Video rental shops in the UK (December 2024)

A look at movie rental shops in the UK.

By my reckoning there are four 'video shops' still in operation offering physical media movie rentals in the UK. They are:

• 20th Century Flicks in Bristol
• TVL Allstar Video in Haverhill, Suffolk
• Snips Movies in Bebington, Wirral
• Northgate Video & DVD in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk

Unfortunately B.V.C. - Bolton Video Centre in Little Lever, Bolton closed in July this year. We visited that particular video shop on Video Shop Day in 2020!

It's brilliant to see there are still businesses active in the sector though!

Signs and traces of video shops

There are still traces of former video shops to be found on the streets, shopping centres and retail parks of the UK. Most of those are old Blockbuster Video stores. But there are still signs of independent video shops to be seen if you're lucky (and actually visit and rent from if you're really lucky!). Some of those I've snapped over the years include:

• Shahenshah Videos in Luton
• Deane Video Centre in Bolton
• Video Box Office at the Happy Shopper Wayfairer Discount Store in Ilkeston
• Video Future in Longton, Stoke-on-Trent
• The Movie Box in Manchester
• Jubilee Films in Ashton-under-Lyne
• B.V.C. - Bolton Video Centre in Little Lever, Bolton (closed in 2024)
• 20th Century Flicks in Bristol (still operating, but closed on the day of our visit)
• Video Express in Swansea
• Video Rentals at The Village Top Shop in Thorpe Hesley, Rotherham
• Northgate Video & DVD in Bury St Edmunds (still operating, but closed on the day of our visit)
• TVL Allstar Video in Haverhill (still operating)

Blockbuster Video shops

Blockbuster Video stores we've visited to date include:

• Abingdon, Oxfordshire
• Ashton, Bristol
• Barnsley, South Yorkshire
• Basingstoke, Hampshire
• Billingham, Teesside
• Cheadle Hulme, Greater Manchester
• Chester, Cheshire
• Chorley, Lancashire
• Clacton-on-Sea, Essex
• Colne, Lancashire
• Failsworth, Manchester
• Fallowfield, Manchester
• Felixstowe, Suffolk
• Filton, Bristol
• Great Moor, Stockport, Greater Manchester
• Hastings, East Sussex
• Leigh, Greater Manchester
• Luton, Bedfordshire
• Marple, Greater Manchester
• Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire
• Nuneaton, Warwickshire
• Oldham, Greater Manchester
• Prescot, Lancashire
• Shanklin, Isle of Wight
• Southampton, Hampshire
• Telford, Shropshire
• Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex
• Wisbech, Cambridgeshire
• Wythenshawe, Manchester

Do you still have a video rental store near you? Please let me know in the comments if you do!

Video Rental at Parker's Power & Electricals in Stockport

The new series of BBC comedy The Power of Parker is filming in Stockport.

We noticed the former Bright House shop on Princes Street was opened up and being filled with old electrical items earlier this week and guessed that The Power of Parker was going to be filming there again. The first series of the show was set in Stockport in November 1990, and the shop unit was used as the location of 'Parker's Power & Electricals' electrical goods shop.

The shop window displays include some TV's from the era, as well as Video Rental cases!

Last year we found out there was a ghost sign from an old Tandy shop in Stockport, as it appeared in the background of a scene in the first series of The Power of Parker.

Stockport's streets are a familiar sight on screen as parts of the town have appeared in a range of TV shows, films, and adverts.

We're looking forward to watching the new series of The Power of Parker when it airs.