things to do in Halifax, England

You can wish you were in Sherbrooke now like a broken man on a Halifax peer

more later, but, in meantime, this is related...

S&D: Record shopping in Yorkshire

In Leeds, I like the 13 O'Clock shop near the Corn Exchange for 60s stuff - depends what you are into!

If you get the train to Manchester, just walk down from Piccadilly Station to Oldham Street (there's an arcade on the corner) and walk down it, away from Piccadilly Gardens - that'll take you to the northern quarter. Cafe Pop has vintage and their own line of repro clothes upstairs, a veggie cafe downstairs and Vox Pop for a big used records selection. Across the street is Piccadilly records for new stuff. Next to Piccadilly Recs is a clothing/knick knack shop called Arc which has very cool stuff, but is quite expensive.

Just around the corner from there is Afflecks Palace. Althought it's a nightmare on weekends as it's crammed with Linkin Park children, in the week it's surprisingly pleasant. Plenty of vintage stalls with a range of prices, and stalls selling just about anything from shoes to Sanrio to whatever. Of course there's some crap in there but with 3-4 floors you're bound to find something.

Around the corner on Tib Street there is Beatin' Rhythm for your 60s and soul needs, and next to it is Love Saves the Day for excellent coffee. Do not under any circumstance eat at Simple, which is on the other side of Beatin' Rhythm. It is AWFUL.

Just around the corner from there (I think it's called Thomas St.?) is the new Pelican Neck record shop, which specialises in electronica. They share the space with an organic coffee bar and a groovy little gift shop. Well worth a visit.

Hope this helps!

Go and see my mate J.

what about vinyl exchange in manchester? is that as good as it used to be?

in halifax, you can try the piece hall. its faded touristy, sometimes feels like it should be a seaside thing, its sort of fine but neglected, there are hardly any shops in it now sadly, but there are a couple of record shops in there.

in leeds, try the shops behind the corn exchange as elisabeth says, jumbo for new records in the merrion centre, and then there are a couple 2nd hand shops in the st john centre (nb i may have the merrion and st johns the wrong way around)

hebden bridge has brick-a-bracky type things but its very craft shoppy.

elisabeth, did you used to go to brighton beach in leeds?

Go and see HOWARD!

Ah damn you Matt I was about to post a similar witty riposte

From what I can remember Halifax isn't up to much - but Leeds is great. I'm not keen on Manchester at all.

Leeds: Gareth has the Merrion and the St John's Centres the wrong way round. Jumbo for new records = OK but used to be brilliant. There's a kind of scruffy little covered market out the back of the Merrion Centre which has a couple of resonable record shops in. This information is several years out of date now. Best place to buy UK hip hop = Crash, on the Headrow.

Manchester: Vinyl Exchange is a very good shop (though not as good as some people seem to think, in my view). It doesn't seem to have declined significantly in quality over the last six or seven years, to me. Best place to buy UK hip = Fat City, a few doors down from VE.

Here be a guide to Manchester record shops.

First thing, make sure you're not in Nova Scotia. It happened to some (I think) French students last fall who thought they were going to Sydney, Australia, but wound up in Sydney, N.S.

Old couple, not student. And landing in halifax wouldnt be that bad its a nice city, Sidney on the otherhand doesn't have anything going for it.

I don't think I've been to Brighton Beach in Leeds - I was just there a couple of years back for an afternoon's shopping, but we had no idea where we were going!

I don't really shop at Vinyl Exchange, but last time I went we noticed they've renovated it so it's a bit nicer. On Saturdays it can be a bit much with stacks of people nudging each other to browse. Good for getting cheap promo copies of albums that haven't come out yet.

Joe, you don't have to love a city to be able to shop well there.

Robinson and chum commend the cup of coffee they drink in Halifax. Where exactly they bought it, I'm not now sure.