Huge queues form in city centre as new store opens

Queues formed in Liverpool city centre as shoppers waited to be the first into a new store.

Rough Trade, on Hanover Street, opened its doors for the first time today, at 10am on Thursday, April 18. Eager music lovers and shoppers lined up along the street to be among the first to look inside.

Rough Trade, opened its first store in London in 1976, there are less than 10 stores across the whole world, with eight in Europe (including Liverpool) and one in New York. The store sells a wide range of vinyl records, including limited and rare editions, as well as music books and merchandise, and even host gigs in its shops.

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The Liverpool shop will be Rough Trades biggest UK store to date, with four smaller stores in London, one in Bristol and another in Nottingham. The 6,500 square foot store will be split across two floors, with the ground floor housing the record store and café, which will serve Dark Arts Coffee.

The first floor will feature a dedicated venue space, as well as a bar stocked with a selection of Signature Brew beers on tap. Today the lower floor opened to customers, with the first floor and venue space open fully from May.

When the gig space opens it will host its live in-store events programme with a busy month of shows, including headline slots for Jordan Rakei, Villagers, Bess Atwell, Alfie Templeman, and Seasick Steve. Speaking about its expansion into Liverpool previously, Lawrence Montgomery, managing director at Rough Trade, said: "We are excited to grow our UK presence with a store in Liverpool.

"The city has such a rich musical heritage as well