Chappell Of Bond Street

Visited the store during a recent trip to London. Highly recommend it to anyone visiting who has some spare time. Plan on spending a fair amount of time because the very large selection of sheet music will draw you in. Just when you think you have looked up every possible piece of sheet music you unearth some other abstract artist that gets your wheels turning for more. I was looking for theory books as I’m working on expanding my knowledge base and was not disappointed. The biggest problem is figuring out which one to choose.
In terms of instruments they are Yamaha focus but have a wide selection of all types of instruments.
Staff was friendly and knowledgeable.

I’ve walked past Chapell’s many a time for years and always wondered what it was like inside and then the other week my friend, a songwriter, asked if we could pop in and I was more than happy to! It was simply amazing, like a treasure trove and Aladdin’s Cave of musical treats!
Whether you play an instrument; are a singer or are looking for a gift for someone that does either this is the place to come!
When you enter, you are faced with a multitude of instruments, especially guitars and pianos and then downstairs there is simply the largest range of sheet music and song books for whatever genre you would like and can imagine.
I heard the staff being really helpful and advising customers so they certainly know their stuff and it was definitely an inspirational place that’s for sure and made me want to pick up my flute and dust off my saxophone — or even invest in a ukelele!

I haven’t a musical bone in my body! But when I was asked to get a birthday present for a niece that is just starting to learn piano even I knew where my first destination would be (I even remember the original shop on Bond Street).
Chappells has a very comprehensive website. I knew I wanted to get her nice music book but I didn’t know where to start so rang up for some advice. The sales assistant was very helpful and gave me some nice suggestions so I popped along in my lunch break. Same assistant was available to help and directed me to the section that would be suitable for her age and level.
After a lot of deliberation over what kind of music 8 year old girls liked I settled for Disney classics. All in all a good shopping experience.

The best and most celebrated music store in the UK. Once I’m sucked into the Soho shop I can be there for hours quite happily. I have just bought a very reasonably priced black Makala Ukulele ready for the London Uke Festival and it was a joy to be able to try it out under no pressure. Thoroughly recommended.

For piano players like myself who rarely get to play on an acoustic piano anymore, this is a great place to sample a range of beautiful pianos. Unlike their US counterparts, most European piano stores are a little more hesitant in allowing people play their precious instruments. Chappell of Bond Street (spelled with two p’s, unlike the business profile I found on Unilocal!) is no exception. There is absolutely no problem in testing out the keyboards, but if they don’t know you from before you’ll need to pretend that you’re interested in actually buying a grand piano before they will let you play one. At least that’s the experience I had.
Although the pianos are gorgeous and generally in tune, the one drawback here is that it’s a Yamaha store. This means that most of the pianos are Yamaha’s with very little to offer of anything else. I’m a big fan of Steinway and the brand Mason & Hamlin, and really wish there was a little more diversity in the brands they offer.
Overall, though, this is a great music shop with some really kick ass keyboards, a good sheet music collection, and some lovely Yamaha pianos upstairs.

If you play a musical instrument, Chappells is a great place for a wander. Don’t be intimidated as the staff are friendly and there’s often someone jamming on the instruments, so there’s free entertainment as well.
The ground floor has the electronic instruments. I play the piano and you can play on the keyboards and clavinovas — headphones are provided so you can play in peace. It’s interesting to try our the different models and compare them.
The electronic keyboards are getting better with their proper hammer actions and sampled sounds but to be honest, nothing beats a real piano at the moment. These can be found on the first floor. There is an amazing array of uprights and grand pianos. Seek permission here before you tinkle the ivories but the richness of the sound from the grand pianos makes me so wish I had room in my house for one of these. You can also hear some amazing players jamming sometimes.
In the basement is a treasure trove of sheet music. They have playing guides and every genre of music from classical to contemporary. The staff are also very friendly and helpful in helping you locate the music that you want.
If you’re a musician, time will fly when you’re in here.

I’m a classical (esp. chamber music) sheet music nut, and I make sure to always visit Chapell’s whenever I’m in London. They have quite a different selection than we find here in the states, and it’s refreshing.
The service is excellent — once I even called a few weeks in advance to order some hard-​to-​find British music (one was even a reprint), and they ordered what they didn’t have and had it all ready for me when I arrived across the pond, even calling me in NY to confirm the order a few days before I left. That’s service for you.
Thanks Chapell’s. Hope to see you soon!

Chapell’s of Bond Street is the first port of call for most singers or musicians in London. As a student we would regularly come in here looking for new scores and songs to sing. The staff were always extremely knowledgeable and friendly, suggesting songs we had no knowledge about but which they thought would suit our ignorant souls. They were pretty much always on the money, much to our relief.
The store also has some of the most beautiful insturments you’ll see, just a shame i can’t play any. Truly a great selection which will appeal to anyone with any aptitude for this sort of thing!

Gorgeous, classy music store with a calm, helpful atmosphere. This famous music emporium is filled with everything to meet your musical needs. With grand pianos and other instruments that you can test in store and the largest collection of classical and popular sheet music in the UK, this is a highly accessible places for novice musicians to the professional. For singers there is a large catalogue of backing tracks and for the none performers there is a wide range of DVDs. It also houses the Classic FM and the Yamaha store. This is a vast store and in it’s new location in Wardour Street the instruments are beautifully laid out and displayed on the three levels of this building.
Chappell’s has been in London for 200 years and this shows in the knowledge and professionalism of the staff (not that they personally have been their for 200 years of course) most of whom are themselves professional musicians.

Chappells is one of those places that inspire you to play music, even if you don’t. And I don’t, yet the polished wooden hall of the upper floor make me wish I could but play something, anything! Upon entering, there are wooden stairs leading to another floor but it somehow looks like the entrance of a mini music academy, so I turned right into where they sell most of their musical instruments. They’ve got an amazing amount of choice but my favourite bit is upstairs where the pianos were. Big shiny amazing pianos that you can wander around and in the background, there was a young child being taught how to play, which I thought was pretty cool. The main room leads off into another which is more light and airy and I imagine lessons or some sort of musical practise takes must take place here because it was empty. The store was just really peaceful and I love the high ceilings and it looks like the type of place that the sales assistants might bug you, but they don’t at all, they are more than happy for you to take a wander and have a good look at what on show.

Chappell is amazing. I truly, truly wish I played an instrument just to be able to fully appreciate this place! It is huge, three floors consisting of nothing but musical instruments and paper music. There are walls of guitars of any style you could ever want — whether you want to be like Pete Wentz, Axel Rose or Pete Tyler. Copy anyone you want too! Floors covered in pianos and keyboards, that you can try yourself using the headphones plugged into the keyboards. One thing that struck me when I started asking questions to the staff about some instruments that they really knew their stuff. They wern’t intimidating or patronising to me when I told them I played nothing and I had come to one of the most famous music shops in London. Awesome. There is a thing called ‘The Hand Crafted Guitar Room’ where you get to try the guitars out for free, just to get a feel. It is chic, it is clean, it is shiny. just go there whether you play music, whether you’re shopping or not. It is awesome.