MUSIC lovers headed down to the Market Place Shopping Centre to browse through rare albums and singles at the Record Fair.

Store owners and collectors from across the North West set up shop outside Debenhams on Saturday to show off their vast array of musical treasures.

There were about 8,000 LPs ranging from £2 to £400 for people to browse through as well as hundreds of CDs.

Organiser Adrian Melling, aged 58, said: "We do this about twice a week and we all love doing it. Comparatively this is a small gathering for us, sometimes we can get 35 dealers.

"But we love coming to this area because it is in the centre of the Market Place and we get a lot of passers-by who are shopping around.

"So we are really pleased to be here and we have a great turnout in Bolton every time.

"I think people are fed up of hearing the same thing. As far as we are concerned, vinyl records never went away. But we have had some young people who have just bought their first record player.

"It is especially popular in places like Sheffield because we are close to the university and a lot of the students come down to us.

"It will probably drop off as time goes by but there will always be a percentage that will stick with it."

Tommy Shennan, who owns Vinyl Groove in Heywood, has been going to record fairs for about 20 years and has been collecting since the 1970s.

He said: "This is all different people from across the North West who are just doing a bit of buying and selling.

"For me, it is all about going to different places, meeting different people and seeing their collections.

"It has not been bad at all today. We do get a lot of people here because many of them have just come to the Market Place to shop."

Nathan Crook, aged 42, came from Darwen specifically to have a look at the fair's collection.

He said: "I think it is only going to get more and more popular. The collection they have here is really huge."

The next fair at the Market Place will take place on April 14.

For more information, go to premierfairs.co.uk