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I'm going to buy a plane ticket to visit London, between August 13 to 25. I'm thinking of staying mostly around Zone 1 and 2 with the Oyster Pass/card but I'll definitely try to go see the Transmission store in Margate on one of those days. I don't think I'll shop records that much since I'm traveling light, but do you guys have any tips for things to visit, things to know about the place, customs I should know about ? any Event I should attend ?

Also, I am thinking of staying at a hostel but if you guys have any tips for a place to stay or if one of you has a Airbnb type deal, let me know.

Late reply but I think you should find plenty to do. Have not really been out in London for a while but I would check out East London around Shoreditch area, loads of great little things going on, lots of places to eat and drink.

Spitalfields market is worth a walk through in the day. Around the south bank centre is nice too and there can be some good things going on here aswell the BFI (British film institute) is here too which can show some great old movies. The Barbican has some good events also and is a nice visit if you are into brutalist architecture.

I'm sure there is a ton more to do.

Just remember to let people off the tube before getting on. ;)

Berwick Street and surrounds in Soho for record buying, otherwise you're looking at Spitalfields/Brick lane Rough Trade/Sister Ray etc for further vinyl shopping... and yeah if you can get down to Margate and back in a day (from Victoria or St Pancras) be great to tick Transmission off your list and take in some salty air! :)

May I ask an ignorant question? Well ignorance has never stopped me before so I'll just plow on. What is Margate like? As in, what kind of a town is it? My very distant impressions of it are that it's less of a laid back seaside village and more of a touristy boardwalk destination. But I really have no idea.

@Mateo

I've not been myself yet but I think it's a bit of both, but with the remnants of a derelict ghost town, which has since been partly revived by the likes of transmission and others.

@Mateo

Only speak from my own experience, but as Dollarhyde suggests, Margate is one of those one time popular English seaside destinations - chiefly for its Dreamland amusement park when I was a kid in the 80s - that for a long while (like Dreamland itself) lapsed into dereliction and disrepair.

However, from my experience of a friend from London buying there a year or so ago, it is now slowly on the up, with folks moving down from the city attracted by far more affordable prices... I'm sure this will also attract the property developers.

The affordability (for now) has meant it attracts creative types and it gets regularly described as 'Shoreditch on sea'....i.e it's a formerly less desirable area that has been made partly more desirable by artists, musicians and the like. So, a mix of the run down and properties in the process of regeneration. The group Gorillaz held a big festival in June and more bands are being attracted there so I would guess it is in danger of becoming 'trendy' (?)

That was then:


This is now (with added Kim & Spencer):

I appreciate the background and context, fellas. I'm mobile at the moment, Spun, so I can't watch the vids just yet, but I will look forward to them. Chin chin!

Thanks for the advices Dollarhyde and Spun ! I didnt have much time to sit down and answer before but I just embarked on the train to margate. I had time to walk around in the last week, I did visit the Berwick street and Spitalfield market. Didnt buy any records but I loved visiting the stores. Had a look at rough trade, its super nice. They had a couple of titles in their sale bin like "torso" from Dagored, a couple of others, if I didnt have them already I would have picked up a few. Most store were stocked mostly on new soundtrack releases, a couple of older releases here and there but since I'm pretty up to date, nothing I grabbed yet. probably will grab a japanese pressing or something at transmission though.

NathanLurker wrote:Thanks for the advices Dollarhyde and Spun ! I didnt have much time to sit down and answer before but I just embarked on the train to margate. I had time to walk around in the last week, I did visit the Berwick street and Spitalfield market. Didnt buy any records but I loved visiting the stores. Had a look at rough trade, its super nice. They had a couple of titles in their sale bin like "torso" from Dagored, a couple of others, if I didnt have them already I would have picked up a few. Most store were stocked mostly on new soundtrack releases, a couple of older releases here and there but since I'm pretty up to date, nothing I grabbed yet. probably will grab a japanese pressing or something at transmission though.

How was Transmission? Would really love to visit them at one point. Did you end up grabbing some vinyl?

Hey Bez ! sorry for the late response. I haven't been on the forum since my return. I did pick up a few things at Transmission ! I couldn't shake hands with Spencer though, he was busy working elsewhere, but I spoke with Kimberley who was working at the counter with their chihuahuas. I wish I had realized when I was there that she's the artist for the Forbidden World artwork, I'm just realizing now. I stayed there a bit to chat and pet the dogs and check the stock. It's a nice store, I feel like their stock is carefully picked to create their store identity.
Also, just on the side of Transmission there's a nice biological food grocery/coffee shop where they make a really good bread with mushroom on top, if you like that stuff, it was SO good. The place is called the Grain Grocer.

And here's what I picked up there : I had it shipped to me by mail though. no way I was going to carry that around on my travel and through customs etc.

That is awesome, Nathan. Also, that is probably the most comprehensive picture I've seen of Transmission as well; usually just a shelf or the floor.