(May 14, 2012) D Howells said:W.H. Smiths (when it used to be in Robertson St, back in the 70s/80s) used to sell a lot of records and cassettes on the first floor, along with a lot of accessories like PVC sleeves, record cleaners, 7" record sleeves, cassette racks etc. I don't remember if they still sold them when they moved to Priory Meadow.
Brighton W.H.Smiths
Never really bothered going in there as they were so generic. The Alternative Brighton (1973) entry says: cramped, with a turnstile, too much. Last, Alpert etc.
There was a lot of frustration among staff when punk started that they were not allowed to stock anything so contentious. Ordering was done centrally, with very little allowance for local tastes and Smiths were extremely strict on who they dealt with (they couldn’t stock the pop and folk records from smaller companies like Transatlantic, let alone punk).
