The musical instrument shop has been trading in London since 1811, when the original company, Chappell & Co., was founded. Chappell & Co. also published music, but in 1980 Chappell's piano manufacturing and retail business was sold to Kemble & Company who then continued to run the premises under the same name "Chappell of Bond Street". The publishing business of Chappell Music was later taken over by Warner Brothers becoming Warner/Chappell Music. The Bond Street premises were completely refurbished in 1986 to mark the 175th year of trading. Kemble & Company, a family business, commenced building pianos in the early 1900s and developed into Britain’s largest piano manufacturers, moving to a modern factory in Bletchley, Milton Keynes. In 1966 Kemble & Company became distributors for Yamaha electronic organs. As Yamaha became dominant in other product areas a joint venture company, Yamaha-Kemble Music Ltd, was set further to develop sales in the U.K. market of Yamaha pianos, electronic keyboards, guitars and hi-tech equipment. In July 2007 the minority Kemble family shareholding was bought out by Yamaha and the company was renamed Yamaha Music Ltd in autumn of 2007. In 2010, Yamaha Music Ltd merged with Yamaha Music Europe GmbH; hence Yamaha Music London is Yamaha Music's own retail store and, as the only retail store owned and operated by Yamaha outside Japan, it is the European flagship store for Yamaha Music.
Relocation to Wardour Street
In November 2006, the then Chappell of Bond Street store closed the 50, New Bond Street shop for the final time, reopening on November 11, 2006 at 152-160 Wardour Street. The new building is Grade II listed and has three retail floors.
Renaming the store to Yamaha Music London
Although Yamaha has owned the business since 1980, the store continued to use the 'Chappell' name partly because the two biggest areas of the business - sheet music and acoustic pianos - were so strongly associated with the name. However, in 2015, the company decided to place more emphasis upon the expansive selection of Yamaha musical instruments it carries, hence the decision to use the globally-known name Yamaha was made and the Chappell of Bond Street name retired.
