Pop In Records

That’s right, Pop Inn had a short-lived run as Lightning Records before becoming the Loughton branch of Trumps Records and Tapes in the early ‘80s and for the rest of its life as a record shop in this location.
Trumps was run by a guy called Martin and, for some reason, the only other members of staff whose names I recall are Daryl De’Ath who I believe used to do some DJing (based on a conversation we once had when I ordered a copy of the 12” Performance Mix of Dead or Alive’s ‘You Spin Me Round’ & a lovely guy named Steve who was tall & thin and, based on the amount of money I spent in there most weeks, used to give me DJ discount and the occasional promo record that reps had left with them. He went on to work in London’s Sister Ray shop in Berwick Street.
In earlier days, there were two entrances to the record shop (one on the High Rd & another on Brooklyn Avenue) & two separate counters (a lower one for singles & up a couple of steps for the albums counter) but during the Trumps tenure, the Brooklyn Avenue entrance was closed off & the main counter was relocated to where the steps up/down used to be, with the old singles area becoming a behind the counter stock area.
Martin had a short-lived attempt at reviving Trumps Records (in the late ‘90s maybe?) in a half-sized shop on the opposite side of Loughton High Road, next to the big supermarket (a Morrison’s at the time of writing).