Honest Jon's on Portobello Road has been a record lover's haven since 1974

Some record shops sell music. Honest Jon's, on Portobello Road, has helped shape it. The shop has been trading in Notting Hill since 1974, and more than half a century on it remains a pilgrimage spot for collectors from around the world.

The story began with John Clare, a sociology lecturer who was researching gang membership in Paddington when he opened the shop in an old butcher's shop on Golborne Road. "It never completely lost its identity as a butchers shop," he later recalled, with meat hooks still hanging in the back room. One customer, he said, paid for his entire record collection with raw meat over a couple of years.

In the 1980s the shop moved to its current home at 278 Portobello Road, and Clare launched the Boplicity label to reissue jazz recordings. In 1992 he handed the shop to employees Mark Ainley and Alan Scholefield, who broadened the stock to include music from around the world.

Today the shelves cover jazz, blues, reggae, dance, soul, funk, folk and what the shop calls "outernational" music. Over the years the counter has employed or inspired a remarkable list of people, including Gilles Peterson, James Lavelle, Neil Barnes of Leftfield and Anthony Wood, founder of The Wire magazine.

The shop also gave its name to a highly respected record label. Honest Jon's Records was formed in 2002 in conjunction with Notting Hill local Damon Albarn. Its releases include the acclaimed London Is the Place for Me series, documenting the music of young Black London after the Second World War, as well as collections of Port of Spain soca, Afro Cuban jazz and Jamaican dancehall, and original music from artists such as Candi Staton, Tony Allen, Actress and Shackleton.

The Vinyl Factory has named Honest Jon's among the world's best record shops, and the shop also played an informal role as a community refuge in the 1980s, part of what makes it so loved locally.

A visit pairs perfectly with a Saturday stroll along Portobello Road market. Honest Jon's is at 278 Portobello Road, W10 5TE. Browse new arrivals and order online at honestjons.com.