Soaring rents and rates silence the Soho long players

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Now it is going into administration due to soaring costs and falling sales. The firm pays £55,200 a year in business rates and £108,000 rent. Five years ago it paid £49,000 and £75,000. Sales have fallen 35 per cent since January.

The Berwick Street shop needs a £200,000 investment to survive as it struggles against competition from the internet and supermarkets.

Co-owner Neil Brown said: "What is happening to small shops like ours is frightening. There used to be 20 independent record shops in the same street as us, now there are only a handful in the whole of Soho. "