32 replies to this topic

[pianoliz]

I’ve got 7 hours to fill in London one day next week - my son is playing at the Music for Youth Proms. Top of my to do list is a long browse in a good music shop. In particular I’m looking for piano teaching music.....I order so much online but I really want to have a good look at anything new and get some new ideas and material. Any recommendations as to where to go? Thanks in advance!

[Hildegard]

Nearest is Kensington Chimes, which is a fairly short walk from the Royal Albert Hall (close to South Kensington tube station). It is quite small but fairly well stocked; there aren't really any large sheet music shops left in London now that so many people buy on the WWW. In central London, I quite like Schott in Great Marlborough Street (close to Oxford Circus tube). It used to be handy for Boosey & Hawkes nearby, but I have a feeling they no longer have a shop and just do mail order.

[Latin pianist]

It's so hard to find a music shop for browsing now. All my local ones (and by that I mean within 25 miles) have closed down. There's a good one at Clevedon which I can do in a day, and enjoy some sea air at the same time, but I have to buy most of my music online now. So suggestions of music on this forum are always welcome.

[HelenVJ]

Yamaha in Bond Street - what used to be Chapell's - has a vast floor of sheet music on the lower ground floor. You could happily spend hours in there - a much larger stock than Kensington Music, by virtue of its size. You can get a 10% discount if you bring some kind of proof that you are a teacher ( ISM card, EPTA etc).

[corenfa]

Top floor of Foyles on Charing Cross road

[Latin pianist]

I have Music Shop envy!

[Hildegard]

Yamaha in Bond Street - what used to be Chapell's - has a vast floor of sheet music on the lower ground floor. You could happily spend hours in there - a much larger stock than Kensington Music, by virtue of its size. You can get a 10% discount if you bring some kind of proof that you are a teacher ( ISM card, EPTA etc).

 

Good point - I'd forgotten that one (despite the fact that that is where I bought my Yamaha GranTouch some years ago!).

 

Foyles is a possibility, but the music department is much shrunk from what it was 20 years ago.

[thara96]

There is a shop Just Flutes in Croydon, SL that sells instruments, books and so on. 

[BadStrad]

Yamaha in Bond Street - what used to be Chapell's - has a vast floor of sheet music on the lower ground floor.

Not any more it doesn't (unless they've changed it again). Chappell/Yamaha relocated to Wardour Street and when I was last there had a fraction of the sheet music it used to have.

[HelenVJ]

It is indeed now in Wardour St - but when I last visited ( possibly a year ago?) the sheet music selection was still very comprehensive, and much larger than the one at Foyles.

[Hildegard]

It is indeed now in Wardour St - but when I last visited ( possibly a year ago?) the sheet music selection was still very comprehensive, and much larger than the one at Foyles.

 

In the old HQ of Novello, I see. I don't think Foyles music department is worth visiting these days. I loved it in the 1970s when everything was stuffed in the wrong order in "shirt drawers" and the prices on a lot of the stock had not been updated since the war. Many bargains were to be had back then, and much amusement from seeing the cashiers (often students) trying to work out what 1/6d might be in decimal coinage.

[BadStrad]

It is indeed now in Wardour St - but when I last visited ( possibly a year ago?) the sheet music selection was still very comprehensive, and much larger than the one at Foyles.

Yes, still a good selection but nothing like the wonderland it once was.

[edgmusic]

It is indeed now in Wardour St - but when I last visited ( possibly a year ago?) the sheet music selection was still very comprehensive, and much larger than the one at Foyles.

Yes, still a good selection but nothing like the wonderland it once was.

I'm surprised some posters still find the Yamaha store worth visiting.After the reconstruction a few years ago, the sheet music section is now very small,without any specialist staff around.
I personally don't bother with it any more.

Such a shame because it used to be the 'must go'London sheet music shop!

[BadStrad]

I'm surprised some posters still find the Yamaha store worth visiting. After the reconstruction a few years ago, the sheet music section is now very small, without any specialist staff around.

Haven't been for a few years as I live out in the sticks. It was worth visiting as it still had a large selection compared to my nearest music shop, but it sounds like the selection has shrunk further.

[fsharpminor]

I thought much of the B & H stuff in Regent St North moved to a shop in Wigmore St, near the Wigmore Hall, think it was Brittens or similar. Has that gone now ? Also what happened to Cramers which wasn't far from Trafalgar Square  (?Tottenham Court Rd?)