Inside the site at the heart of the vinyl revival

Vinyl is back in vogue. The revival of physical-format music saw sales reach their highest levels in 30 years in 2024 and they have continued to grow.

Far from the view of the average music punter spinning their 12" is a depot, operated by global logistics firm DP World, at the heart of the vinyl renaissance.

One industry leader said the site, near Bicester, Oxfordshire, had "managed to reinvigorate the physical redistribution process" of music.

Ahead of Record Store Day 2026, the BBC got the chance to step inside the warehouse, which has shipped more than 15 million records since it opened in 2023, and speak to those on the frontline of the vinyl revival.

"When you first walk in, it's a very open environment, lots of light, lots of sound, and you can hear the music in the background," said the depot's site manager Sam Clarke.

Asked which tunes prove popular with the staff at the UK's largest music distribution site, Clarke said it changed with whoever was on shift, adding that his personal preference was anything by Fleetwood Mac.

The DP world depot handles more than 70% of all physical music products sold in the UK.

Explaining how the warehouse gets vinyl from producers to customers, Clarke said: "From the point of manufacturing, we will get an inbound overview of what stocks due to arrive for us.

"From there, we'll check it's in good condition and check to make sure we've got the right amount of units and then we'll then move that into the pick locations."

The stock is then ready to be ordered by stores and collectors from across the country.

Working alongside hundreds of staff members at the warehouse is a team of 83 robots, all of which resemble daleks with a cheerful lick of paint and are responsible for helping pick the already boxed up LP orders.

Clarke said the autonomous assistants help ensure the depot can "keep the volume flowing".

He said: "[They also] make sure that we can meet the demands that are coming through that we're seeing from the changes in the industry at the minute, and the growth in our vinyl."

Once picked, by human or robot, the vinyl is then labelled and its packaging checked before being taken into an outbound area "ready to be dispatched out to people's homes and to retail stores," Clarke added.

The site is the UK's largest distributor of vinyl records, and has shipped more than 200,000 to coincide with this year's Record Store Day on Saturday.

That represents a 20% increase on last year, as the popularity of the medium continues to challenge the instant availability of streaming.

"Peak gets very busy for us around Christmas time as well but with Record Store Day, especially this year, we're seeing a shift," said Clarke.

"It is becoming like a second peak for us, so it's now changing how we're operating."

Angela Howard, DP World's vice president of contract logistics in northern Europe, said the annual event was a "moment for the music industry to celebrate the record shops we serve and the enduring popularity of vinyl".

"At DP World's Bicester operation, our team brings real passion and pride to supporting this moment," she said.

One shop taking part in Record Store Day is Pop Classics in Caversham, Reading.

The store's manager Damian Jones said Record Store Day was a "big event" that was "spread out all over the world".

"Record companies release exclusive records by different artists, everyone from Taylor Swift to Pink Floyd," he said.

Jones said he had seen a "huge uptick in the interest from younger people" in vinyl music over recent years, alongside "older guys, like myself".

He said: "We've been collectors all of our lives and other people have bought record players and they're nostalgic about things they had in their youth."