A little corner of the UK 2 2

[Ken Aldred]

Well i'm only 30 so I can't possibly comment

 

Sometimes you hear anecdotes about shops selling comics that used to be open in your area,  including some you're actually too young to remember.  That kind of thing.

[goldust40]

Well i'm only 30 so I can't possibly comment

 

Does that make us young or old by the standards of the boards...? Hard to tell.

 

 

30 is young here. Especially in the GA section.

[Kevin.J]

Well i'm only 30 so I can't possibly comment

 

Does that make us young or old by the standards of the boards...? Hard to tell.

 

 

Well I will be 50 next birthday, I always wanted to post the old guy emoticon but never had a reason until now.

[goldust40]

I remember Dark They Were, just. I went there a handful of times before they shut up shop and morphed into FP. FP had some decent back issues when they opened their premises in Denmark Street...hard to believe I know.

 

There was also a filthy old-school little hellhole called Reedmore Books, near Finchley Road overground (the building has since been demolished). Went there in the early to mid 70s. The staff were lank-haired, misshapen and surly. There was a cordoned off bit, separated by what looked like a shower curtain, where they had all the porn mags. All the comics were piled up high in various nooks and crannies, covered in a thin film of soot, with the prices pencilled on the back. Great days.

 

There was also a stall in Camden Market that I went to in 73/74. Owner was friendly and prices reasonable. Didn't last long. Still remember the stench of incense and patchouli oil emanating from neighbouring stalls.

 

And then there was Comic Showcase, which opened just before the direct market changed everything. When I first went there in 79 / 80 it was a tiny little place round the corner from the Lyceum. Cool place to hang out in..

 

From 79 - 87, Showcase and FP were all there was in central London, apart from a place called Paradise Alley (round the corner from FP) which was so small you could barely get three customers in at once. Again run by a surly bloke who insisted on taking your bag for fear you might half-inch his precious stock. Can't recall ever buying anything there. That building too is long gone.

 

Never got to New Cross to see Dez's shop.

 

 

[Kevin.J]

. Still remember the stench of incense and patchouli oil emanating

 

That line just triggered my memory for a shop in the 1970s, It was in the arcade in Newcastle called Kard bar, it was a hippy hangout selling posters, records, patches and other stuff under the counter. They always had a couple of boxes of comics at very cheap prices.

There was loads of hippys smoking drugs and chilling out listing to the music from the shop.

When I read that line, I swear I could smell patchouli.

 

[goldust40]

. Still remember the stench of incense and patchouli oil emanating

 

That line just triggered my memory for a shop in the 1970s, It was in the arcade in Newcastle called Kard bar, it was a hippy hangout selling posters, records, patches and other stuff under the counter. They always had a couple of boxes of comics at very cheap prices.

There was loads of hippys smoking drugs and chilling out listing to the music from the shop.

When I read that line, I swear I could smell patchouli.

 

Smell is the most powerful memory trigger.

 

My other great memory of that era (the late 70s / early 80s) was going to record shops in Camden and Notting Hill. The two best shops then were Rock On Records in Camden, which had the offices of Stiff Records upstairs, and Rough Trade in Notting Hill, which was run by former hardline leftie activists who had little time for schoolkids like me rifling through their stock. Record shop staff were far ruder than comic shop staff, and both shops (and others like them) stank of smoke and were a mess. But their attitude didn't put me off going, and the music on the tannoy was always good.

 

And most of these shops did well with badges, patches etc. which fitted in with the indie DIY culture of the time.

 

And of course the music then was way better than now.

[Kevin.J]

 

And of course the music then was way better than now.

 

Totally agree. (thumbs u

[Kevin.J]

I bought more mail order than from shops when I got into comics seriously, as in the 1980s Timeslip was murdered by FP, there was a couple of bookshops that had a few comics from time to time.

For a city like Newcastle I always thought that we were short changed by the amount of comic shops we had.

I got to know a few mail order dealers and regularly bought back issues from their catalogues, I definitely miss that part of our hobby as it was great to get that catalogue in the post and drop everything so I could get it filled in and sent off before anyone beat me to the choice books.

Then after a week or so the package would arrive and inside were books that I had only see in adverts.

To actually have these in my collection made me the envy of my few mates in the hobby as they didnt want to risk sending off money in the post.

Great times.

[Waylander]

Can anyone remember if it was Stateside Comics downstairs in the old Virgin Megastore?

 

[nmtg9]

Kevin the shop you mean in Leeds - SKYRACK -was a stall in the Merrion indoor market. Ran by a nice guy called Ron.

 

He would save new releases and discount them 5 pence each. He must have been there since the mid seventies I think. My friend Henry has some of his catalogue still.

 

I thin EwanUK remembers it.

 

We also had Odyssey7 in Leeds from, I think, about 1984. FP swallowed that too.

 

Before that in Middles rough there was a seedy shop Borough Rd that had comics and a stall on the market in Stockton where I bought my first comic Power Man 23

[gaz973]

My early comic buying memories don't go back as far as some of you guys. In the 80s, I was just buying comics from the newsagents in Hemel Hempstead or Apsley and the first comic shop that I found was FP in Milton Keynes which wasn't actually that bad at the time.

 

Soon after that I found Chaos City Comis in St Albans which was run by Rich Emms and Derek Watson. After several years, Rich left to do other ventures and ended up with a shop in Stevenage where Whizzer goes to now. Derek still runs Chaos City but after Rich left, they didn't keep any back issues to speak of. I bought comics from there for thirteen years before moving my subs order to John Skoulides.

 

The only other place that I used to often find comics in the early to mid 80s was at a local car boot sale. I used to buy a few and now I can't understand why I didn't buy everything they had. Unfortunately I didn't take care of my comics well back then either and I destroyed an FF # 16 that I remember finding there.

[Arsenalherd]

 

For me it's 91, Sigi's and Whatever Comics in Canterbury

Is that Siegi Longman?   Used to buy new stuff from him at some of the TUC marts, in the 90s.    Seemed friendly enough.  

 

Yes, died 3/4 years ago due to weight and heart problems, made a huge offer for his crazy collection which I was turned down and was given to kids and being sold in a shop for way high prices, was gutted

[Arsenalherd]

my night is sorted, got Spider-Man for the PS3, just hope its half decent

Just finished Red Dead Redemption last night.  Great game and storyline.

 

I have the Game of the Year edition, so it's now on to Undead Nightmare.

 

 

Red Dead was great, Spidey is ok, nothing special, maybe gets better?

[Kevin.J]

Kevin the shop you mean in Leeds - SKYRACK -was a stall in the Merrion indoor market. Ran by a nice guy called Ron.

 

He would save new releases and discount them 5 pence each. He must have been there since the mid seventies I think. My friend Henry has some of his catalogue still.

 

I thin EwanUK remembers it.

 

We also had Odyssey7 in Leeds from, I think, about 1984. FP swallowed that too.

 

Before that in Middles rough there was a seedy shop Borough Rd that had comics and a stall on the market in Stockton where I bought my first comic Power Man 23

 

Thanks Neil, I forgot about Odyssey7, thats what I am probably thing of, I once went to Leeds on a little motorbike just to go there and buy about 3 comics. I used to go everywhere on that motorbike, I was unemployed, skint, but searching everywhere for comics. Someone eventually pinched my motorbike which was probably for the best as it was a death trap by then.

[Anfield Fox]

Can anyone remember if it was Stateside Comics downstairs in the old Virgin Megastore?

 

That must have been the most expensive comic shop in the world

[goldust40]

Can anyone remember if it was Stateside Comics downstairs in the old Virgin Megastore?

 

That must have been the most expensive comic shop in the world

 

I remember the heyday of Stateside, with John S. at the helm. At one point they had concessions in the Virgin Megastores in Marble Arch and Tottenham Court Road, and also the top floor of Hamleys.

 

And of course they still had their East Barnet headquarters, as well as shops in other cities.

 

Eventually (as you no doubt know) they morphed into Comicana and settled into premises on Shaftesbury Avenue.

 

Hard to believe there used to be comic shops on Oxford Street. I miss the staff of the Tottenham Court Road downstairs concession. Fun bunch of lads....

 

 

[Waylander]

Can anyone remember if it was Stateside Comics downstairs in the old Virgin Megastore?

 

That must have been the most expensive comic shop in the world

 

I remember the heyday of Stateside, with John S. at the helm. At one point they had concessions in the Virgin Megastores in Marble Arch and Tottenham Court Road, and also the top floor of Hamleys.

 

And of course they still had their East Barnet headquarters, as well as shops in other cities.

 

Eventually (as you no doubt know) they morphed into Comicana and settled into premises on Shaftesbury Avenue.

 

Hard to believe there used to be comic shops on Oxford Street. I miss the staff of the Tottenham Court Road downstairs concession. Fun bunch of lads....

 

 

Comicana was cool. Alex was great fun.

 

Anyone visit Skinny Melinks in Lewisham?

[goldust40]

Can anyone remember if it was Stateside Comics downstairs in the old Virgin Megastore?

 

That must have been the most expensive comic shop in the world

 

I remember the heyday of Stateside, with John S. at the helm. At one point they had concessions in the Virgin Megastores in Marble Arch and Tottenham Court Road, and also the top floor of Hamleys.

 

And of course they still had their East Barnet headquarters, as well as shops in other cities.

 

Eventually (as you no doubt know) they morphed into Comicana and settled into premises on Shaftesbury Avenue.

 

Hard to believe there used to be comic shops on Oxford Street. I miss the staff of the Tottenham Court Road downstairs concession. Fun bunch of lads....

 

 

Comicana was cool. Alex was great fun.

 

Anyone visit Skinny Melinks in Lewisham?

 

It was always good to see the perennially upbeat Alex Alexander. Still see him at shows.

 

I did go to Skinny Melinks a couple of times, although as it was on the other side of London I had to have been going in that direction in the first place. Quite a small dark place as I remember..it did have some decent back issues, but I can't recall buying anything. They closed down some time ago...

 

Avalon Comics in Clapham is still going strong, although I haven't been there in over a decade. When it first opened I went there and they had a tremendous back issue selection - I suspect it was the owner's private collection, as on subsequent visits none of the Golden Age stuff was there. I must check them out at some point....

[Whizzer]

Can anyone remember if it was Stateside Comics downstairs in the old Virgin Megastore?

 

That must have been the most expensive comic shop in the world

 

I remember the heyday of Stateside, with John S. at the helm. At one point they had concessions in the Virgin Megastores in Marble Arch and Tottenham Court Road, and also the top floor of Hamleys.

 

And of course they still had their East Barnet headquarters, as well as shops in other cities.

 

Eventually (as you no doubt know) they morphed into Comicana and settled into premises on Shaftesbury Avenue.

 

Hard to believe there used to be comic shops on Oxford Street. I miss the staff of the Tottenham Court Road downstairs concession. Fun bunch of lads....

 

 

 

 

Quotefail, sorry.

 

First comic shop I ever went to was the original Comic Showcase in about '81 or '82 and I thought I was in heaven even though it was just a small white box with strip lights and a till in the corner if memory serves.

 

I also bought many a back issue from the various Stateside concessions in the late Eighties. In the Nineties I was a semi regular customer at Stateside/Comicana in Barnet where comics were on the ground floor and also in the basement.

 

I then found Chaos City in St. Albans, which pretty much stopped doing back issues when it moved into the smaller unit near the Cathedral. I then followed Richard Emms to his new shop in Stevenage where I am a regular.

 

For some reason, Hertfordshire has become a bit of a comic centre, what with Emmsy, Nick etc, etc.

 

Stevenage itself has had at least four comic shops that I can think of over the years.

 

 

 

 

Edited June 30, 2012 by Whizzer

[Anfield Fox]

I remember Avalon Comics had a 50% off sale once and it was actually great. Got some really cool stuff, this was in the 90's mind you.

 

Anyone remember "Books Bits N' Bobs" in Kingston or "They Walk Among Us" in Richmond or "30th Century Comics" in Putney?