“Record Collector has been a hub of Sheffield and its music making since 1978, when Barry Everard, fresh from a job managing a Virgin record store, first opened for business here. As a young man, he had been sent to a minor public school. Only his passion for popular music saved him from that Alcatraz. Behind him, stretching back and back into the depths of the shop, there are wall-mounted sleeves of countless long-playing records by the likes of Clapton, Cream, Genesis, and, between the music, other prizes: the presentation made to Barry when Gomez won the Mercury prize – Barry knew them well – or the many black-and-white photographs of John Lydon, Neil Young, Michael Stipe and numerous others, once gifted to him by another close friend, Tom Sheehan, one of Melody Maker’s staff photographers.

“Are there really only 20,000 vinyl discs here? More like a hundred thousand, he reassures. Music is Barry’s religion, and this is his church.”

Record Collector has featured many times in lists of the best Independent Record Stores. The shop featured prominently in the best-selling book “Last Shop Standing”, whose author regards us as his favourite record store. The book was also the basis for a documentary film of the same name, which featured Richard Hawley interviewed at Record Collector. The owner of Record Collector also featured alongside a crowd of hundreds of customers on Record Store Day. The documentary was chosen as the official film for Record Store Day, so it was a great honour to be included.