I believe Tony Blackburn opened it in the 1960s.The windows were plastered with posters, as was the inside. They had a cool picture of yoda and 2 or 3 arcade machines including, at one time, Battlezone. There were racks of vinyl and I recall eyeing the Frog Chorus picture disc but never bought it (I was young at the time so cut me some slack). Mid 1980s it moves onto the High Street (taking the place of the toy shop) and as my tastes became more discerning I gradually began to realise what a poor selection of records they had. To be fair I think maybe they just stopped keeping up with the times but they must have been pretty poor buyers as there was rarely anything there that you would really want. By the end there was loads of discounted stock that you wouldn't even want at one-tenth of the original price. And the service was really lacking with the owner seeming to look down her nose at anyone daring to hand over their hard earned cash.
Only thing I can say in their favour was that they were good at allowing you to put first dibs on the displays so maybe 12 months later you could be the proud owner of a large cardboard cut out of 'Vigil in a wilderness of mirrors' or some other chart-storming release. They loved Marillion in there.
Name: Ant Lupton.
Comment: Nice to be sent this link as I used to work there. I remember it shortly after it opened, all very late 1960s and exciting. It was based in three separate premises in Rickmansworth during its lifetime, saw countless ups and downs, survived the cut-price war with the chain stores... became a chart return shop... but gradually lost its cutting edge, choked up with unwanted vinyl. Overall I have a lot of fondness for the place, which was a way of life, not just a shop. Nowadays we don't even need record shops but back then they were like Mecca if you were into your music.
Name: Hotspurman
Comment: Strawberry Fields in Rickmansworth - the first record shop I visited! I used to walk home from Rickmansworth Grammar School going by the back route so we could smoke without getting caught by the teachers. Always popped into Strawberry Fields and bought my first records in there - Rainbow by Marmalade and All Right Now by Free.
(4 November 2012)
Name: Chris Day
Comment: Between 1980-84 as a very young & enthusiastic teacher, along with my forever pal Peter Bowers, I ran a Friday club lunchtime "disco" at St Clement Danes School in Chorleywood. We sourced our vinyl 45s from Strawberry Fields - it was the era of new wave, new romantics, disco & UK soul - the Friday Club was the stuff of legend and Strawberry Fields did us proud! We even had Dr & The Medics headline the school hall dance night! Happy, pre-Ofsted Days.
(2023)
