The Knowhere Guide

The Local Music Scene in Orpington, Greater London*

Orpington, Greater London Record Shops and Venues

Record Shops

• wh smiths and woolies ugh
• Virgin Megastores, HMV
• I always find Virgin Mega store in Bromley to be usful.
• come to the blinging woolworths ! its the best!
• WHSmiths is about it - and it's rubbish
• Well, WH Smiths is the only record shop I know of. BONUS - Pikeys don't go in Smiths because there is no booze or fags to steal and they can't read.
• theres no REAL places to buy cds in orpington, except perhaps whsmiths or CD WORLD? both cheap like orpington itself. GO TO BROMLEY - Virgin and HMV
• CD World is pretty good. Very cheap and with a huuuuuge selection. Hardly any grungies there so thats cool!
• there's no fucking shops that sell decent CDs
• I go to Camden, Soho and Notting Hill. There's fantastic record shops in each - Reckless Records in Soho and Camden, Music & Video Exchanges is all three. Also random, privately owned ones in Soho as well.
• none. best bet is to go to the second hand shop in shirely or beano's in croydon.
• CD World! A new-ish shop in the High Street, CD's for a tenner! Bargain! They do a wide range of music too, not just all the pop/garage crap that everyone seems to like (especially white boys pretending they're Jamaican), but alternative too! Wahoo!
• CD World!!! brand new wicked shop - full of wicked CD's and Loads Of porno at the back!!!
• Elpees seemed to think that because they were an indie record shop, they could charge £18 for a CD. Well they couldn't, and they found that out the hard way.
• look be smart if you got the net go buy it off the net or go some where else because they treat stuff like crap it costs a bit more but at least you got more chance of it not being scratched or just dont work.
• Rumours are that a new specialist CD shop will be opening close to Dixon's - if it is true all praise to the brave souls who are about to take on the purchasing power of Woolworth's and W H Smug and Sainsbury's and the local populaces disinterest in anything outside the "Top 40" - the CD stall in the market isn't bad pricewise but limited on choice.
• Nowt.
• The best record shop is in Bexleyheath it is called Vinyl Conflict.
• is their any? well u genrally avoid clares acsorieis its full of pink fluffy things that they say are supposed to be for your hair, and cheap tacky earings.
• For Garage/House/Trance etc. try either Big Apple in Croydon or GarageUK in Bexleyheath. There are NO decent record shops in Orpington sice Elpees closed and became another sandwich shop.
• hahahaha record shops thats a good one!
• You gotta be kidding! Go to Bromley there's Virgin and HMV there.. else you'll have to shop in WHsmiths or even worse... Woolies!!!!
• There aint any in Orpington is there!? Only Elpees which shut down.
• Er...how bout that shop near MacDonalds.. Elsees or something!? Which also sells loads of cool costumes and prank equipment!!
• Retrospect sells second hand cds by the way. and Methvens sells about ten
• Alas, Elpees has closed, probably due to nerdy types who order their stuff off the net - get a life you saddoes. Ah yes, I remember looking throgh the racks of vinyl. Why is it Indie record shops can do so well in places like Soho but not in the suburbs, you dont know what you're missing. Actually its probably cos the record buying public in Orpington are all kids who like Britney Spears and Eminem and wouldn't know a decent bit of kickin' vinyl if it spun through the air like a ninja frisbee and sliced their empty little heads off!!
• to please the last user, and to disappoint every body else in Orp, but Elpees is closing in September. Yes, it is dingy, yes, they do sell odd things, but they know their music. WH Smiths & Woollies don't. (They've never even heard of Steve Hackett!) RIP Elpees, we'll miss you!
• Elpees is good, but it does'nt have competative prices. So if it's the widely available stuff your after your better off going to Wollworths or Smiths. Also you don't have to feel quite so uncomfortable as you do in the tiny and somewhat dingey Elpees.
• You're stuffed if you're looking for calssical/jazz. but elpees is a fantastic shop for all things pop, dance, alternative etc. Not to mention its surprising array of wigs (?!) and excellent second hand deals
• Sam Goody came and went, taking their stupidly high prices with them. All that's left is Elpees in the high street. I love that place. It's tiny, but stuffed with every CD imaginable. People who work there are okay too - know what they're talking about!
• Elpees is great for unusual record and other nik naks. Hi to Neil if he still works there
• Elpees is a nice little shop- selling everything there ever was practically, and a nice range of cheap second hands too.
• Elpees is excellent - you'll find anything popwise in there and a massive secondhand selection.
• Elpees has turned into some sort of novelty shop- last time I looked they were selling party gimmicks and those tacky 'gold' records in frames. Whoever runs it obviously makes their living doing something else, and runs Elpees as a tax loss. They really can't be making any money with all that tat. Sam Goody's isn't that bad, at least they have a better selection of post-war music than WH Smug, with all it's squeaky clean ex-grammar school assistants and a manager who looks like an older John Major.
• MVC has closed! This used to be an excellent shop, selling CDs and videos at low prices (normally about £10 for a £13 CD), but they're now building a Blockbuster Video there instead. So I suppose now you've got to go to W H Smiths, or Elpees (but they hardly stock anything). Oh, and Sam Goody's just opened in the Walnuts, but they've got vastly inflated prices.

Clubs (Dance Music) and Music Bars

• DEJAVU
• There are quite a few under 18s clubs passing through but they are mainly for the more... undignified of the Orpington tribe. Most popular at the moment is Air and Breathe in Dartford. October 24th if you're interested *ME: I sure hope not!*
• Discos
• come down to the west side massive hall near blockbusters! westside is the best (no east side is da best)
• forget orpington jump on a train and go to brixton(only take 20 mins)
• Well theres De Ja Vu in Swanley, but I recommend you wear a bullet proof vest and stay well away from the pikeys out looking for a fight or you might end up getting stabbed... Get a cab up London if you want clubs
• our bmx club!! lol we meet and ride everyday of the week and every friday night we go out all together about 25+ so far! contact me for more info or goto www.monstarbmx.tk OR www.frenzyunion.tk
• There is nothing I would call a nightclub. The nearest thing would be Rumbaba i guess but thats more of a wine bar, i think...
• Ram Ba Ba, it doesn't deserve its bad reputation. It's a good place to meet local students.
• clubs? orpington? no. actually thank god because if there was a club then orpington might attract even more low life r&b dance garage loving pikeys
• Deja vu in Swanley...........I think it's still there?
• Iron Curtain/The Civic/ Knole Country Club/The Duke/Mr Frogs @ sidcup
• Jazzmins in bromley is the best ever. friendly males and females, reasonably cheap and not far to travel!! good night, enjoyed by all!!!!!
• Errm.. Rambaba or whatever it's called
• There are no clubs in Orpington, however there are a few tacky, and old man stylee pubs. The harvest moon is one such pub which includes 'remarkably young patrons' from a certain school.
• NONE AT ALL if you are looking for that forget it.
• BAR ICE in bexleyheath only one bus away!
• None at all any, the most exciting nightlife you get in Orpington is an over Zealous teenage party
• no clubs here!! But the Venture group at Orpington Methodist throw wicked parties! So check them out!
• Clubs!? Never heard of it ere.
• LONDON!!! not in orpington
• OK De Ja Vu is a great club (is that in Orpington!?) but anyway it good.
• Again - too old to care. I'm not aware of any, so they must have a pretty low profile!
• Are you joking?
• None!Best off going up to London. It's not too far, trains are frequent and you can get up there on a 5p permit to travel. Blue Orchid is full of kids, however it's ok for once in a while.
• Rum babas does some deal which buses you to deja vu in swanley, but personally I'd run a mile.
• Nope. But we are getting more classy -Rum Ba Ba (or whatever it's called) actually has a dress code!
• The Blue School Kid whoops I mean the Blue Orchid in Croydon is good for a laugh. Especially if you between 15 and 19. You can get there by the 353 bus for outside McDonalds
• HaHa - go to London
• Deja Vu...Don't make us laugh!
• Unfortunately (although this depends on your opinion of clubs) there aren't any in Orpington, but there is at least one in Swanley which is 10-15 minutes drive from Orpington.
• Well, none in central Orpington, but at least that way you can sleep at night if you need to! Ask about any of the Venture Group's parties ... they're normally really good. Or get a taxi to Deja Vu, even if they have got some strange admittance policies.

Live Music Venues

• the local baptist church
• New venue address Excellent folk guests and very good beer (Harvys and Speckled Hen) Orpington Folk Club the Change of Horses Farnborough Village Nr Orpington Kent
• hmm tonbridge wells forum? theres a hall in hayes i once went to for a battle of the bands. but orpington has nothing suprise suprise
• Ram Ba Ba do some good tunes on a friday/saturday night, (karaoke on a tuesday is always a laugh!)
• Oooh.. well. There's a couple in Sevenoaks. Other than that? Get up to London. Brixton Academy and Sheperd's Bush Empire are lovely venues. The Astoria isn't all that nice. Alright stage area though
• St. Olave's School has decent subscription concerts which get in some very prestigious musicians.
• The Priory School has quite good concerts... as long as you don't mind listening to guitar players who can't sing and pianosts.
• Folk Club at the White Hart, Thursday evenings (I think). Some good artists but could do with more support.
• St. Olaves does a very good selection of subscription concert with stunning top names - like of julian lloyd webber, victoria de los angeles on line up! but whatever you do, don't get confused and go to school concert instead - not a pretty noise. Many of the churches host concerts eg. those by the Bromley Youth Choirs or XBYS, and the once Orpington Junior Singers who actually used to be famous! (Bernstein called them his little angels!!). I hear the barbershop Kentones aren't bad either.
• The Bull's Head in Chislehurst has a jazz club every sunday night. Okay so it isn't in Orpington but I felt I should mention it anyway since I did their webpage. St. Olaves school also has some nice concerts. These nice ones are mutually exclusive with the ones the school choir sing in.
• Hahaha - go to london (II)
• What's with Wembley? If you're going into London from most places, there are several venues more interesting than Wembley. But if you're coming from Orpington though maybe it sounds about right.
• Wembley. This isn't in Orpington but is really easy to get to due to the 30 minute train journey to London (and the fact that a one day travel card costs about 3 pounds).
• You must be joking. Get a coach to Wembley
  ... or the News Shopper gives details of all-inclusive gig offers.

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Last updated: 2008-05-15