Set among the independent units of Sneinton Market Avenues, Running Circle Records is the kind of shop that makes immediate sense the moment you know who is behind it. Running Circle began in 2017 as an independent label founded by musicians and DJs Guohan Zeng and Tom Towle; the business was then formalised as Running Circle Records Ltd in 2020, and its physical Nottingham shop opened in 2022. That sequence matters, because it explains why the place feels rooted in music-making and curation rather than simply retail.
The shop sits at Unit 46, Freckingham Street, right in the heart of Sneinton Market, and has grown into a notable part of Nottingham’s modern independent landscape. By April 2026, local coverage was already describing it as a welcoming space created from what had once been an empty unit, with the owners using it not only to sell records but to give emerging artists somewhere to launch releases and events.
What You’ll Find
Running Circle’s musical identity is broad, but never vague. Its in-house catalogue includes crossover jazz, soul, ambient electronics, beats-and-breaks, art rock and more exploratory club-facing material, with releases by artists including Kinkajous, Guohan, Daisy Godfrey, Pete Beardsworth, Foule and Three Body. Its wider online stock also shows strong representation in electronic, funk and soul, rock and reggae, which gives a good sense of the shop’s listening horizons.
That makes Running Circle especially appealing for anyone whose taste moves comfortably between jazz-informed records, leftfield electronics, modern independent releases and rhythm-heavy dance-floor material. It does not read as a one-genre specialist; instead, it feels like a shop shaped by selectors and label people who enjoy joining dots between scenes, moods and traditions.
Experience / Atmosphere
Browsing here sounds like browsing somewhere active rather than static. Running Circle has been linked with in-store events, DJ sets and artist activity, and its founders’ wider work in programming and broadcasting feeds into the atmosphere around the shop. There is a sense of movement to it: a place where records are not sealed away as trophies, but remain part of a living local culture.
That cultural role is a large part of the appeal. Nottingham’s best independent music spaces tend to succeed because they feel social, informed and locally plugged in, and Running Circle fits that pattern well. The shop’s place within Sneinton Market adds to that feeling too: you are not just stepping into a record shop, but into one strand of a wider independent quarter that rewards wandering and discovery.
Why Visit
- Founded by Guohan Zeng and Tom Towle, the shop has genuine artist-led roots rather than a generic high-street identity.
- Its catalogue and stock orbit a thoughtful mix of electronic music, jazz-inflected releases, soul, reggae, rock and other leftfield sounds.
- The Sneinton Market shop has helped create space for launches, events and newer artists as well as everyday browsing.
- It reflects Nottingham’s grass-roots music culture in a way chain shops rarely can.
Summary
Running Circle Records is worth visiting because it feels purposeful. Its shelves are informed by the taste of people who release music, play music and programme events, and that gives the shop a distinct character from the outset. For anyone exploring Nottingham’s record-shop landscape, it is one of the city’s clearest examples of how a modern independent can be knowledgeable, community-minded and musically adventurous without losing the simple pleasure of a good browse.
