Sorry to announce that Brian Gatland passed away on 13th March 2025 age 89. He was a wonderful guy and achieved much success during the golden years of the record business from the early 60's until the late 70's. He worked for Alex Strickland running the Hammersmith shop (amongst others) and then went on to be deeply involved in setting up Chris Blackwell's One Stop Records along with his business partner and friend Michael Ashwell. Brian was involved in the running and management of all four shops, South Molten Street, Richmond, Dean Street and the Manchester shop. Brian eventually moved on to run the Soho Records chain after Alex Strickland sold it to Loius Benjamin at Pye/ATV. Soho sold out to Harlequin a couple of years later so Brian was out of a job for the first time in his career. Typically, he faced the challenge head on. He went on to open his own chain of shops C C Records in South London in 1973, starting with the Brockley branch and eventually adding Camberwell and Deptford. He also oversaw and organised the setting up of Baker Street Records the same year. He was a great organiser, extremely hard worker and a shrewd and perceptive business man who succeeded in every venture he was involved in. He worked to the highest standards and expected the same from his staff.
I first met Brian when he interviewed me for a Saturday boy job at the South
Molten Street shop back in 1969.
In 1971 I joined Soho Records, which by then Brian was General Manager. I worked at the Hammersmith branch and subsequently Wembley, Harrow and Ludgate Curcus. I joined up with Brian to run Baker Street Records and also worked with him for a year or so at his C C Records Brockley shop eventually returning to Baker Street in 1976. I learned so much about the business from Brian and will be eternally grateful for knowing him for all these years.
Bob Pentney (2025)
