A turquoise painted frontage on Abbeydale Road, a hand painted sign in gold script and a steaming cup drawn alongside it: Cole’s Corner announces itself clearly enough from the pavement. Behind the glass, record racks, café tables and shelves of locally made goods share the same set of rooms, and the result has become one of the anchors of Sheffield’s Antiques Quarter.
Background / History
Nicole Jewitt opened Cole’s Corner in December 2019, on the night of the general election, after redundancy from the Sheffield venue Plug left her with time and an idea. The name works three ways at once. It recalls the corner outside Cole Brothers in the city centre where Sheffielders arranged to meet for generations, it borrows from the Richard Hawley album that put the phrase back into circulation, and it plays on the owner’s own first name and the shop’s position on a corner plot. Trading for barely three months before the pandemic closed hospitality, the business kept going by building a covered terrace alongside the building in June 2020. What started as an emergency measure is now one of the busiest parts of the place.
What You’ll Find
Vinyl runs new and pre-owned, and the racks lean deliberately towards reggae, drum and bass, jungle, Afrobeat and world music, with a standing commitment to Sheffield-made records in any genre at all. Around the crates sit the other halves of the business: locally made arts and crafts, jewellery, clothing, original artwork and signed prints, alongside shelves of local produce including hot sauces, jams, preserves, honey and Abbeydale Brewery beer. The café bar serves organic soups, cakes, paninis, hotdogs and notdogs, coffee, tea and freshly squeezed juices, with a small bar running into the evening.
Experience / Atmosphere
Inside, dark green painted brick, wax print bunting and low pendant lighting set the tone, and the record browsers sit close enough to the café tables that digging and eating happen in the same room. The covered terrace at the side, hung with decorations and laid out with mismatched bright chairs, comes into its own on Friday and Saturday evenings. With space for around thirty people, events here are close-quarters affairs: monthly pop-ups such as Ramen Club, Pie Night, Reggae and Roast and Jazz Sundays, art exhibitions including several by Mark McGowan, and Sunday newspaper review sessions that have pulled in local musicians and politicians. Cole’s Corner is a member of Independent Abbeydale and takes part in Abbeydale Live, the free music day held across the road’s venues.
Why Visit
- New and pre-owned vinyl with real depth in reggae, jungle, drum and bass, Afrobeat and world music
- A standing section for Sheffield-made music, whatever the genre
- Organic soups, cakes, paninis and good coffee without leaving the shop
- A covered terrace built for long weekend evenings
- Monthly pop-up kitchens, DJ sessions and art exhibitions in a room that holds about thirty
- Locally made crafts, prints, preserves and hot sauces stocked alongside the records
Summary
Few record shops ask you to stay for lunch. Cole’s Corner does, and that combination is what makes the trip out to Abbeydale Road worthwhile. Come for a dig through the reggae and jungle crates, stay for soup and a slice of cake, and you will probably leave with a record, a jar of something local and a date in the diary for the next pop-up. It is a small independent doing several things at once, and doing them with genuine care for the neighbourhood around it.
