I've heard that he has passed on. RIP.

It was mentioned on facebook but I wasn't sure if it was true.

Sadly it seems he no longer will be back in 10 mins.

RIP.

Sad news. Bit of an institution in the town over the years

He's gone to the other record shop in the sky. RIP

RIP John the Con

RIP....I always found him to be the perfect gentleman. When I was younger and money was tight he was quite often my only option on disc's/tapes.

Rip JC.

Spoke to him about a month ago. He was struggling to manage his business and flat above, rambling a bit n a tad all over the place, was a bit worried for him then.


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John was a decent bloke, very fair and generous in spirit. Couldn't have had a less appropriate nickname. Sad news.

Very sad news - played football with him in the '70's, he was the most panic stricken Goalie I've ever encountered, it was difficult to keep a straight face facing an incoming corner with him whimpering behind you. Great memories and Great Bloke.
RIP

RIP, sad news.

John used to call the terrible prog and turgid blues played by long haired white blokes 'shop music'. I worked in there for a bit and his argument against anything else you played was that it wasn't shop music and would put people off.

In the end I wore him down and he admitted that while he knew that everybody had different tastes he couldn't stand some the shite that people asked to listen to so he'd invented the genre of shop music to avoid debate. His shop, his definition of shop music. It never included anything that sided with one youthful music tribe against another so he never had to deal with irate teenage skinheads who wanted the latest Oi! compilation putting on instead of a Gang of Four 12" that a lad in along coat had asked for. Made sense but it was hard to listen to and you always felt liberated when he popped out for ten minutes and you could listen to your own choices for a few hours.

Used to go in there most Saturday's when I was about 14 year old, picked up every Nirvana album as well as band patches to stick to my baggy jeans, I remember having Korn and Slipknot on each arse cheek and Nirvana on my thigh.

My bro was a big collector of all the oasis singles in the late 90's, the b sides were just as good as the album tracks and singles so we'd go to john's to pick them up.

RIP, One of the town legends everyone knew John. I remember when I was 15 getting my Nirvana bleach T Shirt out of there an picking up loads of good CD's. Used to have a good nosey every weekend and on Wednesday afternoons after the early finish in college. Will of been years since the last time I was in probably 10 years if not more. Shame really.

It's very sad news.
You go on thinking of people as being the same age when you knew them....which is about 24 in my case. Can't imagine him getting older.

@ Bossa Nova can't imagine him playing football, either. He certainly kept that quiet at the old Nursery Folk Club.

I reckon a good 30% of my 11,000 strong vinyl collection came fro Johns shop 1978-90. Seriously, I must have bought thousands of albums from him at a rate of 4-5 per week. In the late 80's when CD's had "taken over" that place was a treasure trove. Loads of old Gadgies getting rid of their vinyl.

One day he phoned me (87..year I got married) to tip me off that he was getting some really rare Costello and related stuff in from a member of his Management team. (I reckoned this was probably Andrew Lauder, the guy from Hartlepool who ran Radar Records). From that collection I got some cracking stuff (Signed Promo of Almost Blue which goes for £300 now..Graham Parker "Mercury Poisoning" 12" Grey Vinyl etc etc alongside loads of Stiff/Radar 45's I didn't have). He let me have them for bobbins as he was on a high having secured the "Prog End" of the haul for himself..Hawkwind and stuff from memory...

Like Born Toulouse I was often John's "Back In Ten Mins" guy and looked after the place while he went to The Grange for a pint and a pie.

Last time I went in there was June this year..he had John Martyn's "Solid Air" playing. I'd been to see him on an "Other Tours" bus in the 90's with John and we had a good half hour cracking on about that gig. He replaced the cd after about 20 minutes and put Shakespeare's Sister's debut album on..which not being a fan of 90's pop I'd never heard. "This is great" he reckoned. "You'll like this".

As ever, he was right, it's a corker. Bought it on vinyl from Amazon the next day, felt guilty.....

Think me and my mate bought some Leeds festival tickets from his shop once. RIP.

A decent Geezer with a sharp mind, brought some albums from bands i had never heard of, which were playing in the shop, Reminded me of a hartlepool version of 'whispering' Bob Harris . I used to bump into him in random places and if he was up for it have a few beers with him.

I was a regular of Johns from 79 to about 89, bought a lot and sold a lot too (always to pay bills, when times were hard and me and the missus were first starting off and kids were coming along far to quickly) Bought tickets from him to see Dylan at St James Park back in 84, Jesus! that was a hot day and much booze was consumed even though it was an alcohol free stadium at that time. John took some good natured abuse for leaving behind a few stragglers cause the Bus had to get away on time or he wanted to wait for them and the rest of the passengers wanted to leave I really can't remember which.
I used to love going into the shop and just browsing hoping something would catch my eye and wondering what he would say when I handed him the record, and no offence to the other lads here who would occasionally cover for him I was always disappointed when he wasn't there.
Rest easy John, whether you knew it or not, you were a part of life for many a young person growing up in Hartlepool and you leave behind a lot of memories far too many to relate here.

[quote="Poolsrme"]Sad news. Bit of an institution in the town over the years[/ this van morrisonesque waterboys tune reminds me of john https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDqVBKp ... DqVBKp5BfQ

Lovely, Mr Twig.

Hadn't listened to them for years but i like that a lot and I can see your reasoning Mr Twig. Think I'll investigate the album.