Banbury independent record store earns national award

Chris Oakes, the record store's owner, said: "Strummer Room Records Banbury's only independent record store are honoured to have been awarded 'Record Store of the Month' by the Record Tokens Gift Voucher team.

"They were impressed with our diverse selection of brand new vinyl, second-hand LPs, CDs, DVDs and music-related books, and they loved our active social media profile promoting new music."

Record Token gift vouchers can be bought and redeemed at Strummer Room Records. They make an ideal gift for the music lover in your life, great for birthdays, Christmas present, work or school achievements...or simply as a token of appreciation.

During lock-down, they have also been busy converting what was their office / warehouse into a functioning record shop for re-opening on Monday April 12.

There have been a few major changes since they could last welcome walk-in customers. As well as relocating the business from the town centre to Banbury Business Village, they have opened accounts with all the major record labels and distributors and now specialise in brand new vinyl record releases, classic re-issues and also provide a pre-order service for forthcoming releases via their website.

They also continue to stock a large range of second-hand vinyl records, CDs and music-related books.

You can find Strummer Room Records at Unit F159, Cherwell Business Village, Southam Row, Banbury.

The record store was delighted to be invited to take part in Record Store Day, which this year is split over two dates, Saturday June 12 and Saturday July 17.

Record Store Day involves more than 200 independent record shops all across the UK that come together to celebrate their unique culture. Special vinyl releases are made exclusively for the day. Thousands more shops celebrate 'Record Store Day' around the globe in what’s become one of the biggest annual events on the music calendar.

Chris, who has lived in Bodicote for around 20 years, was also previously part of The Strummer Room Project, which promoted and hosted live gigs in Banbury, Oxford and Witney a few years ago.

The web business, www.strummerroom.com, specialises in new and second-hand vinyl records, cassette tapes, CD's and vinyl record cleaning products.

They also have a separate web page for a second-hand records here: https://www.discogs.com/seller/strummerroom/profileThey are also active on social media here is the link to their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/StrummerRoomRecords