Our Story
One of my earliest memories is finding my parents' record player as a kid. I grew up in a pretty rural part of Somerset — there wasn't a lot to do — but those records, Stevie Wonder, Led Zeppelin, took me somewhere else entirely. I'd dance round the living room on my own. It felt like magic.
When I worked out there was an actual shop that sold records and CDs about twenty miles away, that was it. Every bit of my pocket money went on music from then on.
Fast forward twenty-five years from that first record shop trip. A record shop I followed (the awesome Drift Records) announced a Bon Iver pre-release listening party.
It had been a long day, and it was a 45-minute drive, but my (now) wife and I went anyway. They were serving beers and we spent two hours in a beautiful space, listening to great music, laughing, just enjoying each other's company. It was one of those evenings that stays with you.
That night got me thinking: what if there was somewhere that could recreate that feeling every day?
The idea wouldn't leave me alone. I wanted a space that gave people the same joy records had always given me — and Exeter didn't have anywhere like that. So I decided to build it.
12 Bar Music & Social opened in August 2024, bringing together records, coffee and live music. We are incredibly grateful to the community that has supported us and helped turn the idea into something real.
sam tame, founder
A Look Inside
Music, Coffee, Community
An independent coffee shop and record store where vinyl, specialty coffee, wine and beer, and live music all sit under one roof. New pressings next to secondhand finds. A quiet afternoon coffee that turns into an hour spent flicking through the racks. A gig on a Thursday that introduces you to a record you'll still be playing in ten years.
Every record on our shelves earns its place. We're not chasing volume — we're chasing that same feeling I had finding this music in the first place: something that moves you, whether it's a reissue you've hunted down for years or an album you'd never have picked up on your own.
We're also part of something bigger — Exeter's independent music community. That means supporting emerging artists, paying musicians fairly, and building a space where regulars and first-timers, listeners and players, coffee drinkers and crate diggers, all belong.