The 1980s Video Shop: Opening Video Venue
By itsonlyamovie
I’m Stu, the creator of Its Only A Movie and here’s Part 1 of a story from the early 80s, when our family opened a pioneering 1980s video shop in the heart of Stockport, UK. A time which gave me my first taste of horror and the thrill of Pre-cert tape collecting!
The 80s were a transformative period in the UK for home entertainment, with independent video shops emerging as a cultural phenomenon. The video shop, once a staple of British high streets, embodied the excitement of a new era where watching movies no longer required a trip to the cinema.
Its 1982 and I’m nearly 4 years old at this point, I have a brother called Paul who is a few years older than me. We spent a lot of time with our two cousins, Mike (7) and Daz (3 and a half), as our mum (June), and their mum (Auntie T) were sisters, so the four of us used to meet together as kids (and as adults!), having sleepovers, playing the Atari 2600, and days out to Blackpool. We were brought up in Stockport, but the wider family was originally from Manchester, just 5 miles down the A6.
The Rise of Independent Video Shops in the UK
The rise of VHS (Video Home System) tapes, along with the advent of the VCR (Video Cassette Recorder), revolutionised how people consumed media and created a lasting impact on popular culture. Before the 1980s, most families in the UK had limited options when it came to watching films outside the cinema.
We only had 4 channels growing up (or 3 depending on your age), BBC 1 & 2, ITV and C4, and their programming was pretty limited, and didn’t offer much in terms of recent or blockbuster films. All of that changed when VHS became commercially available.
Suddenly, people could watch movies in the comfort of their own homes, and independent video shops sprung up to meet this growing demand.
The Original Independent Video Shops
Early 1980s video shops were often independently owned, and had rows of video tapes, categorised by genre — Horror, Comedy and Kids Corner, with original video shop posters plastered over the walls.
Customers could select the film they wanted to rent, take it home, and watch it at their leisure. The whole experience was often a highlight of your Friday or Saturday night, with families or groups of friends spending time together browsing and debating which film to pick for the evening.
The advent of Betamax (a rival format to VHS) added another layer of complexity. Some shops offered both formats, unsure of which would ultimately dominate the market, though VHS eventually won the video format war due to its longer recording times and greater market adoption.
Video Nasties and Censorship
One of the more controversial aspects of video shops in the 1980s was their association with the so-called “video nasties“.
These were low-budget horror films that often contained graphic violence, disturbing imagery, and content that skirted the boundaries of what was legally permissible. Titles like Cannibal Holocaust and The Evil Dead became infamous in the press, and the moral panic surrounding them led to the Video Recordings Act 1984, which required that all video content be classified by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC).
Many ended up being banned on video, but their notoriety only increased demand in underground markets. Some video rental shops capitalised on the public’s curiosity, renting out unclassified or uncensored versions of these films, much to the distress of authorities. This cat-and-mouse game between video shop owners and regulators became an emblem of the era, with these controversial films contributing to the allure of video rentals.
The First Mobile Video Library in Stockport
My dad (George) used to work as an Aircraft Fitter at Hawker Siddeley (British Aerospace, Woodley) having started their as an Apprentice. My Uncle Mike was working in the mines. As a sideline, to earn extra cash, they had their own separate ‘mobile video shops’, they started out buying video libraries and VHS tapes from a market in Manchester, and also Jubilee Video in Ashton.
They would drive around pubs and estates renting VHS tapes out of the back of a yellow Mark 1 Cortina, or a Caravelle van in my Uncle Mike’s case!
Advertising the Video Library in 1982
My dad set up his mobile video library around May 1982, offering films to customers for £5 per week. He started with over 100 films, and created a list which he would show to the customers to rent the following week. There were a lot of pirates back then, and my dad had a fair few! Superman, Enter the Dragon and Rocky 2.
He put an ad out in the Stockport Messenger Newspaper, and they phoned him up to say he was the first mobile video shop in Stockport! Word quickly spread throughout the local area and business was on the up. The Home Video Boom was well under way!
Delivering Films To Customers on a Friday Night
He started delivering VHS films in Offerton, Stockport before expanding to Marple and other localities. Doing this for around a year whilst still working full time. My brother and me used to spend our Friday night bored stiff in the back of car doing “Films”, whilst mum and dad were driving around from place to place. We were never out for that long, but at that age, it felt like forever! Looking back, all that hard work paid off enabling us to have a cherished childhood.
My Uncle Mike had a library of over 440 films at the time, which was quite a haul back then. He used to drive his van across Atherton, Leigh, even as far up as Bolton renting tapes to customers.
By now, they were both renting tapes to other independent video rental shops in their areas. That’s when the idea clicked for George that he was going to set up an actual video shop. Funding was sourced through a workmate of my dads called Joe, this enabled them to kit out the first shop. More on that later!
Sourcing the First Video Shop Premises
It was Christmas in 1982, a time of the recently released ZX Spectrum 48k, Domino Rally, Only Fools & Horses, and the Paul Daniels Magic Show! What a time to be alive. George and Mike joined video libraries and decided to open the video shop together with Joe.
My mum sourced the original video shop premises above an Estate Agents on the corner of St Matthews Rd in Edgeley, Stockport. The name was to be Video Venue, and was opened in January 1983. My brother and older cousin (Mike) were more excited by the prospect of owning a video shop, Daz and me didn’t really get what the fuss was about – we were younger, and didn’t really understand. we just hoped it meant more cartoons!
Launching Video Venue January 1983
The first floor office was decorated, the shelving and video equipment was put up and everything was set. Going up the stairs to the first floor video shop was a journey of it’s own! Video shop posters, artistically and professionally adorned the walls as you walked up the stairs. These were done by the reps from Guild and Intervision.
The first thing I’d always do is run straight to the back of the shop towards the counter with its huge poster for Death Ship attached to the front, what a film cover! The shop was filled wall to wall with films, it was heaven as young kids. Rows and rows of films stood there, shoulder to shoulder, like silent guardians of a thousand stories. Each one was a promise, a mystery waiting to be unwrapped.
The covers were the best part, I couldn’t read all the words yet, but the pictures told me everything I needed to know. I’d trace my fingers over the plastic cases, feeling the ridges and bumps, imagining what was inside. I always remember the artwork for Cannibal Holocaust, Don’t Go In The Woods… Alone! and Bloody Birthday. Ah, the good old days before the Video Recordings Act!
1000’s of VHS and Betamax Tapes
My dad would be busy dusting the shelves (though I never saw much dust, I think he was a bit OCD!), checking the returns, and humming along to whatever song was playing on the radio. Sometimes it was Queen, sometimes Dire Straits, and sometimes, if he was in a daft mood and some classical come on, he’d pretend to be an Operatic Tenor, and sing in a deep, Pavorotti-style voice. He did this all the time until a customer caught him once!
Fixing Damaged VHS Tapes
The shop had a unique noise and smell, a low, comforting buzz from the fluorescent lights and the whir of the video player. Our parents would check films when they were returned as sometimes a tape would become damaged – “chewed” – when the machine had tangled the ribbon inside, or they’d have a “jagged edge” the industry word for when the edge of the tape was damaged. My dad and Uncle Mike used to sit there, patiently, with a tiny kit for splicing tape, carefully unspooling the dark magnetic tape and trying to mend it. It was like watching a Toymaker fix a broken toy.
Most kids our age had to wait for Saturday morning cartoons, or beg their mum for a trip to the cinema. Not us, we could just take one home from our dads’ video shop. My favourite section was the ‘New Releases’. These were the shiny ones, usually at the front, with the most exciting covers. Dad would tell me about them as he put them out. “This one is about an adventurer who goes looking for treasure!” That was Raiders of the Lost Ark. I’d seen the poster at the cinema, and now, here it was, right in our shop, waiting for someone to take it home and watch it.
Discovering the VHS Horror Section
But it wasn’t just the new releases that fascinated me. There were so many other tapes, rows and rows of them catering for all tastes! Some had pictures of cowboys, some had aliens, and some had people dancing. “This is the ‘Westerns’ section,” he’d explain, “and over here are the ‘Sci-Fi’ films.” Then there was the special section (no, not the Electric Blue or Swedish Erotica!) – The ‘Horror‘ section!
Even though I wasn’t allowed to watch them, I was fascinated by the covers. Skulls, evil looking characters, gut-munching cannibals, and shadowy figures like on the cover of The Redeemer. They were scary, but in an exciting way, like peeking into a forbidden world. Mike and Paul, being older than Daz and me, got to watch a healthy selection of 80s horror, some of which became banned on video in the UK! Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Exorcist and Don’t Go In The Woods… Alone! to name a few!
The 1980s video shop wasn’t just a place where people borrowed films. It was a place of discovery. It was the smell of new vinyl cases, the cassette tapes behind the counter, the sound of trailer tapes playing on the TV screen. It was the smell of adventure, the thrill of the unknown, and the magic of a world where every tape held a new possibility.
The Atari 2600
For a five-year-old kid in 1983, it was the greatest time of all, as it wasn’t just films that our parents hired out. We also rented the Atari 2600 console and all the games. We stocked over 300 games, and we spent hours playing Frogger, Pac-Man and Asteroids! Just imagine how the 4 of us cousins felt, the early 80’s – what a time to be a child!
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