GIVE US THE BACKGROUND - WHEN AND WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO OPEN A RECORD SHOP?

After leaving college, I worked at Music and Video Exchange and then Reckless Records where I became manager of one of their stores. I hit a glass ceiling there and decided that to proceed further I’d have to set up on my own. That was nearly 20 years ago now, and I now have three shops in North London. I’ve never seriously considered anything else. I try to minimise the management aspect so I can do what I love which is buying and selling records. Even after 30 years in the business, nothing gives me greater pleasure than someone bringing in a pile of records to sell to Flashback. You never know what might be there and the more you know about music, the more you realise you don’t know, so it is a constant process of discovery. There was a record released on the Immediate label in the late 60s called "Happy To Be Part Of The Industry Of Human Happiness” and i think that just about sums up what I feel about running record shops. The vast majority of people I encounter, whether customers or staff, love music and love record shops.