Probe Records

Loads of vinyl, from way back to right now. CDs/books/t-shirts etc etc. One of the oldest record stores in Liverpool. Probe Records is a small independent record shop, founded in 1971, that was once, most famously, on the corner of Button Street in Liverpool, Before this it had "branches" in the basement of Silly Billies clothes shop and on Clarence Street (?), off Brownlow Hill. There was also a daily visit at lunchtime to the Guild of Undergraduates with three or four boxes of LPs. It became notable for its influence on the Liverpool Mathew Street culture of the time, and acted as a major supporter of local independent bands and musicians. The business was set up and run by its founder, Geoff Davies, who by his own admission, was far more a music enthusiast than he was a businessman.[1] In order to supplement the takings in the shop itself, Davies also set up an independent wholesale arm of the business, through which he would promote up and coming talent. Many larger record retailers throughout the north-west of England such as HMV, Virgin Records and Our Price bought most of their independent label stock from Probe. The business became successful enough to eventually set up its own record label. Initially called simply Probe Records, it was re-branded Probe Plus in order to avoid confusion between the retail shop and the record label. The decision of which bands and musicians to sign up to the label was a collaboration between Geoff Davies and two friends, Bolton-born writer Andrew Kenyon-Smith and fellow Liverpudlian and DJ John Peel. Julian Cope, Dead or Alive front man Pete Burns, and Frankie Goes to Hollywood vocalist/dancer Paul Rutherford all spent a number of years working in the record shop between 1977 and 1984, whilst a number of the record label's signings shared a modicum of success in the independent record charts, perhaps most notably Half Man Half Biscuit.