Oldest record shop in Liverpool reopens with museum to celebrate city's musical heritage

  • ITV Granada Reports correspondent Paul Crone went to see the grand opening

One of the region's oldest record shops has reopened after 14 months - creating a small museum to pay tribute to its long-standing musical connections with the city.

The Musical Box Record Shop in Tuebrook, Liverpool opened just after the end of the Second World War and is still going strong.

To celebrate its longevity, and the impact it has had on the musical scene in the city, it has now transformed an upstairs room into a mini museum detailing its fascinating history.

The record shop first opened on West Derby Road in Tuebrook in 1947.

The shop stocks an incredible 50,000 LPs, singles, CDs and cassettes - and was opened by Antiques Roadshow expert Wayne Colquhoun

He said: "All these things around us, they all tell stories of the history of Liverpool the musical city.

"It's a great institution which now, after trading 75 years, is restored for the next 75 years."

Tony Quinn, the shops owner, says young and old come into the shop for records.

"We have kids coming in with their families," he said. "They've got into records, they've got a record player, or they'll get one for Christmas, and they'll come and pick their favourite LPs.

"A lot of them they get off hteir mums and dads or they'll discover their own music, but it is cool to put a record on."

He added: "LPs have that special thing, they're always sealed up now down the side, so you get your thumb down the seam, pull it out, you put it on your record player, and you put the needle down and it's just wonderful."

The shop, which has been closed for 14 months for refurbishment, was officially opened by the Antiques Roadshow's Wayne Colquhoun.

The shop has been run by the same family since opening, with Diane Cain, Tony Quinn's mother, running the shop in its early days working alongside her mother.

One of her favourite anecdotes from the shop includes the world-famous Liverpool band The Beatles.

"In the cupboard we found 40 copies of the Beatles Magical Mystery Tour which had been hidden from my dear old dad because he used to go around saying 'don't go around ordering anymore of them Beatles, they'll never last'!" she said.