Record Shop Story #4: Olaf's Record Store, Sevenoaks
A record shop owned by a former punk, a music journalist and an electronics engineer is a bastion of eccentric creativity and eclectic finds
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Sevenoaks, south-east of London, isn’t the first place you’d expect to find an indie record shop that’s been universally given five stars on Google – let alone one as curious as Olaf’s Record Store.
‘I guess you’d better like orange if you come in here’, I say to Olaf Parker, co-owner of Olaf’s. ‘Or hate it’, he quips back, in his dry, soft-spoken manner. He doesn’t worry whether people like the paint scheme or not – but he’s pleased it makes an impression.
I’ve never been to Olaf’s before, but it piqued my interest on Instagram. The clashing orange and red shopfront, with its rounded Courier font, looks like it could just as easily be from 1974 as 2024. It hints at glorious eccentricity within.
‘It’s a bit nuts,’ says Olaf, of the shop’s eclectic look and feel, adorned with geometric lamp shades and vintage bric-a-brac. ‘This is kinda what my house is like, too - a bit ramshackle, a bit of fun. I figure if the shop is visually interesting, it makes you want to go in.’
I’m proof that this approach has worked - Olaf’s has lured me to Sevenoaks via its photos on social media. But it’s just as striking when you see it in situ on the fairly conservative high street in Sevenoaks – a commuter town in Kent that’s infamous for losing six of its (former) seven iconic oak trees in the hurricane that struck Britain in October 1987.
In the window, there’s a homemade A4 poster with a QR code that takes you to the story of ‘The Beatles in Sevenoaks’. The page explains how the Fab Four recorded the rather chilly-looking videos for ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ and ‘Penny Lane’ in the grounds of the National Trust-owned Knole House, just around the corner, in January 1967.
Sevenoaks is proving more rock ’n’ roll than I had expected - and Olaf’s seems to be at the centre of all that is interesting.
Drawers full of 45s
Olaf’s is the only record shop in town and, as such, caters for a broad range of tastes. From jazz to punk to electronica, there’s much to get stuck into here, made up of about eighty per cent second-hand records and twenty per cent brand-new vinyl.
‘The only thing we don’t stock much of is classical,’ Olaf points out. That aside though, my rummage through the racks reveals that you’re guaranteed to find some interesting stuff here. If there’s a small criticism, it’s that the racks are so packed with goodies that you need to work at them, rather than casually flipping through the sleeves.
I’m particularly struck by the number of 45s in stock, with punk, new wave, indie, rock, reggae, soul, funk and disco 7-inches neatly organised in drawers that pull out below the LP racks. I spend so long digging through the low-down soul and funk drawer, turning up a whole host of treasures from as little as £1 each, that my knees are creaking when I go to stand up again. But that’s my problem, not Olaf’s…
Discovering a rare Nirvana
All the stock comes from people in the area selling unwanted collections. This makes it even more impressive that the shop’s stock is as diverse as it is.
‘You never know what’s going to walk through the door,’ says Olaf, ‘which makes it such good fun.’ While I’m there, a guy pulls up outside and beckons Olaf to go and take a look through the collection in his car boot. I’m sure there’s a kerbside deal to be done...
There are some rarities on the walls, including first pressings of Prince Buster’s I feel the spirit LP and the Zippo-cover original of The Wailers’ Catch a fire (a ‘grail’ record that also came up when I visited Tenpin Records in Purley). The latter is up for a reasonable-sounding £90 but, as Olaf says, despite the vinyl playing well enough, the cover is a bit battered. So it hasn’t found a home just yet.
‘I like to be straight-up with people who bring in collections,’ Olaf continues. ‘I split them into the records I’m interested in, the ones they should take to a charity shop, and the more collectable ones they could list on eBay or Discogs if they want to get a bit more for them.’
‘A lot of people don’t want the extra hassle though. Someone brought in a 1989 white vinyl pressing of Nirvana’s Bleach recently. That’s a super rare record – apparently only around 300 genuine ones in the world – and someone had won this in a competition in Select magazine, and never even played it. I said I knew a customer who would pay around £300 for it, but that I could offer the seller £100 for it there and then. He knew he could have got more selling it himself, but was happy just to get it out of his cupboard for a hundred quid. Needless to say, the guy who I had in mind was over the moon when I told him what had come in for him.’
Born out of the Blank Generation
I’m curious to know how Olaf got into owning a record shop in Kent. He says his first real musical love was for punk, then reggae, and I ask which record shops have influenced him.
‘As a teenager, I used to spend a lot of time hanging around on the King’s Road in London, and ended up working on Jock McDonald’s record stall in Beaufort Market.’
Jock McDonald was a colourful and controversial figure in London’s punk scene - forming band ‘The Bollock Brothers’ with Johnny Rotten’s brother, Jimmy Lydon, and promoting two PIL gigs at London’s Rainbow Theatre in 1978.
Olaf says McDonald’s stall was popular with a number of punk and new wave musicians - from the Sex Pistols and X-Ray Spex, even to former Television frontman and ‘Blank Generation’ singer, Richard Hell. ‘I remember he turned up one day to speak with Jock about something or other, completely off his face. We had to take him for some lunch at the Chinese down the road,’ he says. ‘It was an interesting place to work, for sure.’
‘[Jock] was a real Scottish wide-boy with an edge to him. He could be violent too. But it was working there that gave me my first experience of how a record shop works at the back end. It wasn’t remotely like this place, though…’
The three-man team behind Olaf’s Records
It’s true, Olaf’s is nothing like that. It feels like the friendly hub of the local creative community. It’s clear that Olaf, and the other co-owners, Mike Williamson and Pat Gilbert, know their regulars well, but are also very welcoming to first-time shoppers.
I meet Mike in the shop too – he’s an ex-BT electronics engineer, who repairs and services used hi-fi kit to sell in the shop. There’s a small selection of turntables, amps, and speakers on display – decent stuff, that looks to have been given Mike’s TLC, ready to be loved in another home.
The third owner, Pat, is regarded music journalist and former editor of Mojo magazine. Pat still writes for Mojo, specialising in the meticulously researched deep-dive specials into bands like Pink Floyd or The Beatles, that routinely grace Mojo’s front cover. I don’t meet Pat when I visit, but he and Mike do alternate Sundays in the shop, and Olaf tells me Pat’s responsible for all those intriguing social posts that got me here.
Record Store Day
I ask Olaf how RSD was last Saturday – an event they happily take part in by asking which releases customers would like them to try to stock. He says they got through the queue for new RSD releases in the first couple of hours, and then it settled into a busier-than-usual Saturday with a non-stop flow of customers.
‘It wasn’t necessarily just people buying Record Store Day releases – people were coming in, enjoying the day, having a chat and spending money. Plus we arranged some live music over the road at The Anchor, so we had a great day.’
I ask Olaf what he most enjoys about the shop. ‘The biggest thing for me is the people,’ he says. ‘Without wishing to sound wanky, we’ve been here over three years now, and the shop’s grown into a bit of a cultural hub.’
‘People seem to like coming here, listening to music and having a chat with the bloke in a funny hat…’ he adds with a wry smile.
Run-out questions for Olaf
First record you bought? ‘It was one of those Top of the Pops compilation LPs, and I bought it in Woolies in Orpington. I wanted it for ‘Walk on the wild side’, but when I got home and played it, it sounded a bit kinda… wrong. Then I realised all the tracks were covers by a house band, not originals. So I learned a lesson there. I still played it a lot, but it was just slightly wrong!’
Most recent gig you’ve been to? ‘It wasn’t that recent, but I think it was Joe Goddard from Hot Chip playing a great DJ set at the Ramsgate Music Hall.’
What records are on your own want-list right now? I’m a big Gil Scott-Heron fan, and I’m looking for one or two of his records, including Reflections. I don’t want to pay a load online for them, but am struggling to find decent copies. The last copy I had of Reflections was completely warped and half the tracks wouldn’t play. But if they reissue it, I’ll happily just buy that – this job’s made me realise I’m not a record collector who has to own things on originals. I just want to listen to the music in this lovely format.’
Coolest record in the shop right now? ‘That’s a tough one! Here’s the coolest record I’ve had in today – a white label of Anthill Mob’s ‘Cloudy Day’ / ‘Agitator’ from 1997 on Confetti Records. It’s a UK garage thing, which I think is just the most genius party music ever.’
Any live music or DJs in store? ‘We’ve got a good link-up with The Anchor [pub] over the road, and put on some live music in there for Record Store Day. And we’ve got our first in-store DJ event in a couple of weeks, with a drum’n’bass DJ called Nico Check playing after hours on a Saturday. It should be interesting!’
Sleevenotes
Where to find it
Olaf’s Record Store, 57 London Rd, Sevenoaks TN13 1AU
Paid parking nearby. Nearest train station is Sevenoaks.
Tuesday-Saturday 10am - 5.30pm | Sunday 11am - 4pm
Mondays closed
Online
It’s miles away from me but I’m almost tempted to take a trip down there one day!
I, too, was looking for Gil Scott-Heron's 'Reflections' album and stumbled on a really nice copy just a few months ago! Fantastic album, but sadly with no Brian. I hope Olaf finds one!