LETTERS L
ETTER OF COMPLAINT REGARDING THE BEANOS RECORD SHOP Dear Madame Editor, I wish to complain about BEANOS the Record Shop. I went there last week and it wasn’t there. Now, I had come a long way on a bus which was absolutely filthy and full of noisy schoolchildren. The driver insisted that I show him my Freedom Pass although it is absolutely obvious to anybody but a fool that I would not be reduced to taking that most odious method of transport if I were in the position to pay for an alternative. Then, having arrived after being assaulted by the cacophony of squealing brakes,
It’s always nice to get a letter, and following last month’s STUFF Croydon special, we got this one...
police sirens and infernal car hooters which seem to accompany every urban journey, I made my way towards Surrey Street Market knowing I would be passing Middle Street, home of BEANOS Records, on my way. I was, therefore, absolutely astounded to see that there was no longer even an indication that BEANOS had ever existed. In its place there was the same wonderful old building but, where there had been signs for BEANOS, there was an advertisement for something called STAFF. Now, let me explain. I am a record man. I don’t mean I hold records for anything (although I was a bit of a sprinter in my time). No, I mean I still have all my LPs. To my mind there is
nothing to equal them. I did think about those CV things but, to be frank, my cassettes are just as good and, as far as this thing goes, that everyone seems to do, where they get music from the internet, unloading, I think it is called, that is just not for me. I would never have a computer or a mobile phone. We never had them in the past and we got on jolly well without them. BEANOS was the one shop where I could spend hours chatting to the pleasant staff and, often, allowing the younger members to profit from my profound knowledge of music. I have seen many a young eye widen when I explained the reasoning behind the Duke Ellington post-war line up and the prominence of the tenor