Two names share the shopfront at 2 London Road, and each accounts for a different half of what happens inside. Tunbridge Wells Record Exchange is the shop itself, a buying, selling and trading operation packed with second-hand vinyl and CDs at genuinely modest prices. Sugarbush Records is the independent label that has run alongside it for decades, pressing small runs of melodic guitar pop for collectors across the world.
Background / History
The business belongs to Markus Holler, who has dealt in records since the early 1990s, first through mail order and later online, building an international customer base long before there was a counter to stand behind. Sugarbush Records grew out of that trade: a small, tightly focused label devoted to power pop, psych-pop and melodic guitar rock, with releases by the likes of Pugwash, The Green Pajamas, The Hangabouts and the Kent studio project Summit of the Big Low. Most titles are pressed in runs of roughly 250 to 300 copies, frequently on coloured vinyl, and they sell to collectors worldwide while also sitting in the racks here in Tunbridge Wells.
A physical shop had long been the ambition. Through the pandemic Markus sold records from a Saturday stall on the terrace at The Forum, and when the London Road premises came onto the market he took them, opening in the spring. The online side has continued to run in parallel, so the shop functions as the visible front of a much longer-established record business rather than a standalone venture.
What You’ll Find
The shelves hold around 20,000 rare and deleted records, a few hundred new titles and roughly 10,000 CDs. Vinyl starts at £1, CDs are a flat £3 with a buy-five-get-one-free arrangement, and the overall pricing is pitched at people who want to leave with a stack rather than a single trophy.
Coverage is deliberately wide: 1960s and 1970s rock and pop, progressive, psychedelia, punk, new wave, indie, 1980s pop, blues, folk, modern jazz and fusion, reggae and ska, soul, disco, house and soundtracks. LPs, EPs and 7-inch singles all feature, and the Sugarbush label catalogue is stocked in-store for anyone curious about the releases behind the second name on the sign.
The exchange side is central to the operation. Records and CDs are bought outright with cash paid on the spot, no appointment required on any of the three trading days, and there is no minimum quantity: a single box gets the same attention as a full collection. Larger hauls can be assessed at home, and there is space to unload directly outside the door.
Experience / Atmosphere
This is a digger’s shop rather than a showroom. Sleeves are faced out along the walls, boxes and crates are filled to the brim, hand-written dividers mark the sections, and the back of the shop rewards anyone prepared to work through it properly. Stock turns over constantly because so much of it arrives across the counter, which means the racks are rarely the same two visits running.
Markus is generally the person you will meet, and conversation tends to come as standard. Three decades of buying and selling have left him with an unusually detailed grasp of pressings, obscure bands and what is actually worth hearing, and he is as willing to point a newcomer towards a £1 bargain as to discuss a rarity with a long-standing collector. Opening only from Thursday to Saturday keeps the shop busy when it is open and gives it something of the feel of a weekly event for local record buyers, in a town whose music scene runs deeper than its spa-town reputation suggests.
Why Visit
- Around 20,000 rare and deleted records plus roughly 10,000 CDs under one roof.
- Vinyl from £1 and CDs at £3, with a buy-five-get-one-free deal.
- Home to Sugarbush Records, a long-running label specialising in power pop and psych-pop.
- Limited-run label pressings, often on coloured vinyl, available in-store.
- Records and CDs bought and exchanged, cash paid on the spot, no appointment needed.
- Broad genre coverage from progressive and psychedelia to reggae, soul, jazz and soundtracks.
- An owner with three decades of dealing experience behind the counter.
Summary
Tunbridge Wells Record Exchange offers the increasingly rare combination of serious depth and low prices, backed by a label operation that has been quietly serving melodic pop collectors for years. It is a shop built for browsing at length, with enough turnover to justify repeat visits and enough knowledge behind the counter to make those visits worthwhile. Anyone in west Kent with a Thursday, Friday or Saturday to spare and space in their record bag should make the short walk up London Road.
