PMT

[prowla]

7 minutes ago, paulmcnamara said:

Apparently Hobgoblin in London is Paul McCartney's favourite music shop....... it's spitting distance from his MPL Offices in Soho Square. Maybe he'll invest in the company?

I didn't even know there was one in London.

[bass_dinger]

24 minutes ago, paulmcnamara said:

Apparently Hobgoblin in London is Paul McCartney's favourite music shop....... it's spitting distance from his MPL Offices in Soho Square. Maybe he'll invest in the company?

 

One of the chaps there (John, who has since left) told me how Paul McCartney was a regular visitor to the shop, and he sold him a Hathway mandolin. Paul McCartney asked for a discount, and after a few minutes of negotiation, John said "in the time that we have been talking, you have earned enough in royalties to buy it!".  All in good humour, and Paul McCartney paid full price.

 

John also taught Paul McCartney a few chords, which he used in a song that he later released - Dance Tonight.

 

 

[Terry M.]

18 minutes ago, prowla said:

I didn't even know there was one in London.

Popped in there last year briefly. As a bassist I thought it had nothing to offer me.This is by no means meant in a slanderous way whatsoever.

[chris667]

21 minutes ago, bass_dinger said:

 

John also taught Paul McCartney a few chords, which he used in a song that he later released - Dance Tonight.

I bet he dines out on that!

 

I really like Hobgoblin, but I have also been a bit disappointed the last couple of times I've been in one. I just felt a bit unwelcome.

 

Massive shout out to Foulds in Derby. Great shop.

Edited 23 hours ago by chris667

[bass_dinger]

12 minutes ago, Terry M. said:

Popped in there last year briefly. As a bassist I thought it had nothing to offer me.This is by no means meant in a slanderous way whatsoever.

Hobgoblin is more your folk music shop - they do have acoustic basses (4 string, fretless and even a 5 string which they made for me). But they specialise in stuff that other shops don't stock: accordions, thumb pianos, erhu (Chinese violin), Indian lap-harmoniums, fretless banjos, marimba, chambord, bagpipes, and a couple of zebra-hides worth of African drums. 

 

If you haven't heard of it, can't play it, and don't need it, Hobgoblin stock it.

 

[choob.squeemer]

Err- fretless banjos      can anybody actually play one  lol

 

[Musicman666]

24 minutes ago, choob.squeemer said:

Err- fretless banjos      can anybody actually play one  lol

 

 

[choob.squeemer]

Ah  that's a shame - can't actually see anything - just a tiny blue square with a question mark in it !

[Andermtc]

On 12/06/2025 at 10:33, bass_dinger said:

 

From that helpful link, we see the following:

 

"Immediately following their appointment, the joint administrators concluded a knock-down sale of £2.4 million worth of stock and “certain intangible assets including websites, trademarks, and commercial data,” for £1.2 million to York-based Gear4music, which said it is not acquiring any part of PMT’s trading business, nor any other assets or liabilities, and has no current plans to use the PMT trading name."

 

So, Gear4Music has purchased the PMT stock.

The question I have in these circumstances is if PMT still owed money to their suppliers, does some of that stock still belong to the supplier?

[Phil Starr]

I'm going to miss the Bristol store, what else will I do when the family are hitting the shops. I'll miss Mansons in Exeter more though. It's been inevitable for some time that these stores would be in trouble. If we all trot off to Thomann and the like for our needs then they are bound to suffer. It's not as if the rest of the high street isn't in the middle of a huge upheaval also. I don't think the situation has been helped by the likes of Gibson and Fender forcing them to carry huge stocks either. The other reality is that the guitar has probably lost it's dominance in music and 'peak guitar' was actually back in the early 80's with perhaps it's own indy revival.

 

On the bright side I'm seeing a couple of independent shops benefitting. Often by offering other services. In Chard (a small Somerset market town) we have The Somerset Music Academy, it's a guitar shop which also offers guitar and other music tuition combined with a repair and set up service. It combines a steady turnover of used gear with a range of um... lesser known brands. Even this has a twist, they are careful what they stock and every instrument gets a set up before they sell it. There are some very playable, nice sounding instruments at reasonable prices. Something you can't get from the warehouses. The tuition gives them a stream of customers for starter instruments and the kids get something decent to start their journey with. I believe they plan on running a rehearsal room too.

 

There's so little competition out there that people will travel to go somewhere you can try before you buy.

[Stu-khag]

On 18/06/2025 at 22:40, choob.squeemer said:

Was in PMT a day or two before they shut in Cardiff   - bought a snark tuner 

 

I found the service in there very pot luck - sometimes helpful - other times zilch

 

I started getting things a few mile out in A Strings a couple of years ago - now 

 

that place is excellent for service - I can get all the things that the other places wouldn't 

 

have in stock - like Neutrik plugs and lengths of speaker cable - or literally anything I asked them 

 

to get in - they have been growing slowly and its well deserved . 

 

 

Had a similar experience with PMT in Cardiff. Some of the staff had been extremely helpful over the years though. Must be quite soul destroying working in a music shop sometimes. 

Really feel for them and its sad that only one music shop in the centre of cardiff now. Heard good things about Moto music on the outskirts but all a bit too high end for the likes of me. 

A strings in Treforest are absolutely fantastic. Looking forward to seeing their new shop also.  I dont think I would deal with any other shops these days. Generally they are really competitive with their pricing but they also quality  check over the instruments and set them up so for that Im willing to pay extra anyway. Really nice staff as well.