Shop of the Week: Friendly Records, Bedminster

Couched between a butcher and a bookshop is North Street’s Friendly Records. Since opening in 2016, it has become a favourite spot for many a Bristol music fan to buy music. Cacti line the windowsill; on one wall, there’s a framed New Order poster; then there are racks and racks of records, new and old, spanning all genres. While vinyl is the main format that the shop stocks, there are some cassette and CD releases, too. The shop is beautifully designed and decorated, but what makes the atmosphere of Friendly Records so great is the warmth and enthusiasm of owner and namesake, Tom Friend.

Just five years ago, the only remaining big-chain record store, HMV, was on the brink of administration as sales of physical music formats had dropped so low. Since then, there has been the so-called ‘vinyl revival’: 4.1 million vinyl records were sold in 2017, in comparison to the 390,000 sold in 2012. But as fashionable as vinyl may currently be, it’s still a niche market. However, Tom was determined, and, with the encouragement of a friend, Friendly Records was born. “It came out of a record collection that had gone out of hand, really,” laughs Tom. “It was spilling out of rooms in my house and it just seemed like a good time to do it. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do – I live around the corner, so I wanted to do it locally”.

Gigs are a regular part of life at Friendly Records too

Friendly Records have a great range of used records, but they are more than just a vinyl exchange – they stock plenty of new stuff too. The new releases that Tom is most excited about are varied in terms of genre. He’s a big fan of The Streets’ re-issues, having worked at the label that put the records out “a long time ago”, he says. “Until now, they’ve not been readily available, and the original versions have been very expensive. It’s nice to see those come out,” he continues.

He also likes a lot of soundtracks, as some of his friends have a label called Invada Records, which is based in Bristol. “They do some great soundtracks: Stranger Things, Nick Cave and Warren Ellis’ Wind River. I really like the Young Echo collective too, which is again a great Bristol-based label and bunch of musicians.”

April saw in-store celebrations of the eleventh annual Record Store Day. The event, started to ‘celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store’, has come under fire in recent years: critics feel that it has become dominated by big labels who are more interested in profit than in indie shops. But its original spirit is alive and well at Friendly Records. Tom decided to create a Record Store Weekender, with a programme of live music running from Friday evening until Sunday. The line-up included the likes of Snails, Alex Lipinski and a DJ set from Bristol legend Big Jeff.

“I tried to turn it into something different really, to make it more about a celebration of record shops and music and community and people,” Tom says. “I tried to turn it into a little festival, rather than being about limited-edition picture disks that no one really needs. Really, I’ve said it lots of times, but I want every day to be Record Store Day. I know that that’s not possible in terms of the amount of people, but I like the idea of people coming in and using this shop on a daily basis or a weekly basis rather than on a yearly basis.”

The Friendly Records logo was designed by artist Pete Fowler, who also has Super Furry Animals’ album covers in his portfolio

This sense of creating a space that people can gather is something that is integral to Tom’s vision behind the shop. “Good record shops are also about community and about meeting people,” he says. “Quite often you’ll see people bump into people in here who they haven’t seen for ages. I guess it is sort of harking back to a different time, pre-mobile phones. You would go out on a Saturday record shopping with an idea in your head that you might bump into somebody that you knew because they’re likely to be in record shops too. And you’d also find out about other things in record shops – gigs, new bands, a band that need a drummer or – or just meet like-minded people.

“Here, we’re trying to do something that is local and community-based, so we have a lot of live music in here as well as just being a shop. The idea of buying records online – I do get it, but it’s nothing like looking through records in a record shop.”

Friendly Records, 59-61 North Street, Bristol, Bs3 1ES
0117 239 7169
www.friendlyrecords.co.uk