Café Pop

The name is something of a giveaway here. Café Pop sell records but you can also get a whole Farah Fawcett or Steve McQueen wardrobe, a Trimphone, a pink cuckoo clock and lunch if that’s your desire.  Unfortunately the days of the wonderful Vox Pop Records in the basement are long gone however I am nothing if not a vinyl positivist and the shop does still sell records. Upstairs is a great little coffee shop with a few quirky boxes of 7″s and a quality selection of 60s and 70s garage, pop, rock and soul. The last time I was in I snaffled up a lovely original Epic 7″ of Shuggie Otis’ ‘Inspiration Information’ to go with my soup of the day.

Downstairs in what hipsters may term “the boutique”,  is a fairly decent rack of vinyl. Situated opposite the café counter and next to the tables it extends to a good 20 minutes worth of browsing. It’s all used vinyl, nothing new enters this shrine to pop culture, but again the selection is diverse covering lots of dance 12″s, pop albums, soul and funk originals and the odd left-field classic. From memory I picked at least a few 12″s, generally 80s boogie stuff and a pretty nifty soul compilation.

I would say this is a good place to rest your poor bleeding crate digging fingers, meet the other half and browse through your earlier purchases with a spot of lunch, whilst knowing there is still a rack or two left to feed that music monkey we all have lurking. It’s a small selection but sweet! No listening posts and the staff downstairs are focused on the café punters so no real vinyl assistance is on hand. Upstairs from my experience the coffee man is happy to talk through the tunes and chat as your flicking the 7″s.