Yesterday, pretty damn legendary London independent record store Sister Ray went into administration. 'Pah! London-Centric bollocks!' many will cry; but they're wrong.

See, to a northerner relocated to London, it's pretty obvious that Berwick Street (pictured) - made famous by the cover to Oasis' 'What's The Story..', is (or was) in it's own way, right at the heart of the country's independent music scene. In the days before the flashy Rough Trade East the combination of Selectadisc, Sister Ray, a music exchange and even Mister bleedin' CD, there was a better selection of music old and new than you were likely to find at the HMV opposite on Oxford Street.

Now two of the above are gone, Selectadisc's premises being bought by Sister Ray which relocated into its bigger store. With them now in administration (though, importantly, still trading) the number of independent record shops left in the capital seems worryingly thin.

Yes, there's the aforementioned Rough Trade, and Camden is still the place to go for second hand gems, but Pure Groove's recent move to Farringdon can be looked at as a loss of kinds. Though their new boutique style is an admirable experimentation (and really rather cool looking), with only a hundred hand picked items stocked there's a hell of a lot of independent releases that you won't be able to browse through and buy. Quality over quantity, perhaps, but there's a lot to be said about trawling the racks, finding stuff you didn't know you even wanted.

If Sister Ray does close, it could be argued that it's going to soon reach the point where actually picking up a release on impulse, listening to it and discovering something new will be so difficult that downloading will be just too attractive an option to refuse. It's a different game entirely ordering a CD from a label's website and waiting a week for it to turn up; we all do it, but it's much harder to make that snap decision than it is to add another record to a pile you're buying anyway.

On top of that, not every new band and label can get their records into the mega-chains. Independent labels and independent record shops go hand in hand, and though the former may survive without the latter, it'd be a sadder place without the eclectic in-stores and shelves full of back catalogue that doesn't get returned after 3 weeks.

Elsewhere in the country, there seems to be less places to pick up under the radar releases than there was just a few years ago. There's still a few gems to get excited about (Leeds' Jumbo being a personal favourite), but one worries for a few of them if Sister Ray can find itself in trouble. Looks like those of us in the capital may have to chose between a trip east, or heading out to Kingston's excellent Banquet, in the future. Oyster card ahoy!

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