Comments
Name: edneofflowers
Comment: Listen was located at the top of the escalators in The Butts Centre (now the Broad Street Mall). Great shop with a great stock of metal, imports, indies, the works. One of my faves. I'll always remember getting Cheap Trick's Standing on the Edge on import about two days after the US release and being gobsmacked by how quick Listen had it. A gem of a shop.
(15 May 2013)
Name: Ian Adamson
Comment: I worked in Music Market in Smelly Alley - although a rival to Listen we were both independents and I spent a lot of my time with Tubbs. Both of us were Gallup shops and we exploited the fact with the label reps as much as possible. I remember the EMI rep coming in and showing us a thing called a CD - we laughed.
(2020)
Name: Matthew Curtis
Comment: Fond memories of my time at Reading College visiting the Butts Centre via number 17 bus from Wokingham Road to buy indie vinyl at Listen. Then to Centa Cafe just to Listen's right for a coffee. No mobile phones, no social media; better times, sadly gone.
(2021)
Name: Geoffrey Jerome
Comment: I can remember buying Queen's first album in Listen.
I went to college from 1980 to 1983 in Reading. Listen was a fantastic record shop - I was an avid devourer of music and after reading NME and seeing what I needed to track down, Listen never failed me. They always had the independent music I was looking for - you could pop in on Saturday afternoon looking for the new Scraping Foetus Off The Wheel album and it was waiting for you! Wonderful shop, great times!