Spillers Records, Cardiff
World's oldest record store finally moves location
(Photos © urban75, January/August 2007 - updated June 2010)

Trading since 1894, Spillers could lay claim to being the world's oldest record shop, but finally lost the battle to stay in their premises by The Hayes on June 26th, 2010.

A long serving landmark for music fans in Cardiff, this no-frills record store played a huge part in my life. Here's where I bought my first punk rock record (and yes, I fear my first prog rock record some years previously too).

As Cardiff continues to be polished up with a corporate shine, much of the city's character and history is being erased, with big name brands taking over the independents, reducing Cardiff's shopping streets into another homogeneous Identikit town, devoid of character and spirit.



So, the fight for Spillers was an important one. So important, in fact, that half of the members of the Welsh assembly put their names to a statement supporting the shop.

The Manic Street Preachers also added to the calls for the shop to be saved by demanding that the rent be kept at a more realistic level.

An online petition was been created (Save Spillers), but sadly the store was finally squeezed out in June 2010, as the South Wales Echo reported:

60 years of history ends at Spillers
SIXTY years of rock ’n’ roll history on The Hayes come to an end today as the legendary Spillers Records store moves from its familiar home.

Its music-filled windows have been the cornerstone of its Hayes home since the late 1940s when it shifted from its first base in the original Queen’s Arcade – on the same site as the city centre mall of the same name.

Hundreds of thousands of customers have passed through the doors since Henry Spiller first started selling wax cylinders, gramophones and records 116 years ago in 1894.

The new Spillers store can be found in the nearby Morgan Arcade. Be sure to check it out if you're in Cardiff.

Spillers Records













August 2009 photos:




Spillers exhibit in St Fagans folk museum, near Cardiff.

Update Dec 2010: Spillers Records, Cardiff moves to the Morgan Arcade

More info:

Big names of music rally to support Cardiff's famous Spillers Records [Guardian]

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