I had queues down the street as I opened my new record shop in Sunderland

Roker Records has been brought to the city by long-time vinyl collector Iain Wakefield who’s taken his passion for the format to the next level with the new shop in Fulwell Road.

It’s one of the few independent record shops in the city, including Hot Rats in Waterloo Place, and is the only one north of the river after opening in the unit which was most recently occupied by Pied.

It’s small in size, but Iain has managed to fill the shop with thousands of LPs covering all manner of genres, from Taylor Swift’s new The Life of a Showgirl to vintage The Stranglers.

Iain moved to Sunderland ten years ago and has become part of the local music scene in that time, spinning records at Mexico 70 on Saturday nights and at events at The Fire Station.

With his personal collection reaching 5,000 and with his dad’s background in selling vinyl at record fairs around the country, Iain decided to launch Roker Records.

He opened the doors for the first time on Saturday and said the response exceeded his expectations - and he’s even had support from the likes of Lauren Laverne and George Clarke on his social platforms.

“The first day was amazing on Saturday, word had got around, but I was surprisingly busy on the Sunday, too,” said Iain who is running the shop on weekends as he juggles it with his career as a landscape architect.

“Vinyl is now the biggest format for physical music,” added Iain who’s been championed in his new venture by the Sunderland Music City team. “It’s great to be part of the music community here, no matter the size of the shop.

“People like to be able to come in, talk about the music, buy records and get some recommendations of other music to try.

“It also sparks so many memories for people. A lot of people are now buying back records they once had that they got rid of when CDs came in.

“I’ve lived in Sunderland for ten years now and it’s so different to how it was even then, with so much investment and independents opening up.”

He added: “A good record shop is one that turns stock over so I really wanted to get the pricing right.”

Records for sale are a mix of new vinyl as well as records from Iain’s collection and other collections he’s bought.

Pricing starts from around £3 for some second-hand records to £200 for a first press. Meanwhile, new records are priced from around £15-£18.

*Roker Records, Fulwell Road, is open Fridays and Saturdays from 9am to 5pm and Sundays from 10am to 4pm.

*Iain also buys record collections. You can contact him via [email protected]