Over the last decade Banquet Records has cemented itself as a must visit venue for music fans not just in Kingston but across London.

Recently voted one of the coolest record shops in the country by the Telegraph, the shop will be celebrating its 10th birthday on February 8.

Frank Turner, McBusted, Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip, the Vaccines and Foals are just some of the bands that have headlined gigs put on by Kingston’s only remaining independent record store and the shop will be celebrating its birthday with a number of in store shows.

The store was originally known as Beggars Banquet, but by 2004 was on the verge of closure when it was taken over by Jon Tolley and Mike Smith.

Mr Tolley, 37, had already been working at the shop when it fell into financial trouble.

He said: “As a twenty-something I didn’t really think about the money side of things when we decided to take on the shop. I’d been working here since university and it was something I really enjoyed.

“I look at some of the other people my age and see them going to work just to pay their mortgage and I realise that I’m lucky to have a job that I only do because I really love it.”

Surrey Comet: Jon Tolley, manager, and Mike Smith of Banquet Records

Jon Tolley and Mike Smith took over Beggars Banquet in 2004, renaming it Banquet Records

As well as selling records Banquet have been running a record label, putting on live events and running an indie night under the New Slang banner at McCluskys every week.

People come from all over London to visit the Eden Street store to buy vinyl, CD’s and tapes and the company has also built up a successful mail-order service.

But far from appealing just to vinyl addicts looking for that elusive limited edition copy of an album by some obscure 80s band, Banquet are happy to give the wider puyblic what they want. 

Surrey Comet:

Fans queued round the block in November to meet pop supergroup McBusted during a signing session at Banquet Records 

Mr Tolley said: “When we started there were 10 record shops in Kingston and now it’s just us and HMV.

“I don’t see any other shops as competition. I think any place that gets people in the habit of buying music is great. We’re not here to tell people what to listen to or judge them for their taste in music.

“If you like it then we’ll sell it to you. We hope that we can help people discover new music, but we’re not a stuffy collectors-only shop that will push our music tastes onto other people. We provide a service and as long as people are buying music we’ll be here.”

Banquet Records will be hosting three in-store events to celebrate their birthday. Pop-punk band Knuckle Puck, Texan Emo band Mineral and Scottish post-punk indie rocker The Twilight Sad will be all be playing at Banquet over the store’s birthday weekend from Saturday, February 7 to Monday, February 9. More details at banquetrecords.com.