Liverpool’s oldest record shop appeals for memorabilia of its long-lost second city store

The Musical Box in Tuebrook is appealing for customers to help in finding archives of its long-lost second store.

The shop on West Derby Road, which has been run by four generations of the same family, can proudly claim to be Liverpool’s – and England’s – oldest record shop.

Dating back to 1947, it’s been a go-to for generations of music lovers ever since and served famous customers including teenage mates John Lennon and Pete Best.

But the much-loved Tuebrook shop wasn’t the only one opened by current owner Tony Quinn’s nan Dorothy.

There was a second Musical Box on Prescot Road in Old Swan, between 1960 and 1979, which was run by Tony’s mum Diane.

Now 88, Diane still remembers chatting to Merseybeat star Rory Storm when she was working there, as well as Ken Dodd and a very young Holly Johnson.

When the Old Swan shop closed in the late 70s, Diane returned behind the original counter in Tuebrook until she handed over the reins to Tony, his wife Paula and more recently their son Craig.

Last year Paula and Craig renovated the upper floor of the West Derby Road shop, turning what used to be Dorothy’s living room into an extra sales area and music museum.

They were keen to document The Musical Box’s incredible history, but sadly very few artefacts of the second shop could be found.

Paula explains:

“Dorothy had a shop in the entrance of the New Premier Cinema, which was on Prescot Road in Old Swan, then after that closed they moved to 552 Prescot Road, adjacent to Edwards Jewellers which is still there.

“Tony’s grandad Charles was an amateur photographer, he even had his own darkroom upstairs in the West Derby Road shop, and when we were renovating we found boxes and boxes of negatives and old film reels.

“We trawled through them a few times, looking at hundreds and hundreds of different images of the shop and family trips. We found a few interior shots of the Old Swan shop with Diane on but we couldn’t find a single one of the exterior or the signage and we can’t understand why. 

“We really haven’t got much at all connected to the Old Swan shop, so now we have the little museum we want to try and get some more archive material. 

“We’re appealing to anyone who might have photographs of Old Swan (or even the Tuebrook shop) from back in the day to please get in touch because we would absolutely love to see them.

“It could be that someone might just have taken one accidentally, with the shop in the background – anything would be nice.”

Paula says if any material is unearthed they plan to exhibit it alongside other memorabilia in the museum, where two original chairs from Liverpool’s famous Rushworth and Dreaper music store tearooms take pride of place.

“We’ve already got a big display and we hope to keep adding to that,” she says. “We did it at first for the family not realising the wider effect and how much people would absolutely love it.

“It’s such a nice place for people to sit and it’s become a social hub where people come in and rekindle memories.”

Anyone who has photos or other archive material of The Musical Box can contact Paula via Facebook.

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