Queues at Worcester record store as Record Store Day kicks off

The first person arrived for the event at Rise in Worcester's CrownGate at 1.45am even though doors didn't open until 8am.

Others joined the queue from 5am onwards for the chance to buy one of 600 limited edition records that were released at the store as part of the day.

Record Store Day was started eight years ago in America to promote vinyl and is one day a year when limited edition vinyl records are released only to independent stores and often live music played within the stores.

Tom George, the store's manager, said: "We've had a fantastic day.

"It's better than last year in terms of the releases and the amount of people who have been down.

"The first one came at 1.45am this morning and he had about 30 titles he wanted.

"Others joined the queue at 5am and 6am this morning and they were queuing out of CrownGate.

"Staff came down from Coffee Dough and did waitress service for the queue."

He added: "Record Store Day was introduced when record shops were struggling a bit and people released these limited edition records you could only get at these independent record shops.

"It seems to have worked quite successfully and every year it's grown and grown.

"It's a once yearly event and it's done as a celebration almost now. "

Among those playing at the store was singer/songwriter Nerrina Pallot and a solo stint by Jim Lockey.

Russ Mather, who runs a vinyl-only event in Worcester called Revolution, was at the store and said he wanted to support the independent stores.

He said: "This is really useful for us as there are a lot of records that get released exclusively today.

"I'm looking for an EP by Aquilo.

"I think it's great for bands to come down and get seen by people who wouldn't usually see them."

Ben Crane said he was looking for around ten records including a David Bowie release.

He said: "It's great that I live near a proper record shop like Rise, there's more choice here."