As far as Manchester is concerned, the first big comic shop was Odyssey 7, which opened late 1980 or so, can't recall exactly.
A bookshop called Chapter and Verse started selling import comics and back issues in mid 1977, which provided me with my first opportunity to buy new ND comics.
Early 1981 I found a unit selling old comics in Manchester Corn Exchange, called Power Pulse, I think, but they had been there quite a while before that.
I'm sure we are all aware of the London shops that were open in the 70s, such as Dark They Were and Golden Eyed and the original FP, but I wonder if there were any others in the UK which preceded these?
How far back do we go?