DOZENS of music fans rocked up in Cinderford early last Saturday morning (April 22) to get their hands on some rare vinyl as part of a nationwide celebration of independent record stores.

Ever-popular local record shop Forest Vinyl, which is located on Cinderford Industrial Estate, attracted hundreds of people from the Forest and surrounding areas for Record Store Day, which celebrates the “unique culture” of independent record stores in the UK and around the world.

For the event, which is sponsored by BBC Sounds, a number of special releases were made by famous artists of all genres, which were exclusively available at the 260 participating record stores from the day of the event.

It means that once the special releases are gone, they’re gone, with only what’s left after the day available to buy online, prompting fans to queue up early to avoid missing out.

Forest Vinyl was launched in 2014 by owner Steve Helsdown, and moved into its current premises three years ago.

Having participated in Record Store Day previously, the team anticipated a big turnout, with staff arriving from 5am to set up for the day ahead.

But what they didn’t expect was a queue to have already started forming, with some people having been there from around 1am.

At the time the store was allowed to open at 8am, under Record Store Day rules, they counted a queue of 48 fans waiting to get their hands on a special piece of music history.

Steve said it was the most successful Record Store Day they’d ever had.

The team were on hand to shepherd customers around the store and dish out free teas and coffees to people while they browsed.

Steve said a wide range of people had come from far and wide for the event.

“The first four or five in the queue were were pretty much regulars, but we had people coming from all sorts of places”, he explained.

“We always have people from Hereford and Gloucester where there aren’t really any good record stores. There’re a couple in Stroud which are probably the closest, and we’re the only one in the Forest.”

He added: “It’s been our busiest Record Store Day so far.”

Record Store Day was conceived in 2007 by store owners to spread the world about the special role they play in connecting artists with local communities.

Many participating stores also host special performances from artists in-store.

There were special releases featuring live performances and never-before-heard tracks on offer from modern pop artists like Taylor Swift and The 1975, to classic soul and blues from Marvin Gaye and Muddy Waters, classic rock from the likes of Thin Lizzy and Black Sabbath, and much more.

Steve said of the diversity of the customers they’d had on the day: “I think you’d be surprised, there were some in the queue who were very early teenagers, probably 13 or 14.

“We have our regulars, many of whom are in their 50s and 60s, while some are into the Taylor Swift, Lana Del Rey kind of things.

“We’re not one of these record stores that gets snooty about people in the charts.

“Sam Fender, for example, is a big seller here, but also our biggest selling record last year was Bristol punk band Idles”.

For more information about Forest Vinyl, click here.