Yamaha Music London

Yamaha Music London was born out of the Chappell of Bond Street music store. Originally established as Chappell & Co. in 1811 on London's Bond Street, Chappell of Bond Street was an acoustic piano maker and publisher of sheet music in the UK.

Around 1980, the UK company Kemble & Company, also a piano builder, bought the Chappell piano business and musical instrument store (which was later transferred to its own company, Kemble Music Ltd). The music publishing arm was bought by Warner Bros to form Warner/Chappell Music (still in existence). Kemble & Company ran a joint venture with Yamaha in Japan (then called the Nippon Gakki company) - trading as Yamaha-Kemble, the business successfully brought Yamaha organs, digital pianos and later guitars, orchestral instruments and professional music equipment into the UK where they acted as exclusive distributor. In 1987, Nippon Gakki renamed itself Yamaha Corporation Japan.

The Chappell of Bond Street stores (now including a second store in Yamaha Kemble's home town of Milton Keynes) acted as major retail outlets for the imported Yamaha products, as well as selling Chappell pianos and sheet music (now bought in from external suppliers). In September 2005, the Milton Keynes branch of Chappell of Bond Street closed with sources citing the end of the original 25-year lease and the spiralling costs of shopping centre rental rates as the cause.

In November 2007, the remaining Chappell of Bond Street store relocated from its Bond Street basement premises to the vacant 160 Wardour Street building, originally built and designed by the Novello Publishing company circa 1905. The Wardour Street premises offered far more space but necessitated substantial upgrading including the installation of a piano lift and a disabled lift.

In 2009, Yamaha Kemble was wholly bought out by Yamaha Corporation Japan and repurposed as Yamaha Music UK Ltd, as an intermediate stage to merging with Yamaha's European operations. At the same time, Kemble Music Ltd (which traded as Chappell of Bond Street) was officially liquidated with all assets and the musical instrument store being sold to Yamaha Music UK Ltd. Shortly afterwards, Yamaha Music UK Ltd merged with the new Yamaha Music Europe company, consolidating some European operations and holding of stock.

Throughout this change, the Chappell of Bond Street store continued to operate. In 2015, it underwent a major refit and was re-launched as Yamaha Music London. Whilst the 'new' store was praised for its spacious and welcoming atmosphere, some long-term customers were saddened to see the shrinkage of the sheet music department (which, in its heyday, occupied the entire basement floor). Likewise, whilst Chappell of Bond Street had to some degree stocked instruments from competing brands such as Korg and Roland, the new store is almost exclusively stocked with Yamaha or Yamaha-associated products.

Since its inception in 2012 by the charity Music For All (the charity arm of the UK's Music Industries Association), National Learn To Play Day has been held annually at many musical instrument stores in the UK. Yamaha Music London has maintained its involvement, offering free starter music lessons throughout the day and has in the past featured drum lessons with comedian Al Murray.[2]

Many famous broadcasters and musicians have been spotted in Yamaha Music London over the years, including Emeli Sandé, Stephen Fry, Jack Dee, Idris Elba, Jamie Cullum and Jools Holland. Recently singer/songwriter Shaefri included Yamaha Music London in her London hangouts on Elle UK.[3]

• Official website