Entertainment For Lively Minds
Join me in a leetle experiment
It's the weekend so you're probably at home. I want you to take a notional trip out of your front door and tell us how far it is to:
a) the nearest record shop
b) the nearest off-licence or wine merchant
c) the nearest book shop.
In my case I think the answers would be:
a) 3.4 miles
b) 1.1 miles
c) 3.3 miles.
I'm in suburban London so those distances may or may not surprise you. I've been living in this location for twenty years and I know that if I'd done those calculations ten years ago all three would have been a lot closer.
Hot tip: if you want to calculate precise distances, www.walkit.com is a terrific tool for an increasing number of centres of population.
P.S. It goes without saying I'm not including supermarkets.
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Question
Can the off-licence be a corner shop that sells alcohol, or does it need to be a specialist retailer like Oddbins?
Proper off-licence or wine merchant
That's what prompted this. My conversation with Mark the other day in the office where I asked him how far it was to the nearest record shop (we decided it was in Covent Garden) and the item on the news about the company that owns Threshers closing down a load more branches.
In leafy Surrey it's...
Record shop 1.6m
Off-licence 700 yds (although is in administration, but still open)
Book shop 1.6m
Given it's Friday night and
Given it's Friday night and alcohol may have been taken, can we give walking times rather than trying work out distances?
Estimates of distances...
...are perfectly acceptable. My shops are so far away I'd have trouble estimating walking times.
Best guesses
Record shop - one-and-half miles
Offy - fifth of a mile
Bookshop - 600 yards
Sweet subhurbia
I don't think this has actually changed for the 10 years that I've lived here
Record shop 3.8m Town centre
Offy 0.7m - neighbourhood shops
Book Shop 3.8m Town Centre
Mind you, I haven't been in the town centre for over a year so I had to check that they're still there. Having lived in similar types of places all my life, I don't think the answers would ever have been any different.
If I count the 2nd hand Bookshop I work in( sometimes)
I used to live over the shop so it was feet away now about 5 miles
nearest record shop Newcastle upon Tyne also about 5miles
nearest wine place probably 1/2 mile but cannot be sure ( sadly don't drink so never notice )
If new bookshop then Newcastle again 5 miles
Leafy Berkshire
Record shop - the only one worth the trip from my house is the small HMV in Windsor 6 miles away.
Off License - at the bottom of the hill 75 yards away. But it's a Threshers so it's fucked.
Bookshop - A medium size Waterstones a mile away in the parade of town shops
Edinburgh - all fairly close & central
record shop, 0.6 miles (independent, sells largely second hand stuff)
wine merchant, 0.2 miles (decent, also independent)
bookshop, 1.1 miles (Waterstone's)
walkit.com is pretty good but the distances i've given are 'to the nearest junction' rather than super-exact; also the availability of decent shops nearby implies a posh neighbourhood, but i actually live in irvine welsh territory ... (albeit even a wee one bed flat down my street now costs over £100k) ...
Huddersfield, West Yorks
As verified by multimap:
a) 2.79 miles (Wall of Sound)
b) 0.58 miles (Lindley Fine Wines)
c) 2.78 miles (Waterstones, New Street)
Holloway Road, London
Majestic Wine: 0.4 miles
Blackwell's Books: 0.3 miles
DOC Records: 0.9 miles
Has anyone been to this shop? I never have, but I've just read one review of it that simply said "Probably full of contagious diseases. Worth a rummage."
Next time you're in there...
...ask them if they've got Cheryl Cole's single, will you?
Oh, and a Dustbug.
Cheers Fraser. This is apparently my local as well
DOC records - 1.2 miles - will be checking it out on the walk home tonight
Owl Bookshop - 0.9 miles
Corks - 0.3 miles
Excellent
Please report back.
I heartily recommend a visit
Run by the charming and chatty Alex, there is a great selection of second hand records of all genres, CDs & DVDs from 50p upwards. He had noticed an increase in custom due to this thread (possibly up to 3 customers a day) but refuses to get involved in internet trading as he thinks this would be the end of his shop. He's open 7 days a week, 10-7.30 (6.30 sundays). I picked up near mint copies of Steven Stills, Caravan and Allman Brothers albums for £20 in total. There is a slightly odd smell, but you don't notice it after the first 10 minutes.
Great stuff
Thanks. I shall visit at the weekend.
It sounds like.....
A local shop for local people!
Alex will probably get used to it...
It's the sweet smell of a moneyed customer!
Well Yateley in glorious Hampshire
Has an off licence in the village so that would be less than a mile. And its not much cop. There is a Threshers in Sandhurst which is about 3 miles away.
I have to go to Camberley for a record shop (HMV) and a couple of Bookshops (one is a Waterstones). That would be about 5 miles and parking is awful, public transport worse. So Amazon it is then.
My nearest bookshop and offy is in Monmouth
about 6 miles away from here. The Threshers is about to close and that will leave one up-market 'proper' wine merchant in town - nowhere in the traditional £4.99 bottle of Pinot to have with dinner market though
The nearest record shop is Hereford, a good 15 miles away - and that seems only to be a specialist Goth emporium. I'd probably have to go to Newport or even Cardiff to find a mainstream non-specialist record store.
Inner-ish London
Which for me is Kentish Town (Borough of Camden).
a) Record shop. I really had to think about this. It's probably HMV in Oxford Street. So about three miles. This is the one that has changed the most. Until two or three years ago, there were branches of HMV and Tower in Camden, both now closed. And of course Tower and Virgin in Picaddilly and Oxford Street now also shut. I was in Holloway Road a couple of weeks ago in the first time for ages, and noticed that a couple of Hornbyesque specialist shops which I had seen in the past were now also shuttered and closed.
b) nearest off licence is Oddbins, about quarter of a mile away.
c) Owl Books, a non-chain shop, about half a mile
I've lived here for about twenty years, and the one constant, now that you ask, has been the bookshop. Which is surprising considering the choice of them that even now is available on a fifteen minute bus ride away in Charing Cross Road.
What about Camden Town
I've not shopped there for a while but isn't Out On The Floor still in Camden Town? It's hard to get to grips with the fact that there aren't any in Camden High Street anymore.
Somewhat suprisingly
There's an HMV in Hampstead, under 2 miles from the Owl Bookshop. It'll soon be a mobile phone shop, I assume...
Oooh... Out On The Floor....
I used to work in there occasionally. Great shop.
Out On The Floor - Still going
I'd forgotten about it, as I tend to avoid the Camden Market area these days. But I took a quick scout round on the weekly trip to Sainsbury's, and it's still there in Inverness Street. Interesting variety of vinyl. I expected Captain's Beefheart's The Spotlight Kid (£15), but not Kathy Kirby Sings 16 Great Hits (£25).
There's also a Music and Video Exchange further up the High Street.
Garden of England
Counting myself quite lucky now - according to google maps, in Tunbridge Wells its:
1. Ape Music 0.6 miles (12 mins walk)
2. Five Reasons Wine 0.3 miles (6 mins walk)
3. Halls Bookshop 0.2 miles (2 mins walk) (of the 'Fly Fishing' JR Hartley ad apparently)
and in the mini backlash against the supermarche's - a new butchers, greengrocers, deli & fishmongers have opened in town in the last 6 months, with a new farm shop opening next week.
Doesn't leave much left to be disgusted about really.
Crouch End
The record shop is a 2nd hand shop, but I am a regular customer
a) 1 1/2 miles
b) 300 yards
c) 1 1/4 miles
As for a notional trip, I'm sure all three establishments will be visited and it's not impossible that all three will be recipients of the Parker Pound.
From Colchester, but the
From Colchester, but the "other side" of Castle Park to the town.
a) the nearest record shop
0.5 miles,HMV
b) the nearest off-licence or wine merchant
0.2 miles (4 minute walk down the road)
c) the nearest book shop.
0.7 miles (Red Lion Bookshop)
www.redlionbooks.co.uk
Living in a metric city (Stavanger, Norway)
Record shop - 300 meters
"Off License" - 200 meters
(Vinmonopolet (The Wine Monopoly) is owned by the Norwegian Ministry of Health and Care Services and is the only company allowed to sell beverages containing an alcohol content higher than 4.7% in Norway. It's a Scandinavian thing. The Finns are more honest though, their company is called Alko.)
Bookshops - 300 meters
That's it.
I'm moving. All that and the highest quality of life in the World.
And don't they also have....
....the highest tax in the world?
Yes they do
I said the same thing to my Norwegian friend Anja, who lives in Oslo. She just shrugged her shoulders and said, "sure... but look at what we have as a result. We're happy to pay."
And the new opera house is spectacular. You can walk on the roof.
Sounds good
though I have to say, sitting in the centre of Whitby with the wind blowing without, those numbers are not dissimilar to mine.
Bookshop: about 600m
Wine shop/off licence: about 200m
Record shop: about 300m
But,
we don't have to worry about Dracula;)
Walk on the roof
Fraser "you can walk on the roof"! I will presume that the accoustics,seating,visuals and all other technical matters are taken care of too then. I always thought they were supposed to take the roof off at a decent opera. Be careful out there.
Loved the place when I was there,
and they speak better english than most brummies or aussies, but you might want to check the prices at the Vinmonopolet if you're fond of your tipples. stratospheric would be the nicest way to put it. Extortionate is another way.
I live a little bit outside the same city centre so....
according to google maps:
a) 1,6 km
b) 2,2 km (the only one left in town)
c) 1,6 km
Toronto
Off licence - 0.25 miles *
Record store - 0.8 miles
Book store - 0.5 miles
* The only places you can buy alcohol are at LCBO (a liquor store) and another chain called The Beer store that sells nothing but. Nothing after 6pm on Sundays except pubs and restaurants.
Harumph
So why did all those quirky local shops close down? I refer the Massive to Mr David Hepworth's response to Bruised Mike's blog here:
http://www.wordmagazine.co.uk/content/i-dont-subscribe
St Ives Cornwall
Record Store 23 miles
Book shop 1 mile
Offie 75 yards
Belfast (East)
Off- licence: 0.25m (Winemark - good selection)
Record Store: 3.0m (HMV (does that count any more?) and one independent, mostly 2nd hand)
Book store: 3.0m (Waterstones, across 2 floors)
Keawyed City
Record shop 3.1m (HMV)
Off-licence 1.1m (Bargain Booze)
Book shop 5.0m (Sweetens Bookshop)
Nearest Premier League Stadium 2.9m (Reebok)
I obviously live in the middle of nowhere
Here in windy Oxspring, on the outskirts of Penistone (which makes the funny stories in the papers every now and again, I don't know why...) at the foot of the Pennines, I'm really having to scratch my head as to the nearest of any of those.
The nearest record shop is probably HMV in Barnsley, 8.6 miles away.
The nearest proper off license, according to yell.com, is 4 miles away in Stocksbridge (Denby Dale Wine Ltd), although I've never been there.
And the nearest book shop, I now know, is 8.3 miles away in Denby Dale. It's a new and secondhand book shop that also specialises in maps. Up until two minutes ago I would have said the nearest book shop is either WH Smiths in Barnsley, or, if you don't count that, 13.3 miles away at Meadowhall shopping centre. Although another web search suggests there's a specialist military book shop somewhere in Barnsley. You live and learn, eh?
But Mr Hepworth, if the reason for this is to try to make us frequent our local shops you have probably succeeded, because it appears that Denby Dale Wines have some offers on and I'm a sucker for a secondhand book shop (and there's a fantastic homemade ice cream parlour on a farm on the way to Denby Dale).
Edinburgh again
Record Shop - 0.5 miles
Bookshop (second-hand job) - 0.2 miles (0.6 miles to a Waterstones)
Offy - 0.2 miles (but I think that might be going out of business - it's one of those chains - nearest independent is just up the road, so 0.3 miles)
Grand Cayman
Off-licence: about 2 miles
Book shop: the same
Record shop: not sure. There must be one in Jamaica, so about 2-300 miles.
No shops open on Sundays, and off-licence closes at 7. Bars shut at midnight on Saturday.
Barnet (North North London)
Record shop - 20 minutes drive :-(
Bookshop - 1.7 miles (Waterstones)
Off-licence - crikey, no idea, the nearest ones have all closed down within the last few months. seriously, I really don't know.
Tap water drinkers
That's why off licences are closing down! I jest Hannah. I've just seen your thread re drink up(sorry meet up) I'll get on that one in a mo'.
Cruden Bay, Aberdeenshire.....
Rural but we can get alcohol in the local shop.....500 yards.
Books and Records would both be 34 miles in Aberdeen but as I work there less than a mile from the office.
My wife's from Mintlaw, so I
My wife's from Mintlaw, so I know that area reasonably well. I seem to remember a small record shop in Peterhead, just off Queen Street (I think). Does it still exist?
Afraid not......
apart from a W H Smith you can't buy music in Peterhead any more.
Off topic but....
since the majority of you won't have heard of Cruden Bay.
Bram Stoker used to come here for his holidays and visited Slains Castle on some cliffs just outside the village and this was his inspiration for Dracula's Castle......alledgedly.
Seemples
Record shop - HMV Oxford 8 miles
Wine Merchant - Newly opened branch of Majestic in Abingdon 3 miles (not been in yet)
Bookshop - Abingdon town centre 3 miles. Independently owned that has regular signings etc
I'm a bit rural
But luckily my nearest sizeable town has a book shop.
a) 18 miles
b) 8.3 miles
c) 5.4 miles
Solihull
Record Shop - HMV - 3 miles
Book Shop - Choice of 2 - 3 miles
Off Licence - Michael's - 0.5 miles
Rural West Lancashire...
Record shop - about 9 miles away
Book Shop - about half a mile away
Off Licence - about a quarter of a mile away
Here in downtown Irvine, California...
a) the nearest record shop - 5.7 miles to the nearest "proper" record shop.
b) the nearest off-licence or wine merchant - no "offies" over here. We have "liquor stores." Nearest is 4.6 miles away.
c) the nearest book shop - is Barnes & Noble, 3.2 miles away.
Irvine California
Why is it that although I live in Central London I fancy living where you do? Is it that the grass is always greener on the other side?
Leafy Clapham
Record shop: Dub Vendor in Clapham Junction or Orbitone Records in Acre Lane both about 1.5 miles
Offie: 10 yards...we have a winner!
Bookshop: ¾ mile
Cardonald, Glasgow. (Southside, suburban)
a) 2.6 miles (HMV Braehead)
b) 0.4 miles (Victoria Wine)
c) 2.6 miles (Waterstons Braehead)
I also checked Fopp Renfield St - imagine my surprise when the first link that matches that is a previous post of mine here about a bargain!
Ten years ago, the record shop and bookshop would have been 4 miles (in the city centre) until Braehead Shopping Centre opened.
Old Portsmouth
Proper Offy is 0.87 miles. Osbourne Road in Southsea.
Crap bookshop and record shop both at Gunwharf. 0.4 miles. Proper bookshop and record shop in the centre of town, 1.2 miles. Second-hand bookshop run by odd bloke 1.2 miles in Albert Road. Second-hand record shop run by bloke who should know better and smells of interesting cigarettes 1.4 miles so a bit further down Albert Road.
2 miles to each
Give or take a couple of hundred yards. Majestic warehouse on the road into town, then the local Waterstone's, and turn right to the HMV. If you're looking for anyhing independent then you're talking petrol money.
Portland, Oregon
Using the similar Walkscore.com, and cheating for the record shop
a) At least 8 miles
b) 0.88 miles (Lamb' Groceries)*
c) 0.9 miles (Book Re-View Inc)
*We don't have Off licenses in Oregon - stores can sell beer and wine, but not spirits, and bottleshops can sell spirits, but not beer and wine. Luckily my local grocers has a bottleshop next door for all my spiritual needs.
Underground Overground Wombling Free
Record shop (HMV) and bookshops (Books Etc and Waterstones): 2.1 miles in Wimbledon high street
Offy, choice of two at .8 miles but not for long as they’re both Threshers.
I actually bought a CD in the HMV yesterday for the first time in a while. I must say it‘s changed a bit. First floor: chart CDs and DVDs, 2nd floor: other CDs (but not nearly as extensive as it once was, Wii and Rock Band and all that malarkey. You can try out that Beatles game. But, keen to maintain a shred of dignity, I didn’t.
Third floor: Art Cinema and bar. Looked nice, but I haven’t been yet. It’s the “flagship” for this new HMV? Curzon enterprise.
HMV Wimbledon
I ducked in there last Saturday to escape the rain. Was amazed to find that it was a cinema as well.
Funnily enough
a new record store (Vinyl Heaven) has just opened in our small town in NZ and just across the road from that is a very good book shop. About a hundred yards from there is quite a handy wine merchant. All are independents and they are about ten minutes walk from my house (or twenty if I walk up with the four year old).
I'm just outside Croydon...
...so I think it's about a mile and a half to all three.
Joy old Finchley
a) Record shop - I'm ashamed to say I haven't a clue, are there any still open? I drive to Rough Trade for a fix now and again 40mins away....is Flashback in Crouch End still open?
b) Majestic literally next door let's say 20 meters
c) Nearest book shop 0.6 miles.
Flashback, Crouch End
It is still open. It's the 2nd hand shop I referred to in my post up above. I was in it a few hours ago, but didn't buy anything today.
Down in Putney
Record shop : 400m away. I am lucky enough to be able to report it's a corker, as well - Soul Brother: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7074824.stm. There's an HMV in the town as well.
Offie - our local Wine Shop (just around the corner from Soul Brother) closed this week, so now it's a Nicolas about 700m away. Far too posh for the likes of me.
Book shop: there is a Waterstones in the town centre, about a mile away. Decent size too, although to my shame I never go in there. Books make up a huge proportion of my Amazon wish list that gets circulated as birthdays and Christmas approach, and that's how I tend to get them in.
So the above means I've got off pretty lightly, I think. Some of the distances being quoted on this thread are remarkable.
Fascinating to read some of these
Particularly as I used to live in Finchley and Putney. Now, however, in darkest Hertfordshire, I reckon I'd have to go to Enfield - 8 miles away - for music or books. Or Hatfield, but that's a bit further. There was an off licence a quarter of a mile away until this year. Now, not counting the two or three supermarkets where I would buy alcohol, I'd need to go a couple of miles to find a proper off licence.
Wilmslow
Books - about a mile (Waterstones)
Wine - the same (dunno who, never noticed)
Records - not in Wilmslow. I think the nearest is probably Sifters as immortalised by Oasis and that must be about 9 miles away
I live in the middle of nowhere
surrounded by fecking animals
16 kms to the nearest record store
7 kms to the nearest off-licence
16 kms to the nearest decent bookstore
Your name.....
I never realised your name was literal. Must be hell balancing up there day & night.
a) Nearest record shop -
a) Nearest record shop - Rough Trade East - 1.6 miles
b) Booze store - Wine Rack - 0.1 miles (probably less)
c) Bookshop - if it's art books only, then again less than 0.1 miles (bookshop at Wapping Project - it's in a greenhouse!), if it's general book store then Waterstones at Canary Wharf, which is 1.7 miles.
Also in the middle of nowhere
Nearest Wine Merchant: 1.3 miles
Nearest Bookshop: 30 miles
Nearest Record Shop: 30+ miles
South London Massive
a) is in Brixton Market catering to specialist requirements-2.6 miles Reggae, Dubstep etc.
b) Oddbins 0.43 miles
c) Dulwich Books 0.49 miles
Not so grim up north
a)independent record shop 2.8 miles, HMV 2.9 miles
b)independent off licence 0.5 miles, Oddbins 1 mile
c)second-hand bookshops 0.4 miles and 1 mile, or Waterstones 2.8 miles
near birmingham
a) 4.5 miles
b) 3.1 miles
c) 0.7 miles
But five years ago it used to be...
a) 0.7 miles
b) 0.1 miles
c) 0.7 miles
Are bookshops the next thing to face a decline, or has that already happened?
Rural Cheshire
If you can count a large second hand bookshop, a small second hand vinyl and CD shop and a microbrewery, I guess it's about 1.5 miles to the craft & antiques place at the other end of the village.
If you want new/non-remaindered books & music and wine, then 8 miles (WH Smith Runcorn), 11.5 miles (HMV Ellesmere Port), 3 miles (bargain booze type shop - never been in) respectively. (Or if I actually want to buy stuff, Amazon, Amazon, Laithwaites - all about 3cm from where my fingers are now.)
Sussex by the sea
Record shop: 5.9 miles
Off licence: 200 yards
Book shop: 0.6 miles
Queen of the Suburbs
or Ealing.
Record Shop: .4 miles (Sounds Original)
Offy: we tend to rely on Ocado (did I mention this is Ealing?)
Bookshop: 05 miles (It's a children's bookshop but they can order almost anything for next day)
Reading
Record Shop: about 2 miles (town centre (HMV))
Off-Licence: quarter of a mile (if the Co-op counts, otherwise about 20-30 more steps)
Bookshop: about 2 miles (town centre (Waterstones))
I'm not sure my bit of south London
has ever had 2 of these kinds of shops so this isn't a measure of what's been lost because they were never here.
I doubt whether there's ever been a standalone off licence in the manner described. Off sales in times past came from pubs until the rise of the convenience store.
My nearest convenience store sells a huge range of beer and wine .
So 200 yards
Bookshops again I doubt one has ever graced the high st however because of the good mix of people locally the book I'm reading (hardback history 2008 review copy?) is from a charity shop so:
250 yards
We did use to have records shops in fact the place where the terms "Northern Soul" and "Deep soul" where most likely coined was at the bottom end of the High st. I also get stacks of vinyl from the flea market so 100 yards.
However trying to buy the new doves lp early in the years (a previous post) I had to go to central London to buy it which probably means HMV on oxford st so
5 Miles.
so
beer off: our version 200 yards suburban variety 1 mile
bookshops: 250 yards regular variety 1 mile
Record shop: flea market 100 yards, second hand 1 mile, cheryl cole HMV 5miles
Enfield, North London
Record shop: HMV 1 mile ( although the cds are reduced to racks along one side of the shop.)
Book shop: Waterstone's 1 mile directly opposite the HMV.
Offy: less than 200 yards
Who was it who said they kept reading about the dangers of drinking?They were so scared they decided to give up reading.
Crosby, Merseyside
Wine Shop, T&C Wines: 50 yards*
Book shop: The wonderful independent Pritchard's, Crosby Village 1 mile
Records: Alas Liverpool city centre, probably the massive HMV in Liverpool One complex, although Probe only another 300 yards on top of that.
*Don't know what it's like elsewhere, but there must be about 15 offys within a mile radius and only two decent pubs.
Depends
In St Albans, I used to live within 50 yards of half a dozen pubs, and 500 yards of the town center with everything else. Now that was quality of life. 100 pubs within the town limits and 15 odd curry house, all in walking distance.
Now in Sydney, I have a great wine store about 1km (0.6m) away, and record/book stores about 2-3km (1-1.5m) away. Not sure you'd necessarily find everything you want in there though. No decent curry houses for miles though.
Fairplay Mr Hep
Wine shop - Im (I'm calling Waitrose a wine shop as it's one of the best for booze).
Bookshop - 1m
Record shop - 1.5m Crouch End.
The fairplay I refer to is that you have a download facility on this very site. I'm very pleased you chose not to include it.
Books & record shops are under very serious threat from the www.
Off licences have also been killed off by the corner shop and supermarkets. Is it me or is it true that off licences in the old fashioned sense always seemed to charge over the odds for booze? I can never remember ever thinking to myself 'off to a festival' which off licence shall we go to for the booze. It's only really good for that xmas gift boxed special wine or malt. If you like your wine and you have a decent off licence then that's great but I can see why 'Threshers' for example hasn't managed to keep going.
Norwich
Off-licence - 5 mins (for now, until it's killed off after the odious Tesco build an unwanted nearby Metro that they have used a flawed planning process to gain permission for at something like the eighth attempt.)
Record shop and book shop - both around a mile and a half in the city centre, the former is pretty well now just two HMVs and one Borders (plus some fairly tatty second-hand places), the latter the usual chain suspects plus one local department store's very large book area. Twenty years ago the distance would have been pretty much the same, but there would have been a far wider choice involving a good number of more independent retailers.
Unwanted...
but I bet everyone will use it when it opens ;-)
Most people not "everyone"
a Tesco opened on our high st I've not been in yet nor never will. (wouldn't if it was a sainsburys, morrisons, asda etc neither)
Maybe not everyone...
but sadly rather a lot as there's a lot of students here and the concept of two Co-op branches on the same street means nothing.
Of course, all this is in addition to the recently-opened city-centre Metro, the two other central sites that Tesco are reported to be eyeing in Norwich and the other various branches in the area...
Leeds
a) 1.5 miles - HMV, Crash, Jumbo, my cup nearly filleth over!
b) 900yds - the lovely co-op!
c) 1.5 miles - Waterstones, Borders, WHSMith - although to be honest my nearest local book store is but a click away, Amazon!
blimey, Crash and Jumbo are still going??
That makes me happy. Used to shop there in 1993!! Is Vinyl Tap still around?
Chiswick (west London)
a) Music store 0.5 miles - the glorious Dada. I sleep soundly at night knowing I'm never more than half a mile from unexplored Gong, Alberta Cross, Family and Can albums
b) Off licence 0.2 miles (although the equidistant Threshers has now closed)
c) Bookshop 0.3 miles - Waterstone's
Balham/Tooting Bec
Record shop: Approx 0.6 miles (a reggae/soul record shop in Balham that I don't frequent. Don't even know where the nearest shop is that caters more to my tastes). There used to be a record shop in Balham that sold exclusively soul and country music - sadly no more.
Off licence: about 100 yards (the excellent Wine Junction, near Ritherdon Road)
Bookshop: about half a mile (the equally excellent My Back Pages near Balham station).
Streatham
1) Record shop. None in the area. Nearest HMV is either Wimbledon Broadway or Croydon Central. 4 miles.
2) Off licence - plenty on Streatham High Street. 200 yards from my street.
3) Bookshop - couple of charity ones and a WH Smith if that counts. Nearest decent second hand one is on Cold Harbour lane, Brixton. 2.4 miles. Or a Waterstones in Wimbledon.
For a large residential area Streatham is poorly served by high street shops. Oh yes, you can pick up a case of Carlsberg at all hours of the night and you can get anything from plastic clothes pegs to mobile phone chargers in the kasbah area just south of St Leonards Church. But if you want the literary classics or the works of Bob Dylan then get on the bus mate.
Littery classics
I guess that nice second-hand bookshop on Sunnyhill Rd is long-gone then.
*sigh*
But do check out My Back Pages - that's surely nearer than Brixton.
Walthamstow
Walthamstow.
Book shops - 'remainder' shop (very good) and Waterstones; 0.3 miles
Record shops - pretty poor independent and desperate, truly desperate, HMV; 0.3 miles
Offie - now you're talking, no idea.
We've got the best pie 'n' mash shop in London but anyone out there got a cinema we could have?
Borough of Waltham Forest Borough......residents 250,000, cinemas 0.
I've been trying to see 'An Education', with a tenner in my hand ready for the transaction, for over a month now.
A dog stadium would be nice 'n' all..............
The " best pie 'n' mash shop in London"
is a bold claim!
re: cinema maybe the partial solution is a film club in pub like the one we got to in Crystal Palace. Set up partly to make the case for reopening the cinema but also just to show good films locally.
Oh and for your tenner you can treat a friend!
http://www.crystalpalacepictures.com/
Cowley (Oxford)
(a) 5 miles
(b) 0.5 miles (Threshers) next nearest would be 5 miles
(c) 5 miles unless WH Smith counts, in which case it would be calculated in yards.
Dooraoyle, Limerck
a) HMV 850m
b) Bookshop 1Km
c) For Booze....
Tesco 1.1Km
Corner shop 1.3Km
Off-Licence 1.6Km
Frederiksberg, Denmark
a) Fona 2km
b) Wine Emporium 200m
c) Bookshop (selling good selection of English books) 4km
Bitterne Park, SOuthampton
Bookshop: October Books, Portswood (a worker's cooperative) 1.3 miles
Records: HMV, Above Bar 2.5 miles
Off licence: a number of general shops within 500 yards or so: Tesco Express, Co-op, Premier Newsagents but a dedicated off licence is harder to find. There's the excellent specialist Bitter Virtue for beers and ales from all over the world (1 mile) but I can't think of a stand-alone full range off licence within easy reach. I think Thresher's has closed.
Glasgow west
from the suburbia of jordanhill I am
* 2 miles from Fopp (going downhill under HMV but still a bit of a gem)
* bookshop 1.4 miles, in Hyndland (deserate measures only not that well stocked)
* offy 1.3 - the joys of Peckhams, good booze and food side by side.
Not bad actually - makes me wonder why I take the car all the time.
"The Greens" Dubai
The most comically-deceptive named place in one of the most comical countries in the world , The Greens is in fact a giant construction site studded with half-completed (and now, mostly abandoned) embryonic skyscrapers, office blocks. I'm in a hotel apartment somewhere amidst the rubble and dust. I am here for a temporary work contract.
I can't walk anywhere, unless I want to walk to another hotel or building site. But I can get a taxi to the Mall Of The Emirates (the one with a giant indoor ski slope bolted to its side), which is 0.5miles away.
There, I can "avail" of a fairly dull Virgin Megastore (which had oddly turned into a sort of giant gadget and novelty shop last time I was there).
I can then visit Borders, up on the second floor, next to the noisy food court that serves the Cinestar multiplex. Should I be in the mood for a little racy bedtime reading, I could of course head to Magrudy's, where 'Mein Kampf' (in English and Arabic) is always available.
And if I had a booze permit - which permits nonMuslims a monthly allowance, based on salary - I could go to the anonymous, grey warehouse round the back of most malls and supermarkets. This is the approved offy, basically a booze cash and carry. Again, there's one at the Mall. However, one is allowed a maximum of four bottles of any booze upon arrival at Dubai airport.
Sheffield - edge of the peaks
Record Collector 2.4 miles
Wine Rack (though not for long maybe, eh?) 0.4 miles
Blackwells (and a couple of others) 2.4 miles
Chelmsford - Cultural vacuum
HMV - 2 miles
Majestic - 1.5 Miles
Waterstones 2 miles
Local library - 2 miles
Majestic wins!
Market Harborough
a) Sadly, both of Harborough's record shops have bitten the dust in 2009, meaning Leicester is probably the nearest place - about 15 miles. The mighty Ultima Thule is happily still trading just outside the station there, which reminds me that a visit is overdue.
b) 0.5 miles - Majestic opened up just last month
c) 0.5 miles - Waterstones and Quinn's