Banquet Records in Eden Street welcomed more than 1,000 people as queues snaked out of the shop for UK Record Store Day on Saturday, April 21.

Crowds began queuing outside at 6.30am on Friday, and stayed outside overnight, to be the first to buy limited edition records released for independent record shops’ busiest day of the year.

Banquet director Jon Tolley said: “People were queueing overnight, and others were popping in to the shop they might have otherwise walked past. It was a great day - a great time for us and our customers.”

UK Record Store Day is an annual event that was first arranged more than a decade ago, to help the country’s independent record shops like Banquet.

It is the shop’s busiest time of the year – surpassing even the Christmas period – and staff arranged bands to play in the shop, including Awolnation and The King Rooster, as well as hot food from local food shop Spud.

Mr Tolley said: “Our business year revolves around Record Store Day, which really lasts at least a fortnight. It’s a great time to not only celebrate physical music but also the weird and wonderful independent shops who sell it.”

He also said he hoped other independent businesses in Kingston would enter the Kingston Business Excellence Awards, after Banquet won business of the year in 2017.

“Being a high street retailer in 2018 is quite a challenge. It’s a labour of love, involving hard work, long hours, tight margins and expensive rent and rates – so it’s nice that people who put their time and passion into a business are recognised in the Kingston Awards,” he said.

“Whether it’s the local coffee shop or the bookshop or the skate shop or the independent café, we are all doing this because we believe in it and we have a passion to provide a service.”