Name: Julian
Comment: The Bop Shop was a teriffic dealer mostly in promo copies when I was there in 1975-6 .
Name: Dave Penny
Comment: The Bop Shop was owned by Johnny 'Chester' Dowling, who also had his own record label: Mr C Records. The first Bop Shop was in Harrow-on-the-Hill and Chester later moved to Northampton where he still runs a retro toy shop/record shop in Far Cotton, called Big Boys' Toys
(18 March 2013)
Name: Lawrence
Comment: Great nostalgia trip. Not just records but all sorts of memorabilia as well. Groovy.
(20 March 2015)
Name: Chester
Comment: Over 40 years and still doin` it... but gently.
(12 June 2014)
Name: Clive Webb
Comment: The Bop Shop was the first 'oldies' second-hand record shop I visited as a rock 'n' roll-obsessed 14-year-old. I used to cycle there from Edgware; the first record I remember buying was The Avenger/Londonderry Air by Duane Eddy - as neither side was on the Legends of Rock double LP I'd recently bought. I also bought some London American tri-centre badges which I wore to school hoping to impress my friends who were all into Genesis, Led Zeppelin and Lynyrd Skynyrd! Needless to say I failed!
(May 9, 2016)
Comment: Sad death of 'Chester' Dowling last Friday. Many will have memories of visiting the Bop Shop, first at Rayners Lane and then Harrow, or of his record fairs, I took over the London R’n’R Fair from him many years ago, but he continued with his very successful Luton Record Fair, and of course there were his books – great tributes to a R’n’R lifestyle.
(27 April 2017)
Name: Paul Vernon
Comment: Those of you who knew Chester, of Chester's Bop Shop, an original Ted with a strong wit, will be sad to know that he died last month. He was a real character, and we won't see his like again. Here's a story that, to me, tells you all you need to know about him; in the late 1970s there was a scam going on involving stories of Bill Haley's UK Brunswick 78 of Rock Around The Clock being worth at least 40 quid. This had its origin in an early evening local TV news show, wherein a bloke who shall remain nameless here was interviewed about "rare records", and he advised the viewers to check and see if they had a copy - the following week, Exchange and Mart and Record Mirror were filled with small ads for them, all at 40 smackers. But there was another ad offering it for the bargain price of ten. That person was the TV interviewee, holding multiple copies. Say no more. So, a week or so after all this kerfuffle a bloke and his dog turned up in Chester's record shop with an unsleeved copy, proudly showed to him and said, "How much will you give me for this then?" Chester took it in hand, squinted at it and replied "50 pence". "FIFTY PENCE?" said the astonished owner, "You know damn well it's worth at least forty pounds!" "OK", replied Chester, "you want to know the true value?- here I'll show you", and he took one of several copies off the shelf, showed to the bloke then shattered it across the top of the cash register. "THAT"S how much it's worth mate, now f*** off".
(19 May 2017)
Name: Dave Penny
Comment: Chronology of Chester's Bop Shops is Wealdstone Market (1970-1972), Rayners Lane (1972-1976), Harrow-on-the-Hill (1976-1979) then north to Far Cotton (1979-2017). He was also responsible for running the Luton Record Fair for the last 38 years.
