Music

TW Howarth specialises in woodwind instruments

The woodwind specialists
TW Howarth & Co
Chiltern Street has a reputation for music shops but daddy of them all is TW Howarth. The store is divided into three shopfronts: one for clarinets, one for saxophones, another for bassoons and oboes. The meat and drink of the shop’s business is mouthpieces, reeds and sheet music, and four members of staff handle repairs. Yamaha is market leader but the best saxes and clarinets are French (Selmer, Buffet, Leblanc), bassoons tend to be German (Gebrüder Mönnig, W Schreiber and Püchner) and oboes a mix of German, French and American (though Howarth’s own student instruments are excellent).

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Howarth’s was boosted by recent Government policy encouraging students to play traditionally unpopular (and expensive) orchestral instruments like bassoon and oboe. ‘They need a lot of work,’ warns the store’s Nigel Clark. ‘The average student has to bring their oboe in every couple of years. It’s like servicing a car.’

TW Howarth & Co, 31-35 Chiltern St, W1 (020 7935 2407/ www.howarth.uk.com) Baker St tube. Mon-Fri 10am-5.30pm,
Sat 10am-4.30pm.