DESTINATION: OXFORD

Simon Berkovitch, takes a punton Riverman Records - a haven for classics of all kinds

- Simon Berkovitch

To paraphrase Nick Drake - from whom this exquisitely curated record shop takes its name "We've gone to see the Riverman, hoping he's going to tell us all he knows..." Meet Riverman Records' owner Andy Tucker, a man with 15 years of running record shops under his belt. "I've always been a musical obsessive," he admits. He was in punk bands in the late-Seventies and ran cult Cardiff label Z Block: "but then life got in the way, and I ended up with a proper job,” he says.

Fast forward to 2007: "I was made redundant, got a decent payoff, and decided to take a year out. I volunteered at my local Oxfam, which was a dedicated music shop, and the idea that running a record shop might be viable slowly began to take shape.” Andy was living in London, but ready to embark on a new adventure. "'Trawling online listings, I noticed a record shop for sale in Henley-on-Thames [Henley Records, subsequently renamed The Groove]. I went to see it, agreed on terms with the owner, and kicked off my new career. I had that shop for five years, before moving to a larger one in Henley for another seven years. When the lease was coming to an end, I had to decide if I wanted to renew or try somewhere else."

Henley-on-Thames' loss is Oxford's gain. "Oxford had always been appealing," admits Andy. “It's a large university city, but it really had only one record shop, Truck. I managed to find an empty shop for rent and began the process of moving thousands of records, fixtures, and fittings."