ONE of the biggest days of the year for vinyl lovers will be celebrated with a twist at a Malvern record store.

Record Store Day, which is observed across the country on Saturday (April 21), offers music fans the chance to snap up limited edition vinyl across a range of genres.

Whilst Rachel and Chris Heard, who own Carnival Records in Malvern, do celebrate the day, they do not sell any of the exclusive vinyl and instead reduce their entire used stock by half price.

Mr Heard said: “We are a real independent shop and celebrating and promoting shops like ours is what Record Store day was originally set up for.

“We support that approach and that’s why we don’t sell any of the limited edition records.

“Record Store Day has become a little commercialised and that is not what we are about, it should be about the love of music and the passion.”

The event at the record shop in Church Street begins at 12pm with sets from Alula Down, folk-punkers Vaginapocalypse, singer-songwriter Connie Gordon and the White Feather Collective’s Will Turner, Ledbury’s Pablo Alto and bluesman Trevor Babajack Steger.

The in-store celebrations will close with Malvern’s Nuns of the Tundra performing an unplugged set and headlined with a DJ set from The Cinematic Orchestra.

The celebrations will then move to The Cube in Albert Road North for a ‘pie and vinyl’ night which includes Carnival DJs, a licensed bar and a selection of meat and vegan pies.

Phil Mann, who runs Mann’s Hifi in Upper Tything, has reminded vinyl lovers that a good quality turntable is needed to really enjoy your records.

“With all the good intentions in the world, many people buy cheap turntables and it can end up ruining your new records,” he said.

“I’ve tried to get on board with Record Story Day as much as I can on the social media side of things.”