The Willy Banjo Story: From Markets, Raves and Festivals to Lowthian Street
The About Us page gives you the short version. This is the long one.
Legendary. In a dodgy backstreet.
That’s usually how I explain it.
If I say “shop,” people think something normal. It isn’t.
If I say “festival trader,” that’s a whole different conversation.
So — legendary candles in a dodgy backstreet.
That covers it.
Before All This
I was always out and about. Bikes, music, people — just moving.
Got into the rave scene young. Different music, different crowds — all sorts of characters. I liked that mix. You’d meet people from completely different worlds, all in the same place, all there for the same reason.
Things went sideways for a few years after I was sixteen. Proper chaos.
By my early twenties, something clicked — I knew I had to do something different.
I was working a rough job in a fibreglass factory at the time. Hard work, long days, and you could see what staying there long-term did to people.
One bloke said to me:
“What are you doing here? You’ve still got a choice. Go and live your life.”
That stuck.
So I left.
Before I packed it in, me and a mate did a road trip across Europe. No real plan — just driving. France, Germany, everywhere in between. Music on full, no sleep, just going.
That trip did something. Gave me a bit of perspective. Made me realise I didn’t want a normal path.
When I got back, I knew I wasn’t going back to that factory life.
Starting Out
1993. Markets.
Candles, incense, bits and pieces — whatever we could get hold of.
Travelling around, setting up stalls, figuring it out as we went.
Borrowed cars. Broken gearboxes. Long days.
We learned fast — what people actually wanted, what sold, what didn’t.
No plan. Just building it bit by bit.
We did markets all over. Bolton, Bury, wherever there was a pitch going.
The Name
The name came from a nursery rhyme.
One of those weird little things that sticks in your head from being a kid.
I remember thinking — that’s it. That’s the name.
Told my mates we were going to be legendary.
They laughed. Said you can’t be legendary before you’ve even started.
Exactly. That was the point.
It still makes people laugh when they hear where it came from.
Finding the Shop
Ended up in Preston by chance.
Saw an empty unit on Lowthian Street. Had a conversation. Got a meeting.
Somehow — we got the keys.
Basement unit. Damp walls. Rough as anything.
Perfect.
We opened in 1994.
The landlord thought we were mad. Probably still does.
13a Lowthian Street. Still there now.
Building It
It started basic.
Strip lights. Makeshift shelves. Bit of DIY everywhere.
Slowly built it up over time — piece by piece.
Friends helped. People we met along the way.
Everyone added something.
Darren built the candle steps. They’re still there.
The sign on the door said it all:
We sell all kinds of weird and wonderful things from around the globe…
That never really changed.
The Exterior: Then and Now
The outside has changed a few times. Each version was somebody’s work — people who left something behind on the building.
Movers & Shakers
Next door. The unit’s now the office and storeroom.
For about three years we ran a record shop — Movers & Shakers. Started with a Fiat Uno’s worth of records bought off a mate: loads of white labels, test presses, old school techno and house. Some absolute gems in there. A fair bit of rubbish as well.
Roy used to have records up on the market. That’s where most of the old vinyl came from.
When it closed, I sold six feet of records to a friend for fifty quid. They were done with them. So were we.
It closed a bit acrimoniously, if I’m honest. We had a partner. I was putting money in. He was taking money out. He had his own reasons. Shit happens. We got out of it fine.
It was a good time.
The Parties
The Xmas Bash has been going for years.
It started as under-eighteens nights — which sounds mental now, but that was the scene back then. At eleven o’clock the over-eighteens came in, and we’d bring DJs up from London. DJ Vibes, Dougal, Brisk, Mark EG, Daz Willot. We even recreated a famous set by Stu Allen and MC Connie — Kinetic’s finest.
The nights were mental. Proper atmosphere.
Eventually the wrong crowd started showing up outside. Too much trouble. So that chapter ended.
We still do Christmas parties — and the odd summer bash for birthdays — all for charity now.
There’s more to tell about the parties. That’s another post.
Watch the Xmas Bash parties on YouTube →
The Festivals
Festivals became a huge part of the story.
From Phoenix ’96 through to the final Glastonbury — Silver Hayes, 2019 — we traded at festivals all over the UK for over 25 years. Knebworth, Tribal Gathering, V Festival, Download, Leeds.
Long weeks, no sleep, unpredictable everything.
Hard work — but some of the best times we’ve had.
That world shaped the shop just as much as the shop shaped us.
The Stock
It wasn’t just candles for long.
Over the years the cabinets filled up — glass, ceramics, gear from distributors across Europe. Some of it you couldn’t get anywhere else in the UK at the time.
What It Became
Over time, Willy Banjo turned into more than just a shop.
It became a place people come into and just… switch off for a bit.
You see it all the time:
People walk in, look around, and their whole mood changes.
They start pointing things out to their mates.
Laughing. Getting curious. Slowing down.
A mate once called it:
“An absolute jewel.”
That’s stuck.
Today
A lot has changed since 1993.
The high street. The way people shop. The city itself.
But the core of it hasn’t changed at all.
People still walk down those steps.
Still look around like they’ve found something unexpected.
Still leave with something they didn’t plan to buy.
That feeling — that’s the whole point.
We’re still here. Same basement. Same attitude. Still doing things our own way.
Now you can shop online as well — but the heart of it is still in that space on Lowthian Street.
Find Us
Willy Banjo
13a Lowthian Street, Preston, Lancashire, PR1 2EP
Mon–Sat: 10am–5:30pm
Sun & Bank Holidays: 11am–4pm ish
T: 01772 887772
Or browse the full range online.
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