Founded 1952 by Morris Hunting after a humiliation at a competing shop called Mansell’s. At 99-102 Bromsgrove Street, on the corner of Bristol Street, since 1972. Owned by Lee Dearn with brother Paul. Liam Scully has been on the counter for 47 years. Open Monday to Saturday, no Sundays, the way it has always been.
Over 100,000 records on the floor. Rock is the biggest section. Reggae, R&B, soul, country, flamenco, blues, calypso, ska and world music all stocked. Imports, deletions and rarities. Used and first-pressings the speciality. The wall posters of Beatles, Elvis Presley and Eddie Cochran came up with the shop in 1972 and they are not for sale.
walk in, flick throughMost independent record shops in Britain stopped buying 78rpm jazz and swing decades ago. The Diskery still curates an estimated 12,000 of them, alongside ‘Melody Maker’ magazines dating from 1947. Most are catalogued by Liam from memory rather than spreadsheet. For the serious 78 collector, one of the last places in the country you can walk in and buy a clean 1940s big-band side.
shellac, not vinylGenuine vintage wind-up gramophones, the horn-and-crank machines that played the 78s. Needles, replacement soundboxes, and the small consumables that keep a 90-year-old machine playing. Not a museum, working stock you can take home and use.
horn-and-crank“If I wanted to sell records on the internet, why own a record shop in the first place?” Records are sold the way Morris Hunting sold them in 1952: walk in, flick through, hand over money at the counter, leave with a paper bag. The website you are reading exists so you can find the shop. It is not a shop.
pay at the counterMorris Hunting’s ear for jazz built the original Diskery stock. Three quarters of a century later, the shop still curates an estimated 12,000 shellac 78s: trad jazz, swing, big band, modern jazz, country blues, music-hall, plus boxes of ‘Melody Maker’ magazines from 1947 onward. Most are catalogued by Liam from memory. If you want a particular 1940s side, walk in and ask, and you will leave with it or with a sensible plan for finding it.
We also stock working wind-up gramophones , horn-and-crank machines, needles, replacement soundboxes, the small consumables that keep a 90-year-old turntable playing. Not a museum. Stock you take home and use.
In 1952 Morris Hunting walked into a Birmingham record shop called Mansell’s. The owner ordered him to leave his bag at the counter, then said in front of the other customers, “so that I can see how many records you’re trying to steal.” Morris was furious. He never went back. When a road accident left him with a compensation cheque some time later, he used the money to open his own record shop on Moor Street , in direct competition with Mansell’s, with the explicit intention of showing Birmingham how a record shop should treat its customers.
Morris ran the shop until his death in 2012, at the age of 82. The shop moved exactly once, in 1972, the short distance from Hurst Street to the corner of Bromsgrove Street and Bristol Street where it has been ever since. Today it is owned by Lee Dearn with brother Paul. Liam Scully , who joined as a part-time art student in 1978 , is still on the counter. Danny Young runs the reggae section. The shop has outlived every chain record store in Britain.
THE DISKERY · BROMSGROVE STREET, BIRMINGHAM
“If I wanted to sell records on the internet, then why own a record shop in the first place?”Lee Dearn, owner
The Diskery has been selling records over the counter since 1952. We have no plans to change that. The website you are on is a way to find us, not a way to shop with us.
No, and that is the point. Lee Dearn put it this way in Long Live Vinyl in 2019: “If I wanted to sell records on the internet, why own a record shop in the first place?” The Diskery is an in-person shop. Walk in, flick through, hand over money at the counter, leave with a paper bag. The website you are on exists so you can find us, not so you can shop with us.
Yes. Walk in with a representative selection (a few crates, or photos) and Lee or Liam will value on the spot. We buy vinyl, CDs, 78s and the occasional collection of music memorabilia. We do not buy unseen and we do not do house clearances. For a larger collection, phone 0121 622 2219 ahead of time and we will set aside half an hour.
No. The Beatles, Elvis Presley and Eddie Cochran posters were already up when the shop moved to Bromsgrove Street in 1972. They came up with the shop. They are part of the shop. They are staying.
There are loading bays on Bromsgrove Street and short-stay bays on Bristol Street. The Arcadian car park is four minutes' walk north. Birmingham New Street station is five minutes' walk through the Bullring. The shop is on the corner directly opposite the Wellington pub.
Yes, we participate in Record Store Day, despite reservations about how the day's economics work for small shops. Allocations vary year to year. Queue from outside the shop on the morning of RSD, the same as every other RSD shop in the country. Stock is sold over the counter, first come first served.
The Diskery sits on the corner of Bromsgrove Street and Bristol Street, on the southern edge of Birmingham city centre. Five minutes' walk from New Street station through the Bullring, three minutes from the Hippodrome, directly opposite the Wellington pub.