Part of the ‘Past to Present’ series from Jemverse
Saturdays in the seventies and me in middle teens caught the bus oft into Brighton forty-nine from Southwick Green then went up to the Clock Tower through the door and up the stairs to listen to the music long on cushions sprawled up there Virgin Records, ah those halcyon days for some a misspent youth but the music that I heard has brought a lifetime hence of truth
©Jemverse
Photo – from one in the authors’ collection
[Virgin Records moved into the building on the corners of North and Queens Roads by Brighton’s Clock Tower early in 1973. Next door was the old Regents Cinema, by then empty and disused. Both buildings were demolished in 1974 to make way for a new building now housing Boots the Chemist. Curved and on the corner, Virgin Records (the second in the country after London’s Oxford Street branch) was a three-quarters circle with a further semi-circle on a raised level behind. This raised level was covered with floor cushions with headphones for private listening. For a return fare of 20p I could take the 49 bus from the Green in Southwick (where I lived at the time) into Brighton where most Saturday mornings were spent lounging on Virgin’s listening floor cushions simply soaking up the sounds].
Jemverse 