NSS Newsagent at Brighton Hill in 1976. I took the bus Saturday lunchtimes to New Market Square to buy records from Tony Bregaint’s stall.
In 1976 I had a part-time job at the NSS Newsagent in Brighton Hill. Nicole Hood worked there with me while Jenny Durling joined us later. Every Saturday lunch-time we took the bus to town to blow our wages. I headed straight for Tony’s record stall, saving enough for the weekly Black Echoes music paper and monthly Black Music magazine which I bought in Knight’s. (Nicholson’s were rather more mainstream and less likely to stock specialist publications for the discerning aficionado.)