Funhouse Records

My favourite record shop, back in the day (1980s). It definitely delivered a musical education. I bought records by Big Star, Captain Beefheart, Love, and The Byrds, amongst others. I still miss it!

I found this advert in the 'Thanet Times' dated 20th July 1976: “FUNHOUSE RECORDS 136 HIGH STREET, MARGATE. IMPORTS, SECOND-HAND, NEW RECORDS PURCHASED up to £1 each paid.”
… and this advert on p10 of the 'Isle of Thanet Gazette' dated 24th June 1988: “FUNHOUSE RECORDS 13 MARKET PLACE, MARGATE, KENT. Telephone: 295595 / 295027 (Opposite Queens Head public house). Open Monday-Saturday 10am-5pm. KENT'S LEADING RECORD COLLECTORS STORE. Thousands of rare, scarce and interesting LPs in stock, specialising in 60s Psychedelia, Punk, Garage, Beat, 70s Progressive, Folk, Blues and an enormous selection of top quality used rock albums at great prices. Hundreds of independent issues (both UK and import). UNBEATABLE PRICES PAID FOR YOUR UNWANTED RECORDS / TAPES / CDs (Excellent condition only). Simply bring them along or telephone. We will collect large quantities if it's more convenient. VISIT FUNHOUSE FOR A NEW EXPERIENCE IN RECORD COLLECTING.” ... and this piece on the same page:
“A NEW record shop in Margate stocks more adventurous modern styles than just commercials for pop. Fun House Records in the Market Place is one of Thanet’s rarities. There is nowhere else in the area where you can choose from such a huge collection of psychedelic rock and punk. There is no Wet Wet Wet, Wham, Bros or Five Star to be found among the racks. This shop is for the connoisseur of independent labels and imports from the U.S., Australia and Europe. All the records are second-hand but look and play as if new. And they are all priced between £2.50 and £3.50, a bargain compared with similar stores in London. Apart from the more unusual and obscure albums, Fun House also carries more well-known, yet still hard to get, releases from artists like Zappa, Bowie, Led Zeppelin, Lennon and many other ’60s and '70s greats. The shop is run by Steve Eversley and Malcolm Galloway, who are well known in the town for their alternative taste in music. They set up a record shop at the top of Margate High Street in 1976, where they used to sell non-chart music. Three years later they formed a record mail-order company in Cecil Square. There they sold rock, punk and garage music from the ’60s to the present day. At their new premises they deal with specialist recordings and top quality used LPs. “We feel there is a great demand for our type of music and we have thousands of as-new used titles. We don’t sell any disco music just good rock,” said Steve. “There are also many collectable albums in stock. They include things that have long since been deleted. “Some of the punk stuff from the end of the 70s is almost impossible to find. We have got a good selection, but if we haven’t got a particular album I have quite a few contacts and will try to find one for a customer.” Fun House, which was named after Steve and Malcolm’s favourite Iggy Pop album, will be split into three sections. There will be a small selection of CDs as well as “used rock records” and “rare originals and independent issues.” Steve says he guarantees to give good prices for records in top condition.”

Oh man, Funhouse Records!! I was a university student in Vermont in the early 1980s and got their print catalog with set prices for some of the rarest psych, mod, garage and prog LPs on the planet. It was a whole ritual for me to wake up in the night in Burling to catch them the on the phone on the first weekday or saturday morning when they opened shop in the UK after I received their list to reserve the LPs I wanted from their list. In those days - long before the internet - I managed to score top rare UK albums by Trees, Kaleidoscope. Mighty Baby, Blossom Toes, etc because the mail was then fast enough to the US and those albums were not yet stupidly rare. I was always amazed when I reached them on the crackly phone line and asked if you still have the copy of X and they said "yes". They were always polite and great to deal with and I still own every single one of those now insanely rare records in top condition.

A really important place for me as a kid in the 90's. There wasn't much doing in Margate, records wise. Our Price, Woolworths, Thornton Bobbys all stocked records and there was some OK stuff if you looked, but Funhouse was the place to go for the good stuff. Disintegration, Marquee Moon, Road to Ruin on vinyl for a quid each. My brother and I really liked the red haired lady co-owner. She called us the Glimmer Twins - we were really into music and she and her husband talked to us a lot about it.

Vague memories of being told they stocked their records by bringing big suitcases back from the States where records were cheaper due to the exchange rates. This would have been 94/95 (the Grunge/Britpop peak).

We all dreamed of reopening Funhouse at one point or other - they turned it into a tea room in the end. It's been years since I've been back that way, maybe it is a record shop again? The hipster DFL types would love it!