Hundreds queue outside Bristol city centre record store with some waiting all night

Huge queues have formed outside a record store in Bristol city centre. Some music-lovers have reportedly been lining up at Rough Trade since around 3am ahead of Record Store Day, an internationally recognised day to celebrate independent record shops the world over.

In a post on Instagram Stories, shop and gig venue Rough Trade shared photos of shoppers who have been queuing since the early hours of the morning to get their hands on RSD exclusives. One shopper, taking to X (formerly Twitter), said they were "very lucky [and] queued for about an hour" at their local record store.

A Bristol fan replied: "Can't get out for it today so have asked daughter to try Bristol as she's there....'The queue's a bit long' she says.... some were there from 330am." In a post on Reddit, another passer-by said the person at the front of the queue had been there since 8pm last night, with someone else adding: "Queue about 220 long before 8am."

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As well as sharing their love for their local record store, Rough Trade shoppers also have the chance to get their hands on some exclusive titles, notably a limited edition, 10-inch yellow vinyl marking the 35th anniversary of Pure and Lightening Seeds. Other RSD exclusives include Kate Nash demo, a remastered Bury The Hatched by the Cranberries and Elton John's Caribou in sky blue featuring bonus tracks.

In a post on social media at 8pm on Friday (April 19) Rough Trade said: "Here we gooooooo! Record Store Day hits us like a juggernaut filled with TayTay vinyl in only a few hours, but we’re all finished with the set up and now off to buy some milk. See you at 8am?

"We’ll be handing out lists like usual, and picking in numerical order until we clear the queue. We have plenty of all the big titles, and good numbers on most other things, so head on down when you’re ready. Please be prepared to queue, so wrap up warm, stay hydrated and be nice to each other.

"We’ll go as fast as we can without making it an Argos-esque vibe kill. Please be gentle with us too as it’s been a long week." By 9am another city centre visitor reported that queues were "round the block for record shop day at Bristol".

The first Record Store Day was celebrated in 2008 and is now celebrated by thousands of record shops across the world, and around 270 in the UK. A statement on the event website reads: "Record Store Day is a day for the people who make up the world of the record shop - the staff, the customers, the artists, the labels - to come together and honour the special role they place in their local communities. In the UK, over 270 shops participate in every corner of the country."