A DJ has voiced his astonishment after discovering a hidden treasure within one of rural Lincolnshire’s many garden centres. Mr Bamboozle, who doubles as a radio presenter, ventured out seeking vinyl records to expand his collection and was stunned by the enormous selection Uptown Vinyl Records boasts.
Physical music sales reached a 20-year peak in 2024, with the Digital Entertainment and Retail Association (ERA) disclosing the vinyl market witnessed 6.7 million discs sold, contributing £196m to the economy. « This is probably the largest record store in the UK, » Mr Bamboozle gushed in a TikTok video.
« It’s located in a garden centre, so you have free parking, a cafe and toilets, making it easy a day of digging through records. » But where lies this unassuming shop? Baytree Garden Centre – better recognised for its Owl and Wildlife Centre location in Weston, near Spalding.
Upon entering, Mr Bamboozle encountered a wealth of audio cassette tapes and CDs before proceeding directly to a second room crammed with records. « All this section is rock, » he raved before spotlighting additional CDs positioned behind them.
Continuing ahead, the DJ revealed a vinyl area dedicated exclusively to The Beatles’ LPs, featuring an assortment of original 1960s 7-inch and 12-inch records. « There’s reggae if you’re into that, rock ‘n’ roll stuff… it’s just endless and endless, » Mr Bamboozle enthused as he navigated through shelves and walls brimming with records from artists such as Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Sex Pistols and Bob Marley.
« There’s something for everyone, » he highlighted, mentioning genres as diverse as gothic rock and country and western. « You will never get bored here. »
Further into Mr Bamboozle’s tour of the shop, a room revealed an extensive collection of soul and funk records, followed by Motown and even a Christmas section. But his journey didn’t end there, as he encountered another room dedicated to 7-inch singles. « It’s wall-to wall… boxes of them, » Mr Bamboozle commented on the records, which are priced from 50p each. « So if you like your 45s, look at that. »
Another vast room on the tour was packed with books, along with a huge number of CD singles – and a vinyl record player to sample any potential purchases. « It’s just packed, » Mr Bamboozle exclaimed as he discovered yet more records – this time boxsets and boxes upon boxes of the shop’s ‘bargain section’. « You’ve got folk, classical, dance stuff… look at it all… 80s, 90s, 2000s… techno, house… you name it, they’ve got it. »
Mr Bamboozle concluded with advice for all music enthusiasts: « Get yourself down here. It’s an amazing shop and the people are really friendly. »
In response to queries from his followers, meanwhile, the DJ described the prices as « very reasonable, you won’t be disappointed », while also highlighting that the garden centre houses a cafe for those needing a break from shopping.
One TikTok user responded: « I’d need a week in there! » While a second person pointed out: « Love this, great bargains too and set in a garden centre and it has a fabulous toy area just at the end of the vinyl shop too. »
The shop – owned by Alan Barnsdale – states on its website: « Spread across four rooms The Uptown Vinyl Records shop offers a huge range of stock, we have around 200,000+ vinyl records available, along with 25,000+ CDs.
« We’re also unusual in that 99.9% of our stock is genuine vintage – we have only a small amount of new sealed modern vinyl pressings. We also have collections of other formats such as cassette and 8-track, music memorabilia, books and more. The advantage of having such a large space is that we can devote more space to genres that others shops can’t afford to give room to such as Country and Classical. »
