Friday 12th September 2025
Danny Howell writes:
We are all familiar today with Backhouse Bet at 7 Market Place Warminster (by the traffic lights opposite the junction of Market Place and Weymouth Street) (correction to original post) but back in August 1986 when I took this photo, the premises were occupied by Music Man, They sold vinyl albums and cassette tapes.
The biggest selling albums in the UK chart at that time included Madonna – True Light; Five Star – Silk And Steel; Simply Red – Picture Book; Wham – The Final; AHA – Hunting High And Low; Sique Sique Sputnik – Flaunt It; Dire Straits – Brothers In Arms; Queen – A Kind Of Magic; The Communards – The Communards; Prince And The Revolution – Parade; Chris de Burgh – Into The Light; Eurythmics – Revenge; Lionel Ritchie – Dancing On The Ceiling; and Various Artists – That’s What I Call Music 7.
I remember going with a friend who wanted to buy and listen to something different and new to him. He chose Genesis, Invisible Touch. He took it home and played it and hated it! He took it back to Music Man and they refunded him his money.
The cost of a vinyl album back then was about £4.99. It has to be said that most people at that time preferred to buy cassette tapes.
All seemed to be going well for Music Man in Warminster but one night a person or persons went through that wooden door to the right of the shop and out of sight in the passageway gained access through a window in the side wall to the shop. A police report said the entire stock of the shop was stolen. That was the end of Music Man in Warminster – they never restocked after the robbery and closed for good.