Hello good people. I hope you are well and that with the changing of the season there's an extra spring in your metaphorical step. We have so much news that I don't really know where to start, so let's begin with what has already been, before we move on to what's yet to be. 

It's fair to say that the first Carshalton Record Fair was a big success. The turnout was amazing - it was brilliant to see so many people, many familiar faces as well as many who were visiting Carshalton for the first time. A huge thank you to everyone who came along and helped to make it such an enjoyable day. We will definitely be doing it again.

Now to what we have coming up, and first up is The Eclectic Fair this Saturday March 28th. I say it every time but this one will be more eclectic than ever. There'll be more vintage clothing, orginal artwork, craft, jewellery, musical instruments, quirky gift ideas and film & music posters than ever before. To make way for this amount of eclecticism we will be lighter on the vinyl, but we will be open as normal and as well as our usual range we will have extra vinyl & CDs available on the day, as well as music books & magazines, plus a few turntables too! It's all happening this coming Saturday, March 28th at CryerArts Centre, 39 High Street, Carshalton, SM5 3BB, 11am until 5pm. Hope to see you there!

Next up - cue Keith Moon drum roll - we have the announcement that all Cult Film Club devotees have been waiting for ... 

The next Film Night will be taking place on Friday May 1st, and if you hadn't already guessed, the film we'll be showing will be Quadrophenia - what better time to show it than at a Bank Holiday weekend, we thought to ourselves. We're delighted to say that on the night we'll be joined by our good friend Neal Osborne, who will be providing some suitably mod-centric tunes throughout the evening. Plus we are also delighted to be welcoming another special guest for the evening, Travis Elborough, who will be providing an introduction to the film. For those not familiar with Travis, he is a well respected writer and commentator who has a keen interest on popular culture and his home city of London, and he's been described by The Guardian as "one of Britain’s finest pop culture historians". He is the author of a number of highly acclaimed books, including Wish You Were Here: England on Sea, and The Long-Player Goodbye, his tribute to the vinyl record. 

As far as ticketing goes, it will be the same arrangement as last time; tickets will only be available from the shop and will be restricted to 2 per person. As both our previous film nights have quickly sold out, we think that this is the fairest way to ensure that everyone who wants to come can do so. Tickets will be available in store from Thursday April 2nd.

"Going to be one of the Faces?" We hope so, it's going to be great :)

And here's another date for your diaries, or series of dates in fact, because the Carshalton Festival is back! Between Saturday 27th June and Sunday 5th July Carshalton will be alive with music, art, theatre, film and literature for a 9-day-long celebration of this wonderfully creative town. As a shop we will be heavily involved and will be open every day for the duration of the Festival, with lots of exciting events planned both in-store and beyond. Details are still being discussed but all I can say is, if you're local, then save those dates! 

Phew! So anyway, in-between all of that we are finding to time to take a week off, so the shop will be closed on Thursday 9th, Friday 10th & Saturday 11th April, whilst we are whisked away to the countryside in the Mystery Machine. We'll be open again from Thursday 17th April. Which brings us onto some news that is yet to be confirmed but we are hoping we can announce for definite soon - from 17th April we'll be opening until 6pm instead of 5pm, AND we will be opening on Sundays too! As I say, it's yet to be confirmed but things are looking good. The shop is such a joy to be a part of that the more hours we can be open the better for us and hopefully for all of you guys too. We can't wait!

There are plenty of new releases upcoming and more incoming stock to tell you about, but I think we've imparted enough news for this missive, so we'll let all that info sink in and hope to tell you more very soon. Until then, take care everyone and happy listening :)