People travel from all over Europe and America to visit Probe Records
A record store described as “the semi-official control room of Liverpool music” by music writer Paul Du Noyer is still going strong decades later. Probe Records has established itself as one of the most important shops in the city’s music scene since it was founded in 1971 by the late Geoff Davies and his ex-wife Annie.
The shop was originally located on Clarence Street, off Brownlow Hill in the city centre, before a second store opened in the basement of Silly Billies Clothes shop. It later moved to Button Street in 1976, just around the corner from Eric’s Club and became an melting pot for sub-cultures and people hungry for new sounds from across the globe.
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By the 90s the shop had relocated once again, this time to Slater Street and stayed until 2010 before moving to Bluecoat Chambers on School Lane – where it has remained since. Geoff and Annie both sadly died in September last year. Now run by Bob Parker and John Atherton, Bob has described the period since Annie’s death as “tough” as they “try to keep everything going”.
Bob has worked at Probe since the mid-1980s, while John has been there since 1976. Bob told the ECHO: “We all started as customers. Vinyl has never left here. People have been talking about the vinyl revival for 20 years but we’ve never stopped selling it and we’re still here aren’t we?”
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John added: “I think vinyl has peaked but it’s on the decline again now because young people can’t afford it, it’s a luxury product. We try to keep the prices reasonable but some stuff we can’t get because it’s just too expensive and we don’t want to push that expense onto our customers.”
Local musician Pete Wylie, record producer Julian Cope, Dead or Alive front man Pete Burns, and Frankie Goes to Hollywood vocalist/dancer Paul Rutherford all spent a number of years working in Probe between 1977 and 1984. What’s kept Bob and John working at the record shop all these years?
“The wages,” jokes Bob, before saying: “It’s the music innit. The music and the culture. Different music and cultures come and go but we’re still here. For the last year it’s been quite tough because Annie Davies, God rest her soul, died a year ago.
“The year before that was tough and we’ve had a tough year now, trying to keep everything going. I think we’re succeeding but it’s just one day at a time. People come here from all places – we get lots of tourists from Europe and America.
“I don’t know if they’d heard of Probe beforehand, maybe they were just walking past – who knows?” He adds: “We’re still open so come in and buy some stuff! We’re bound to have something you like.”
