Sheffield’s Rare & Racy: the independent music store Jarvis Cocker says it would be ‘a crime to destroy
As a boy from the sticks who grew up with trips to my nearest City drinking in the “Frog and Parrott”, rocking and rolling at the City Hall (saw Thin Lizzy there 3 times, Rory Gallagher, Greg Lake and others) and spending my ill gotten gains in “Rare and Racy” I have (under the guise of the topic of the importance of independent shops to all retail centres) to draw attention to the planned demise of a true icon. Comes to something when Steve Davis, Jarvis Cocker and I all agree!! Read on…
Jarvis Cocker calls it a “global treasure” that it would be “a crime to destroy”. Protesters have signed a petition in record numbers. But still the developers have won the day and, as the former snooker world champion Steve Davis puts it, “a little bit of the character of Sheffield will die” with the planned demolition of the city’s quirky independent book and music shop, Rare & Racy.
In business since 1969, the shop on Devonshire Street is one of a trio of small retailers whose current homes appear doomed after Sheffield City Council recently voted in favour of demolition and a new development. The property owner’s agents, Coda Planning, insist there are longer-term structural problems with the buildings, adding that the replacement new-build will be sympathetic to the existing design and that provision of flats on the upper floors will contribute “to the urban village feel of the area”.
While Rare & Racy’s outstanding lease could yet protect it for another two years, the council’s decision has provoked local outrage: the shop’s demise is being seen as another example of the cull of independent retailers occurring in city centres throughout the UK and beyond. More than 20,000 people signed a petition against the proposals – a record for Sheffield City Council.