Dub Vendor is a long-standing, and pioneering, London vendor of ska and reggae music, that is now, mainly a London-based,

mail order Mail order is the buying of goods or services by mail delivery. The buyer places an order for the desired products with the merchant through some remote methods such as: * Sending an order form in the mail * Placing an order by telephone call ...

company specialising in Jamaican music. In 2006, '' Time Out'' termed it "the best source of Jamaican music in Europe".

History

Founded by John MacGillivray and Chris Lane, Dub Vendor began life in 1976 as a market stall in London's Clapham Junction in response to the considerable lack of

West Indian A West Indian is a native or inhabitant of the West Indies (the Antilles and the Lucayan Archipelago). According to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED''), the term ''West Indian'' in 1597 described the indigenous inhabitants of the West In ...

music at the time. Clapham Junction at that time was a poor inner suburb, and the surging population of immigrants from the West Indies made Battersea and nearby Brixton their new homes. The stall, and the shop that followed, were instant successes, and the second Dub Vendor store (or 'record shack' as it's known) opened four years later in

Ladbroke Grove Ladbroke Grove ( ) is a road in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England, which passes through Kensal Green and Notting Hill, running north–south between Harrow Road and Holland Park Avenue. It is also the name of the sur ...

right next to the Underground station. In response to London's reggae scene flourishing in the early 1980s, larger premises were required to cater for the increasing demand for reggae, ska, and allied genres. Subsequently, 274 Lavender Hill became Dub Vendor's flagship store and also the home of its home-brew recording studio label, Fashion Records. The Ladbroke Grove shack continued to operate alongside the

Lavender Hill The A3036 is an A roads in Great Britain, A road in London, England, running from Waterloo, London, Waterloo to Wandsworth. Route It starts at the southern tip of the County Hall roundabout where the A302 road, A302 Westminster Bridge, York ...

store until 1991, when it was moved down the road to 150 Ladbroke Grove, due to the lack of space in the shack to accommodate the ever-increasing patronage. The future for the Ladbroke Grove branch began to look bleak, however, as sales fell and the rent increased. The final nail in the coffin came in 2007 in the form of the introduction of the Western Extension of London's congestion charge, which resulted in the store closing its doors to the public just over a year later on 28 June 2008. In September 2011, it was announced that its store in Clapham Junction is closing down after damage sustained in the riots that took place in London the previous month.

Dub Vendor more recently

As of September 2015, Dub Vendor now have a shop on

Portobello Road is a street in the Notting Hill district of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in West London. It runs almost the length of Notting Hill from South to North, roughly parallel with Ladbroke Grove. On Saturdays it is home to Portobello ...

in the Mau Mau Bar and a live music venue in Ladbroke Grove.

References

{{reflist

External links

Official site

A sample of Dub Vendor's CTP - Pod 16 - Martin Jondo ia available online at the Internet Archive
Music retailers of the United Kingdom Retail companies based in London Reggae culture

History

Dub Vendor more recently

See also

References

External links