Beanos has closed its doors for the final time after a mystery seller bought the remaining stock in a secret late night deal.

Customers visiting the store today were greeted by closed doors with a note saying Beanos is no longer.

Owner David Lashmar said: “It happened late last night. Mr X was in the shop, he had been in twice last week. The suggestion was, you have bought so much already, why don’t you think about buying it all. By 10pm he had made his decision.

“I am very pleased and I have sold it to another dealer so the records will still be out there.

“It’s not some vinyl pervert who is going to hoard it in his cellar.”

He said the buyer was a longstanding fan of the store.

“He has been a seller for 20 years first as a mail order dealer and now selling on ebay and Amazon.

“He has bought all our stock, over 30,000 pieces, posters, records and CDs.”

Mr Lashmar said he felt a bit sad about the fact the most famous second hand record store would never again open its doors.

“I didn’t want to close Beanos but that was a decision made for me over the past three years.”

He blamed the fall in business on the availability of illegal downloads and pirate internet sites.

He was forced to close the top two floors of the shop in 2006 after he realised that he was losing money.

Only a massive outpouring of local support stopped him from shutting down the entire shop.

Beanos may have finally shut its doors but has been immortalised in film, most recently in The Boat that Rocked.

Film makers used 8,000 of the store’s records in the film about an offshore pirate radio station, set in the 1960s.

A dedicated fan of the store Lawrence Pearce, filmed and directed a budget comedy called Mixed Up in the record aisles.

The spirit of the Beanos will live on as Mr Lashmar plans to set up a market place in the Middle Street building.

He said it is still on schedule for opening in November.

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