Howarth of London

I needed to rent a clarinet for my son's exam when his own one developed a problem which could not be fixed in time. The staff were helpful and the instrument they hired (Buffet E13) was in great condition and a suitable replacement for his Yamaha. The cost of the rental was much higher than on a longer term basis but the flexibility and convenience was what we needed. Great experience.

Service is brilliant. Professional, kind, happy to help. Love this place ❤

Friendly and helpful service. Rented a bassoon from here from Paul and it was a great experience

I took my clarinet into Howarths in early March just before the shutdown. Richard kept my instrument for several hours and re-corked a joint, reset a couple of keys, sealed some cracks in the barrel and first joint and the result felt like a new instrument. The bill was lower than I expected. The keys were quieter and it stopped squeaking! I thought it was me! I am now able to practice for double the time previously.

I’ve always found Howarth to be extremely helpful and supportive. The oboe team are knowledgeable and have helped me select several excellent instruments over the past year. I can honestly say it’s a joy to visit Howarth. A huge thanks in particular to Mike, Beth and Fleur. Phil N.

I bought a second-hand instrument from Howarth last year which turned out to have recurring intermittent faults. After sending it back multiple times to their workshop for them to unsuccessfully try and fix it, they refused to let me return it so I had to fork out more for another company to fix it, which thankfully they were able to. I’ve included a more detailed summary below. I regret posting this during COVID but after yet another poor experience with Howarth I feel it is necessary to share my experiences publicly. Howarth’s actions and refusal to let me return a faulty instrument could have left me stuck with an instrument I was unable to ethically sell on, nearly £3,000 out of pocket and unable to afford a functional replacement. I'd had the instrument for just over three months when I first said I wanted to return it (having sent it back twice, by this point, to their workshops for fixing unsuccessfully). Howarth refused to let me return it for a refund, saying I'd had it for too long to be eligible for one, despite it never having worked properly and therefore never being fit for purpose (this stopped me being able to play publicly). According to my understanding of the Consumer Rights Act 2015, I should have been entitled to a refund at this stage (I requested it a second time further down the line when the problem persisted after two more visits to their workshop and it was again denied). When sending the instrument to their workshop for repair the first time I funded the postage and have since learnt that in this circumstance the business should always cover this (for the following three visits, Howarth did fund the postage at my request). Faults were a key intermittently stopping working (I sent video evidence of this), and later intermittent screeching (I have never experienced this before in 18 years’ playing). The last time the instrument was returned to me after a visit to their workshop, a paper note that I’d left labelling which keys were not working properly was stuffed in the case, directly against the keywork. I requested a copy of the service report for my own records via email and this was never provided. I asked Howarth if I could send it to an independent repairer at their expense, to avoid more travel for the instrument (plus, they had been unable to fix the problems), which they declined (they did extend the warranty at my request however I had little faith in their ability to help, after four workshop visits). I chose to pay for this myself as I was getting nowhere with Howarth and the independent repairer found bent rods, bent keywork and blobs of glue on internal rods, all of which they fixed. Thankfully this did the trick and I now have a lovely, fully functioning instrument. Other admin errors on Howarth’s part occurred during this process, which I have not documented here as I appreciate these things can happen, although they provided logistical issues for me and potentially led to further damage to the instrument. Howarth’s management of my situation has left me feeling it's not worth contacting them directly. Their level of customer service and inadequate management of this issue throughout what was a very stressful situation can only be described as appalling. My latest correspondence with them is contesting their refusal to refund reeds which are far softer than advertised, which I am also awaiting a response to (I appreciate during COVID they cannot resell these but I still would like money back for unusable reeds). I will not be buying an instrument from Howarth again and would sincerely advise others to do so with great caution. ***EDIT*** Re Howarth's response: I've contacted you directly numerous times throughout this whole situation and have been either denied assistance or ignored, hence me feeling leaving this review was my only remaining option. Please feel free to contact me via email at rm8109903@gmail.com and I can take you through what happened. I won't instigate contact as I'm still awaiting responses from you on three queries via email from months ago.

Thank you for your help today. It was just brilliant that you fixed my son's clarinet with a quick repair. Fantastic service.

"Very friendly and welcoming. I have arrived 5 minutes before the closing hours and the staff was super helpful and they didn’t rush me out. Looking forward come back in to fix my husband instrument."

I love love love Howarths!!!

Unfriendly and unaccommodating with a poor quality website. I walked into the shop yesterday at about 1 o'clock looking forward to renting a saxophone. I looked on the website prior with all the different options available to me. I walked into the shop - it is very small and narrow, just a room - and two men were behind the counter. They didn't make any effort to greet me or offer any help. When I asked that I would like to rent a saxophone, they kept pushing more and more expensive options at me, telling me the cheaper options were not available or suitable. I had a growing sense that something felt off and I walked out the shop empty-handed. Probably for the best.

Just bought my second saxophone from this shop! Excellent service with very helpful and knowledgeable staff. Would highly recommend trying Howarth if you're looking to buy an instrument or any of their wide range of accessories!

Great service! Very knowledgeable and easy to deal with. Will go back for all future needs

Wow! An incredibly fascinating shop. Expert advice from employers & practise rooms downstairs to try out new instruments. A great facility to mend any instrumental issues.

Great bunch of people providing a top class service. I'm not especially musical, my wife and children are but I do the trips here to get Oboe repaired, get new reeds etc. Always friendly and helpful, very professional without making me feel musically inept ????

My partner brought his instrument here for maintenance. The repairer assessed, decided it didn't need an overhaul and offered to do what was necessary while we waited. The work was very reasonable priced as well.

Very helpful and efficient.

Second to none. Great service. Highly knowledgeable. Spent many hours trying out different Oboes. No rush.

Appalling lack of interest in post sales customer service. I  ordered a brand new yanagisawa sax and some reeds were offered as part of the package. Unfortunately the sax arrived without the reeds.  Instead of easily resending the reeds to solve the simple problem, they refused, without giving any reason. Secondly, i purchased a supposedly new jody jazz metal mp.  When I received it, there were obvious signs that it was been heavily play tested.  Again their customer service refused to acknowledge that there was any issue despite having seen pictures. I think sometimes it is better to buy from pile 'em high faceless suppliers, than suppliers pretending to care about their customers

I recently purchased a Yamaha YTS82ZASP from them. The staff was very helpful and welcoming. They gave me a room and brought me all the horns I wanted to try and really gave some of the best service I've had in a shop, of any kind, in a long time. This place has to be on your list if you are hunting for a new or used sax.

I bought a saxophone from them about 20yrs ago. It's in perfect condition but they have no interest in reselling it.. Apparently the brand isn't prestigious enough!

Bethany from the oboe department is the best <3 she answered all my questions via email, so kind and gentle!

Great shop with friendly and extremely helpful staff. If one person doesn’t know something they’ll always aim to find out and get back to you, even if it takes a few days.

What a lovely place. Helpful and knowledgeable staff and good value for money too. Love it.

Fantastic staff who go out of their way to help even for total amateurs!More like a family than a business. Repair was excellent and very reasonable. Will always use them from now on. 5/5. Thank you for making each visit a pleasure.

Horrible shopping experience. Clarinet department staffed by people with no knowledge or manners. Made to feel like my money wasn’t welcome as I am only an amateur. All stock overpriced. Avoid at all costs.

Phenomenal service, incredible music store. Literally one of a kind. A must for any wind player

Just a quick note to thank Phil Evans and the rest of the saxophone section for their help in selecting the correct sizes for Silverstein ligatures for my soprano sax mouthpieces. Having to order over the phone meant that I could not check the fit for different mouthpieces, but Phil helped me to get it right. Just shows why you should order from a real shop and not an internet superstore.

Lovely quaint independent music shop with everything you could possibly need for Woodwind instruments!

Helpful and welcoming staff. Great range of instruments.

Great selection of instruments and very kind and helpful staff

Staff are friendly and very helpful, and will easily resolve any problem.

Amazing customer service and I also am a regular customer for my saxophone, and cannot seem to fault the place

Excellent service, very wide knowledge of woodwind instruments, they make some of the best oboes on the planet

Cheapest reeds in the game, perfect for students and advanced musicians alike

Simply the best oboe, bassoon, sax and clarinet shop in the world.

Expensive but the only one for a long way around to sell oboe and cor reeds! Helpful staff and practice rooms to try the instruments and reeds out in.

Amazing instruments, great selection of accessories/reeds etc and really helpful staff

A lovely place to get your instruments and really makes you feel welcome.

The staff were very friendly and they saw to my problem very quickly. All in all I had a wonderful experience.

Excellent customer service as usual. Professional and friendly...

When i returned to fix my son's clarinet, which i bought the weekend before, i was verbally attacked by the manager, Stuart Middleton. I could tell that he had a bad day previously,however i do not believe that he should have taken this out on me. When his lecture got onto his '£15 000' saxophone i left the store, as i felt very uneasy and worried. I would not recommend visiting the store personally, as he doesn't provide good customer service.

Horrible - promisee a quote . NO . Call when ready NO.. Cost of undetailed repairs same as cost to buy the instrument

Love the shop and the staff is also fantastic.

Not a good service

I had excellent service.

Excellent service and selection of saxes

Excellent service for oboists.

Very professional staff

Very knowledgeable

I just bought a few clarinet reeds online: very swift service and cheap postage make it an obvious choice to get reeds from their broad range!