Bristol record fair organiser Roger Joffe

The fair at the Colston Hall has been running since 2010, before which Rudi Staffieri and I were running The Folk House fair for several years. We run five dates throughout the year, details of which you’ll find on our website, www.colstonhallrecordfair.co.uk  

I’ve always been involved in music related work, from running a record stall at Portobello in London in the late 1970’s, to roadying, singing in bands, DJ’ing, promoting, tour management for WOMAD and others throughout europe, and for the last five years working at Wanted Records in St Nicholas Market.

When you’re an avid collector and you’ve been attending car boot fairs and record fairs looking for illusive tunes for many years, it quickly occurs that ignoring the tunes you don’t want or already have is pointless if they can be traded for those you’re after. While at University in Kent, I used to travel into London with what I’d found and trade with the record shops for bits I was after, or simply sell them and fund my buying habits.

On one such trip, I was intent on covering the rent with what I sold, but came across the best collection of reggae I’d ever seen on a small detour to a shop on my way home. I remember spending all I had and wondering where I was going to get more money to buy what I’d left, the rent problem took a back seat.

The Colston Hall record fair is almost certainly the biggest free entry event of its kind in the UK. It’s not a profit making venture and I believe that’s appreciated by those that attend. Our event in December was the best attended event we’ve held so far, with layers of buyers at each stall all morning.

Bristol has a rich musical history and an avid record buying population. If anything, that number has increased over the last few years. Combined with the closure of many record shops in favour of online trading, the shops and live events that persist have seen the benefit. Records are such tactile things, it’s simply not the same buying online, buyers like to see what they’re buying, check the condition for themselves before buying, and listen to records they might not know.

Part of the problem of long term collecting, assuming you have any musical taste, is that your taste becomes more refined whilst the more easily obtained titles come your way, leaving a wants list of increasingly expensive titles. Occasionally, you have a windfall, I once bought a £1,000 obscure folk album for 30p in a village auction. Most of the time you’re in a battle to find the really rare titles with the many collectors who share similar tastes and are yet to find that particular album.

Top of my wants list right now is a rare South-African album called SPRING, by the Chris Schilder Quintet (Atlantic City label from1969). I’ve never even seen one, only heard it, so anyone out there who might have it please let me know.

I think vinyl is in a very healthy place at the moment. It will outlive the CD, a format many record collectors feel no more affection for than the cassette of old. It’s not something easy to explain to the download generation, though increasing numbers are discovering the pleasure of vinyl for themselves.

(Photo at Wanted Records, by Joe Pymar)