A Camberwell record store that almost became a takeaway but will continue selling vinyl just as it has for 22 years.
Rat Records on Camberwell New Road next to Camberwell Green, founded in 1988, span its last 12-inch earlier this year but new owners Dash the Henge are taking up the mantle.
An application was made to convert it into a “hot food takeaway” but Southwark Council rejected it in June. It said it would lead to there being too many takeaways in the area and would harm efforts to tackle child obesity being just 400 metres from the Sacred Heart Catholic School.
Dash the Henge, an underground south London record label, established in 2020 by Tim Harper, Nathan Saoudi and Rebecca Prochnik, is instead taking over the property.
Co-founder Tim said: “We got the word that Rat Records was closing down and notification that it was turning into a chicken shop meant that we were doubly disappointed.”
But now Dash the Henge, which specialises in artists “outside the mainstream”, is retaining the building as a record store and events space.
Tim said: “Rat Records was going for 22 years and had streams of people coming to the front door and fingers crossed we can keep that good-will.
“We’re keeping it very minimal and utilitarian. It’s not it’s gonna be a coffee shop it will be a record store and music store. We plan to do smaller events along the line…”
The store’s furniture is all being built by a friend of the business, including customised racks which move aside to make space for events.
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Asked about the commercial challenge of opening a record shop in a tough market, Tim said: “It’s the thing we actually generate revenue from – producing vinyl and producing merch.
“We sell records across the world – there is an audience out there for it. There’s a nostalgic element and there’s an audio element.”
Some of the artists being released on the label will be performing at the store including Meatraffle a “Marxist/Leninist Big Brother house band” and SCUDFM, an indie outfit playing songs about trade unionism and ballistic nuclear missiles.
Visit Dash the Henge here: http://instagram.com/dashthehengestore
