Cancel

Open app

Search

Unknown Pleasures

4.2 (18 reviews)
Closed 11:00 am - 5:00 pm

Unknown Pleasures Photos

Recommended Reviews - Unknown Pleasures

Your trust is our priority, so businesses can't pay to alter or remove their reviews. Learn more about reviews.
Yelp app icon
Browse more easily on the app
Review Feed Illustration

Reviews With Photos

Sarah-Jane B.

The reasons I heart Unknown Pleasures: * It's named after one of my favourite albums by one of my favourite bands (the mighty Joy Division). * They sell everything from no wave and punk to classic indie, psyche-rock, glam-rock, ska, funk and soul. * A lot of the stock is vinyl and prices are reasonable considering the great quality. * There's some cool band tee-shirts including the sleeve for Sonic Youth's Goo. * The staff are friendly and approachable rather than full of attitude. * They have some highly sought after Northern soul 45s tucked away. To top it off, last time I visited they played My Bloody Valentine AND The Ramones.

Mark W.

Another shop that lives up to its name. Unknown Pleasures is a rare records shop located on the Royal Mile. In the past, I'd tended to stay away from these small shops, and have only recently begun visiting them. Browsing through the stacks of CDs, I discovered that I hadn't heard of most of the bands on offer. So they were definitely Unknown to me. Whether they were Pleasures or not, I don't know. I always prefer to check out a band on Spotify or Napster before buying an artist I've never experienced before. Apart from CDs, there is a good load of vinyl, as well as posters and t shirts also available. I'm sure that the staff are of the music geek type, and able to provide advice should you need it. I agree with Lynsey - the sort of people who are going to shop here are the genuine music fans, and not just people (like me) who tend to stick firmly with the middle-of-the-road mainstream.

Jonny L.

Presumably named after Joy Division's debut album, Unknown Pleasures is a record store located at the bottom of the Royal Mile along with an assortment of other slightly odd and unexpected shops. Unknown Pleasures is a small shop, but it makes the use of its space. On the outside it doesn't look particuarly interesting. Inside it lies a great collection of CDs, DVDs and most specially vinyls. It is the latter which it is best known and stands out for. Unknown Pleasures doesn't just sell punk and rock as you might have believed, but a myriad of other genres. When I went in they were playing some cool jazz and funk tunes. I ended up spending some time raking through their prog rock vinyl collection. As for prices, expect to pay to pay between £5 and £15 depending on rarity and quality. CDs average out at a well prices £5. There are some real bargains on that front! As Lynsey also points out, they also have a good selection of band T Shirts which differ from the usual HMV norm.

See all

4 years ago

Look maybe they have a good online store but they are no longer a bricks and mortar. Storefront closed 2 years ago.

Helpful 2
Thanks 1
Love this 0
Oh no 1
Photo of Liane C.
242
39
231

6 years ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

10 years ago

Helpful 2
Thanks 0
Love this 2
Oh no 0
Photo of Sarah-Jane B.
280
1096
3360

16 years ago

Helpful 1
Thanks 0
Love this 2
Oh no 0
Photo of Mark W.
1
170
221

16 years ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0
Photo of Jonny L.
28
316
325

16 years ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0
Photo of Gavin M.
108
1090
546

16 years ago

Helpful 1
Thanks 0
Love this 1
Oh no 0
Photo of Sam C.
16
339
350

16 years ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0
Photo of Emily T.
24
570
287

16 years ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0
Photo of Eleanor M.
52
1240
974

16 years ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0
Photo of Em C.
203
1185
783

16 years ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

14 years ago

Just to update, was in this store recently and as of January 9th, it will be closed Mon-Thursday and open from Friday thru Sunday.

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0
Photo of S R.
0
1
0

7 years ago

Excellent shop with a good range of reasonably priced vinyl and CDs. Picked up an Aphex Twin record in excellent condition .

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0
Photo of S T.
87
1198
1191

16 years ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0
Photo of Taco J.
9
28
11

12 years ago

And it'll remain an unknown pleasure as it's now currently shut on tue, wed and thurs. Long way to walk to find that out.

Helpful 2
Thanks 0
Love this 3
Oh no 0

10 years ago

Helpful 0
Thanks 0
Love this 0
Oh no 0

Unknown Pleasures Reviews in Other Languages

Review Highlights - Unknown Pleasures

* They sell everything from no wave and punk to classic indie, psyche-rock, glam-rock, ska, funk and soul.

Mentioned in 4 reviews

Read more highlights

Verify this business for free

Get access to customer & competitor insights.

Verify this business

Blackwell's

Blackwell's

(33 reviews)

££

Old Town, Newington

Edinburgh was our first stop for spending two months in the UK. We showed up with very limited…read morebooks and games because of limited packing space. We always intended to replenish our books and games while we were here, but Blackwell's made it fun and easy. It seems like Blackwell's is just a great bookstore all-around, but it's particularly notable for the fact that the basement is devoted entirely to kids books and games. They had basically every board game you could as for and were willing to help us think about how to pick them out. We wound up getting a copy of Carcassonne (which we have at home) and Cascadia (which I'm excited to try). We also got a few new kids picture books and a book of short stories and poems which will make for good bedtime reading. My wife also picked up a few fantasy novels.

I've been a huge fan of this bookshop for many many years, and would make the effort to visit it…read moreany time I was in the vicinity to feed my reading addiction. Since the advent of the Kindle, I don't visit as often and that makes me rather sad, because Blackwell's is a great bookstore and a cool place just to browse around soaking up the literary vibes. I love the labyrinth of different rooms and secret corners where you can find the most surprising things from board games to desk toys, DVD's, maps, children's books and even a Caffe Nero at the back. Upstairs they have a vast selection of academic books, and it is this connection with the nearby University that probably keeps this bookshop alive in face of the competition from Amazon and e-books. I still love visiting here even though I'm less often inclined to buy a fiction book (most of my fiction is on Kindle these days), as they still have some interesting finds to discover that you won't find elsewhere. I love their selection of stocking-filler type gifts, their eclectic CD and DVD offerings, their board games (Carcassonne, anyone?), and of course the Caffe Nero.

The Old Town Bookshop

The Old Town Bookshop

(11 reviews)

££

Old Town

If you're only going to visit one antiquarian bookshop in Edinburgh, I'd recommend Old Town…read moreBookshop. Aside from being on one of the loveliest streets in Edinburgh, it's a delightful wee shop that stocks an eye-watering selection of books from the 1850s onwards. There's a treasure chest of Scottish history, architecture and topographical studies alongside special editions of literary classics from Shakespeare, Dickens and Burns. As the shop is run by a painter, they also sell some lovely prints, lithographs, etchings, paintings and maps of Edinburgh and beyond. Tourists hoping to pick up a picture of the Castle should note these are priced £30 - £300 depending on the age, quality and scarcity of the work.

Edinburgh's Old Town Bookshop, set at the top of the winding Victoria Street, is more like a museum…read morethan it is a book store as they specialise in collecting antiquarian literature. From the books jauntily placed in the window to the many within, each is treated with tender loving care. It shows, since the books aren't falling apart at the spine, but are rather tainted with age. The majority of their books date from the 1700s onwards and are priced as such. You can gather from the pristine condition of the stock that it's not the kind of store you'd pick up a lovingly creased copy of Harry Potter from. But they do have a collection of classics (of predominantly Scottish origin), so tourists and avid fans of Burns can have a ball gandering the shelves. I wouldn't necessarily go here for a browse since it is so specialised although the staff are welcoming if you just fancy a nosey. But this store is a trove for Antiquarian collectors, who can hope to find anything from literature pre-dating the enlightenment to old prints and lithographs. It's largely a pricey venture, but for people well versed on antique auctions the Old Town Bookshop displays some lucrative books that would bring back a substantial amount of money when under the hammer. For tourists, this place is a quirky homage to Edinburgh's literary culture of old.

Southside Books

Southside Books

(12 reviews)

£

Old Town, Newington

Located just two doors up from the gargantuan Blackwells on South Bridge, Southside Books offers an…read morealternative through selling second hand books. People are able to come in and sell their second hand books, both fiction and non-fiction, and they also buy in large orders of books of varying condition. I have bought several books from this shop for my course and the owner is an extremely friendly and helpful man who always offers to order or reserve any books which he doesn't happen to have in stock. However, sometimes the books are in such good condition that he only sells them at the standard recommended retail price which can erradicate the point of it being a second hand book shop. Despite this, Southside Books has an excellent supply of books for a variety of reading tastes and is certainly worthy of a visit before heading to Blackwells.

I wonder if the owner of this shop is some sort of old guard communist. For some reason every time…read moreI go into Southside books I end up flicking through many books on Trotsky or the fall of rise of the Soviet Bloc. Actually this second hand and discount book shop has a great selection. It tends toward nonfiction, with a good selection of philosophy and religion. There is also a selection of university textbooks for these and other subjects. Don't come here expecting to find every textbook you need, but you might just get lucky and find that needed book for cheaper. Southside books might stock a good selection of nonfiction but it also sells fiction, with a particularly decent range of classics. Southside ticks all the boxes for me for a second hand book shop , it has lots of books, lots of genres, the owner is friendly and happy for you to browse. The only problem I did find was the prices. I know this shop is second hand and discount but every book I checked seemed to be discount. Even then the books are often only a pound or so cheaper than its recommended retail price. Even if there is a pricing problem, Southside books still remains a good independent book shop.

Forbidden Planet - Lots of comics, majority of what they have

Forbidden Planet

(31 reviews)

££

Old Town, Newington

Really pleased to have found this shop while in Edinburgh! Picked up a couple manga and some…read morefigures with my friend, we looked it up later and found out that I guess the Kitagawa he got was a UK exclusive and only £25 so this made it extra special for us given that we are from the US. Didn't interact much with the staff other than the fact that the cashier accidentally put an extra figure in our bag, which we realized and handed back to him before leaving. He seemed very friendly though

Came here looking for Pokemon cards for the kids or possibly a small souvenir. They didn't have any…read morecards and despite a pretty large merchandise section the thing they had the most of was comics. The comics were all retail and all of the merchandise was fairly priced. We didn't have a lot of space for presents but my kid was eyeballing a trade paperback. I liked how they had a curated display of comics but my favorite part was an independent small publisher section from companies I've never heard about before. They had toys, plushies, and funko pops along the right side of the store. Pretty good mix of lots of different items and franchises but not enough if you are a collector of something specific. I think this store started in NY but have expanded globally, there were a steady stream of people coming in and staff was helpful and kind when I asked for Pokemon cards. There were some places that seemed irritated after hearing the same question for the 20th time that day.

Edinburgh Books - Storefront

Edinburgh Books

(10 reviews)

££

Old Town

Antiquarian books Rare & first edition books…read moreOld classics Modern classics Penguin classics Scottish classics Scottish culture & history books Architecture books Art books Photography books History books Military books Greek & latin books European books Irish books Theology books Philosophy books Political books & Book marks In short, Edinburgh Books offers story lovers and book-worms 8 rooms of awe and wonder. To top it off, the staff are lovely and they play fantastic music from Dylan and Tom Waits to Gram Parsons.

There's a reason yelpers have almost unanimously given Edinburgh Books 5/5. It's a bloody good book…read moreshop! Somewhere between the Grassmarket and Lothian road lies this gem of a second hand book shop. Bringing class to the area unfortunately called "the pubic triangle" given the nature of the other establishments nearby, Edinburgh books remains central whilst retaining a slightly quieter location. Perfect for browsing, Edinburgh Books provides truly a great range of fiction and nonfiction, mostly well known titles and classics, as well as collectors items and antiquarian books. But make no mistake, this isn't some stuffy, up themselves store where you feel the piercing eyes of the owner follow you round the room. No no no, this is a friendly, browsing welcome gem. The first time I visited I spent about thirty minutes perusing their wares without buying and I got a nice smile and a 'goodbye' on my way out. There are signs up that say "please leave bags at the counter" which surprised me at first. But these are quickly countered by others which say "please don't hesitate to ask for help". I now presume the bag thing is to do with not knocking things over/making more room for fellow visitors. I should add here that though Edinburgh Books covers nearly all genres, its "Scottish Room" covering, yes, all things Scottish, is particularly good for its specialisation. The last time I visited I came away with a copy of Dostoevsky's The Demons, for about half the price it would have cost in Blackwells. A bargain! A lovely second hand book shop with great titles across a range of genes. A must for all book lovers living or visiting Edinburgh.

Unknown Pleasures - vinyl_records - Updated May 2026

Loading...
Loading...
Loading...