Ian Shirley is 007 "The man with the Golden Ton"

So, now you know which £100 records to buy. But what if you want more than one disc for your dosh? Ian Shirley, licensed to chill and a secret agent when it comes to tracking down rarities, shows how to spend the whopping £100 he got given as his leaving gift from RC as he heads off to work as Production Manager for Ace Records.

When Record Collector told me they were going to give me £100 to go and buy £100 worth of records I couldn't believe my luck. I spend too much of my own money on vinyl so the thought of spending someone else’s was the proverbial busman’s holiday. The only stipulation was that I had to write about what I bought and provide a receipt for the accounts department. No problem.

I put a lot of thought into how I was going to spend it. Where would I take my custom? Flashback Records in the Angel? The Book and Record Bar in West Norwood? Soul Brother in Putney? I know the owners well and might be able to haggle my way to a sweet discount. Then there was the vinyl market in Spitalfields, which always has great dealers and records. I thought about flying to Berlin and spending it there until I was told that there were no travel expenses. In the end I plumped for David’s in Letchworth Garden City. Why? Well, it has a cracking selection of vinyl. It is also 10 minutes from the offices of my new employer, Ace Records.

David’s grew out of the back of a bookshop set up in Letchworth in 1963 by David Armitage, although it soon established itself as a record shop in its own right. David’s moved around Letchworth until settling in its current location in Eastcheap in 1982. Today, David’s has expanded into three linked premises that sell records and books and run an excellent café. Although David Armitage is no longer with us, the shop still honours his name and is today operated as an Employee-Owned Trust. Power to the people!