Pete Bromley, who manages Global Groove Records in Stoke-on-Trent, has been voted number 17 in a top 100 poll of the world's best DJs run by The Dancefloor Diaries. His ranking places him alongside established names including Carl Cox, Sasha and Graeme Park.

A career rooted in Stoke-on-Trent

The 55-year-old is known locally for his association with iconic club nights including Introspective and Golden. He played across the UK during the 1990s, but has spent the past 20 years focused on his local scene.

"I'm sort of a biggish fish in a small pond in my own area," Bromley said. "I love my local scene, I love the people here, they are very loyal to me, and it's seen me right all those years."

Early years and self-taught mixing

Bromley taught himself to mix because "I learnt so early on, there was nobody to teach you." He practised using megamixes heard on the radio to "get a sense of what was going on." Among his first records bought in duplicate in the early 1980s were Madonna tracks. He began "practising going from one to the other", and "by 1985–86, I was doing full mixes on cassette."

His first successful rave night was Introspective, held at the Leisure Bowl in Longton, where Friday-night crowds reached around 800 people. Bromley described the experience of seeing audiences respond to his music selection and mixing as "quite a powerful thing; you have to make sure it doesn't go to your head."

The record shop and vinyl passion

Bromley has managed his record shop for nearly 34 years. It began serving local DJs but now conducts virtually all trade online, sending vinyl worldwide. "We've got some customers who are strictly dance music and some customers who will only ever buy one artist. Record collecting is a weird thing," he said.

The self-described vinyl nerd owns thousands of records and has never parted with any of his collection, starting to ask his family for records when he was four years old.

Although known for playing house music, his personal passion is eighties breakdance and electro. At 30, Bromley began what he called the "jukebox of his life" — a 15-year project to own every seven-inch record that had meant something to him. He amassed around 4,000 seven-inch singles, many with original picture sleeves.

"Even to the point where I'm tracking down everything with the original picture sleeve, because it's like an index of my life. It means that much to me," he said.

Recognition from The Dancefloor Diaries

The Dancefloor Diaries described Bromley as a "highly respected underground selector who has earned admiration for his deep musical knowledge and commitment to quality electronic music." They noted that his "carefully crafted sets reflect a lifetime devoted to dancefloor culture."

Bromley said the praise only held meaning if the DJing was done to a standard where it was deserved. "Everybody craves for this praise these days. It's so easy to throw a digital set together and have the equipment help you out — whereas that was never a thing when I started."