46 Sydney Street

Image: © Simon Carey Taken: 24 Jul 2011

For a fair portion of the twentieth century this was one of two doctors surgeries on Sydney Street, the other being located at Image This one was run by Doctor Lumsden from 1908 to the mid 1950s after which the former surgery reverted to residential use before conversion to a shop in the late 1960s running through a succession of different outlets, many of which passed through briefly. A shop for camping equipment, Eurosport Ltd moved to Queens Road where its successor still trades today, a small DIY shop was probably undone by the growth of the larger superstores. Red Rat Records enjoyed a brief stint by trying the novel approach of renting out vinyl often accompanied by the purchase of a C90 tape which caused many close shaves with the courts. The shop vacated the street in 1986 moved briefly to the Seven Dials before finally closing down. It was followed by Vinyl Demand who had second hand record shops in most of the streets in the vicinity at one point or another and who later became Music Meltdown at Image during the 1990s. The onward march of technology meant one of the successors was a second hand computer games shop before they were replaced by Bell Book & Candle which specialised in esoteric material and other items needed for those wishing to become a witch. The shop amalgamated with a sister business, Hocus Pocus and moved toImage in 2008. The current occupants are Eco Logic Cool a general store for items of a green nature, ironically one such item is a fruit bowl fashioned out of a former vinyl long player. OCCUPANTS 1908-56: SURGERY: Dr Lumsden 1968-69: MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS: Bradley Rod Music 1970-75: CAMPING EQUIPMENT: Eurosport Ltd 1977-81: DIY SHOP: Ernies (1977-78), Brighton DIY (1980-81) 1984-86: RECORD SHOP: Red Rat Record Rentals Ltd 1987-95: SECOND HAND RECORDS: Vinyl Demand 1997-2001: LADIES WEAR: Dolly 2002-05: COMPUTER GAMES: G ametrader 2006-08: GIFT SHOP: Bell, Book & Candle 2008-11: ECO FRIENDLY STORE: Eco Logic Cool

Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0