barclaycon

Great picture Cliff. Exactly as I remember it. Most record departments were like this. In fact, at places like Rediffusion - even though it was tiny, people used to start dancing. Boots was a big record retailer, as was Woolies (primarily the Top 20). Lots of furniture shops also used to stock records because record players in cabinets were regarded as objet d'art, so it seemed logical that if you were going to buy a piece of Hi-Fi in a nice walnut cabinet, then you'd probably also want a few records to go with it. My Dad seemed to have an uncanny knack in the 60's of finding places that

It's unbelievable really that there are no more record shops. Even 10 years ago you would never have thought it would have declined so quickly. But, then again, who would have predicted that the music from a room full of records could now be easliy stored on a plastic stick no bigger than your thumb.

That Virgin Store on King Street went down in history as being the place where the word 'Bollocks' was made legal ! They had displayed the Sex Pistols album 'Never Mind The Bollocks' in the window and the police told them to take it down. The store manager contested the decision and it got taken to court. The judge found in Virgin's favour and ruled that 'bollocks' wasn't an offensive word and was instead in 'common parlance'.

The French and the Germans still have a culture of sending freight around the country by railway, and, relatively speaking, the passenger fares are affordable. The Italian rail system is in a shocking state - apart from a few prestige lines like Rome to Milan. Most of the other lines are fairly slow due to the state of the infrastructure, but again, the fares are reasonable. It's more the fact that other countries value their rail networks as important conduits for goods and enabling people to move around. We lost all of that in the 60's, 70's and 80's, culminating in rail privatisation wh

We don't need HS2. I don't believe it will ever be built. Network rail can't even afford to complete current rail projects (which only really amount to maintenance !) and if they are able to get billions of pounds for projects like HS2, wouldn't it be better spent upgrading the current rail network? My brother lives in Breaston and he receives no end of publicity, predictions and proposals about HS2. Quite frankly they are laughable. The billions that HS2 is going to add to the economy ? Not based on any facts and figures - just aspirations. The Northern Powerhouse? Where would that be

Bowie did some fantastic stuff - no doubt about it. But he also made a few turkeys along the way as well! I think I'm right in saying that his most successful album was 'Let's Dance'. Great songs, great playing, great production - and his voice was at the top of its game, but he actually tried to disown it a few years after. Maybe he was trying to be arty and 'left field'. The follow up album was garbage. It didn't sell anything like as well. I bet most people can't even remember the title. (Black Tie White Noise). I wasn't a fan of the 2013 album either.

Re #7. There was indeed some embarrassing crap. but in general there was more superb stuff than not. Hence we are still listening to it 40 years later. Whenever I hear David Bowie pontificating about music, I think it's worth reminding him of some of his earlier efforts like 'The Laughing Gnome' and 'Rubber Band' (and maybe even Tin Machine !) He wrote a little dittie in 1967 called 'Over The Wall We Go' by Oscar (Paul Nicholas - real name Oscar Beuselinck) which was about all the prison breaks that were happening at the time. (All coppers are nanas....). Is that the kind of stuff you wer

Yes it does. So does 'Air On A G string'. Both pieces ('I Stand With One Foot In The Grave' and 'Air') were 'borrowed' by Matthew Fisher who was a music student and called on his knowledge of classical music to create something 'Bach-like'. Still sounds great. They did have other hits, as Ian has pointed out, but nothing of the magnitude of 'Whiter Shade Of Pale'. While watching that BBC 4 programme you become aware of the sheer quality of the music - almost all of which I can remember after 40 odd years. I had the same feeling when watching that Peter Kaye 'Car Share' thing when they ar

That was really interesting. Great to get an insight from someone who knows the subject. The price of imported coal must be incredibly cheap if it's better to transport it all that way - than use stuff that's mined locally. Or is it simply the fact that coal itself is becoming uneconomic ? Hard to get definitive answers.

Whatever happened to 'clean-burn' coal ? If there's one thing we still have lots of it's coal. AND we still have power stations using it - with all the infrastructure already there. Wind power isn't going to fulfil our needs. Nuclear is going to be expensive (if EDF have got anything to do with it). If they had developed the technology like they said they were going to, then they wouldn't have had to shut down perfectly usable, reliable power stations because they didn't meet EU regulations. Every time I go past Ratcliffe it's working full tilt. (I know some of it is gas, but mainly it's

Russia doesn't have the money. Even if they did have the cash they are severely restricted by waht they can trade in Euros and Dollars because of the sanctions. Unless Greece decides to ditch the Euro for the Rouble.

I'd heard of 'The Borlase', but not The Beer and Lace (!)

In the world of Railway books and memories based on train travel, Ian Allan was a giant. He has left a tremendous archive and a massive following for steam trains and railway history in general. The obituary in the Daily Telegraph was most interesting. I knew that he was a prominent Mason and had a shop which sold Masonic regalia in Covent Garden opposite the Grand Lodge. I didn't know that he'd lost a leg. Some of the books he published created quite a stir and proved that he was 'in the know' about a lot of transport and defence subjects. A most interesting man. R.I.P.

He was very good at that 'laid-back' kind of style. Not particularly my cup of tea, but oviously immensely popular and he did sell tons of records. I recall his version of 'Elusive Butterfly' as being particularly good. R.I.P.

Microsoft always say that the latest version of Windows is the best ever. I don't think they've really learnt their lesson yet. Coercing people to use their products, and forcing them to believe they are great won't cut it anymore. If you've used Windows update in the last few months you will more than likely have a little icon in your toolbar that expands at regular intervals to tell you to reserve your copy of Windows 10. If you do decide to go down that road then be prepared for your printer, scanner etc. to stop working and for all your software to need updating or replacing. It will a

#7 Yes but unfortunately the last 3 attrocities - Grenoble, Kuwait, Tunisia WERE all religiious nutters. Cowardly acts by scumbags who think that they are going to heaven to claim their 72 virgins. Apparently the thing that THEY fear the most is being killed by a woman! The idiot redneck in Charleston who killed all those people is no less heinus, but again it's the fact that he could get hold of automatic weapons that is most frightening.

It is totally indefensible in any ideology to kill innocent, unsuspecting people like this - particularly holidaymakers. What a pathetic excuse for a human being to even consider such a thing. Unfortunately, these stupid, ignorant freaks of nature are able to get hold of automatic weapons and carry out the will of some hate preacher in the name of Islam. Everybody is getting increasingly fed up of these cowardly, heinus acts that only serve to increase hatred between people. All we should be hearing from religious leaders and anyone else with influence is utter condemnation. No 'buts', no

Two things I always hated for school dinner. One was liver, the other was beetroot in vinegar - which tasted horrible and permanently stained everything that it came into contact with! There's lots of things that I've never encontered since. Things like turnip, swede, semolina and sago. One thing that I did really like though: roast potatoes.

Re #82 It's been a while since I was in Loughborough, but having gone to college there in the 70's and seen it develope over the years, I imagine that the large student population has determined the high number of shops / fast food outlets. I know that at one time Loughborough had more pubs per square mile than any other town in England. They were still building more when I left - with new developments out towards Hathern (including a Davenports pub). As an impoverished student I learnt the technique of turning up to bakeries about 5.30 p.m. to get the stuff that they were chucking away. I

The public will go wherever they can get a reasonable deal. Most of us go to out-of-town shopping centres because the city centres are too much trouble now. City centre shops are too expensive because of high business rates and ridiculous rents levied by the council. The 'shopping experience' where you might just have a look around has been killed off. You can't take the car in because it's been made difficult to do so and the parking charges are ludicrous. The public transport alternative is too expensive and there's very little attraction anyway. The strategy and forward planning of the

I am absolutely certain that the Work Place Parking Levy was a major factor in the Boots decision. Stupid, moronic, inept local government bollocks that has had precisely the opposite effect to what was intended. I heard over a year ago that Boots' parent company was looking to get out of Nottingham completely and move all those operations to Asia. When I saw the headline this morning, I just thought it was the start. There will be no major employers left in Nottingham. And anyway what else are you going to go into city centre for ? To have a coffee ? A sandwich at Pret ? The shops are to

Announced today. I wonder if this is the beginning of the exodus from Nottingham that has been predicted for a while. Apparently half the jobs going are in Notts - particularly Beeston.

Blatter is a loathesome little man who thought that he 'owned' football. Greasing palms was the way to keep himself in charge - but it all went too far and now he's about to get his just desert. I had to laugh at the Northern Ireland game against Qatar last week where the thousands in the crowd waved £10 notes at the pitch and chanted about bribery.

This site is pure gold in terms of re-connecting with Nottingham and past memories. So much of the internet now is over-commercialised to the point that it makes you not want to interact at all. I go to considerable lengths not to let out personal details because they will be ruthlessly exploited to then bug me and try in every way to get me to part with money. So, it's great to be part of something that isn't a money-making venture but is actually enjoyable and stimulates the grey cells. I dislike social media intensely and don't have anything to do with Facebook, Twitter or the like. Th

It's not so much that it's in need of replacement. It's what they will replace it with. Like I say, I'm sure that things will decay to the point that most of the buildings will have to be pulled down, but then it will just be left looking like a bombsite The city planners should be formulating a plan, canvassing the local area, and looking at what Nottingham actually needs - and they should be doing that now. But unfortunately they lack the imagination and the will to take responsibility. I too remember what Alfreton Road was like years ago. It was never posh, but it was a hive of activi