Denmark Street in London, England - Disappointed by this famous "guitar shop street"

[Number Of The Priest]

I recently spent a week in London, England. One of the highlights of my itinerary was to visit the legendary Denmark Street, a road with rich music history, and a concentration of allegedly some of the best guitar shops in the United Kingdom... maybe the world? That's how it was hyped to me anyway.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denmark_Street

As a tourist, it was nice to absorb the intangible mystique of the area. As a metal guitarist and bargain guitar hunter, I was disappointed with the lack of selection. If I were a vintage buff with deep pockets, I probably would have been euphoric at all the classic guitars available. (I'm trying to be objective and consider multiple perspectives here.)

I understand that we are a niche market as guitarists playing heavier music, but for the ENTIRE STREET, I spotted no high end shred guitars, and the number of low-to-middle range shred guitars could be counted on one hand.

Verdict: Nice to visit, but I'm probably not the right customer since my desires are very specific.

Welp, that's one thing off my travel bucket list, but I'm not sure I would visit again unless my taste in guitars/music changes, because the street isn't targeting headbangers as customers.

What are your experiences visiting Denmark Street, past and present, positive or negative?

Since we're on the subject of travel + guitars, I'm willing to consider suggestions to visit other "guitar meccas" around the world. Maybe factory tours too. (On this trip I didn't have the opportunity to visit Andertons Music Co in Guildford as I spent my entire stay in central London, but maybe next time.) Thanks!

[VitaminG]

I was worried from your subject line that you were going to report that the entire street was full of nothing but entry level guitar & amp packages & how to play books.

Have never been to Denmark St but would love to. No doubt there'd be a beatup old Strat or 5 that would get my juices flowing.

I can't recommend any guitar meccas in Australia. Have been to cool guitar shops in Sydney, Melbourne & Brisbane. But none have a "Magic Mile" of guitar/music shops that I'm aware of. So no one place that I'd recommend travelling to the city just to see.

[Cliff]

I bought my Charvel Model 6 there back in the mid 80s. The shop - Rose Morris - is still there, but now divided into three separate stores whereas it used to be a single large store on the corner of Denmark Street and Charing Cross Road. There's a great video on youtube of Yngwie dropping into a a store a little further down Denmark Street itself to shred like crazy on a vintage strat before buying it. That's the same shop where I traded in a Rickenbacker bass for a Japanese heavy metal strat (one guitar before the Charvel.) Myself and a few mates would sneak off college on afternoons to look at all the shops. It was awesome.

I was back there last Christmas to pick up a ukulele for my daughter. That bit was fun, but the browsing for my own sake was very disappointing. Like you say, no interesting guitars other than the obvious Fenders and Gibsons and, I think, Gretches. There were a handful of PRSs, and nothing more esoteric - I don't recalls seeing any Suhrs or Ibanezes or ESPs or anything like that. Guitar Center in San Francisco is much better now in my opinion.

[Kisonen]

Your were a decade too late there.

Here's one article about Denmark Street.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2015/jan/20/london-music-scene-denmark-street-tin-pan-alley

[RR2772]

Well I like vintage old stuff and the last time was the summer of 2000 and 2001. In 2000 I found a shop near Denmark street and they had a Gibson Flying V that looked old but ok. I managed to make a pr day payment as my credit card had limits for how much I could cash out. After a 4 days I changed my mind and I got all my money back. One day in the middle of Denmark Street I notiched a vintage store across the street up a level. Went to the door and buzzed. Door got open and I went up the stairs.

I walked into a room full of guitars, amps and effects. I asked to try a guitar and sure what amp? That Marshall over there would do. So I plugged into low on that combo and it sounded pretty good. A few minutes later I had to ask how much the amp? 395£ I did not have enough cash so I went to totteham cort road for a ATM and went back. Bought the Marshall and a grey fuzz face from the effects collection to the left.

A day later I wondered when the shipping was going to be so went back and it was a different seller. I bought that Marshall. Oh the Thin Lizzy one! Ehmm yes. I was not aware of their music at the time

As for metal no I have not seen that either. Either to a certain budget or vintage Fender, Gibson kind. I guess Andertons is where its at.

[Number Of The Priest]

I wonder how many more decades we might need to wait until metal guitars will become "vintage" enough to be in the company of all the old Fenders and Gibsons that prevail on Denmark Street. I'm already hearing 80s metal and 90s grunge songs receiving airplay on "classic rock" radio stations, as it seems that sufficient time has elapsed in the music world where Smells Like Teen Spirit can be played seamlessly adjacent to Ticket to Ride.

I was worried from your subject line that you were going to report that the entire street was full of nothing but entry level guitar & amp packages & how to play books.

In the age of YouTube and social media, with many content creators competing for the dwindling attention span of lackadaisical eyeballs, it's compulsory to have a title loaded with mysterious and/or controversial "click-bait" to quickly attract as broad an audience as possible.

In truth, there actually was one shop that fits what you described!

[VitaminG]

In the age of YouTube and social media, with many content creators competing for the dwindling attention span of lackadaisical eyeballs, it's compulsory to have a title loaded with mysterious and/or controversial "click-bait" to quickly attract as broad an audience as possible.

In truth, there actually was one shop that fits what you described!

It's the way of the world now. A local shop used to carry some high end gear along with the entry level starter stuff. Kids gotta start somewhere and parents (and kids saving their lawnmowing money) don't want to spend thousands on a first instrument. But this store used to have cool stuff, like a limited edition EB Petrucci or a "1 of 3 in Australia" Jem. These days, they are all entry level stuff. They occasionally get in some interesting secondhand pieces. But no high end gear anymore. I believe they rely mainly on their repair business now. They've also had to move location 3 times due to increasing rents. Not easy to maintain a bricks-and-mortar store carrying high end & niche gear in this market.

[pagemalicious]

Denmark Street died years ago. A lot of stores shut down around the same time and it never recovered.

I used to go all the time from around 14 years old till about 20 (32 now). Those were great times, every building was filled with cool and rare guitars of every kind (prototype Jems, custom Bc Richs, USA Jacksons and Artist owned guitars). Now unfortunately, it's pure disappointment and it's incredibly over priced. I have no idea how the remaining stores still manage to pay their rates, let alone make a profit.

[Snoogans]

Last time I visited Denmark St. was in '99. Vintage and collector guitars everywhere, all of the usual "old boy" stuff at big money. In one however, there was an old Rhoads. Sharkies, Kahler, gold hardware and a Bartolini pickup. Colour was a kind of Chartreuse metalflake. Pretty beat-up, but still very cool. It wasn't cheap, but not stupidly expensive either. So I ask the bored-looking Herberts at the counter if I could check it out, and they fell over themselves trying not to help me, finally condescending to allow the shop junior to plug it into an entirely inappropriate amp.
If they had tried, I could have probably been persuaded to stump up the best part of a grand for it, but I just though "screw you pricks" and wandered out...

[Rsmacker]

I had the same experience as the OP back in the late 80s going to Denmark St - cum in your pants if a Gibson 335 is your thing, but superstrats...no chance, let alone any pointy guitars. Being London, everything was expensive, and everyone working there was a cunt.
As I recall, Allbang & Strummitt were the only shop that had Jacksons on the wall (plus the odd Ibanez) but they weren't in Denmark St. Their advert in Guitarist read "Available to rock stars and oil sheikhs only". Us little people could fuck off and perhaps touch a Charvel...if we begged nicely.

I seem to recall there was a Rhoads for sale in the record shop Shades around the corner - the only place we could get all the latest hip beat combo long-players like SOD's "Speak English Or Die". (Yes kiddies, ONE fucking shop in the country would have anything new from America, MONTHS before any of the other shops would reluctantly stock any of that noisy shit. Metallica? Pah, they will never catch on.)
Fuck London. Unless you are a tourist, then BRING MONEY.

Now, Musical Exchanges in Birmingham was another story. Back in the days when their entire shop consisted of a narrow groundfloor shopfront of about 50' in length total, they used to stack guitars 3 deep on stands, the wall racks were groaning with all manner of old gems like Aria Urchins, early Roadstars, Washburn RRs, along with odd-bollock Gibson RDs, Fender HMs, Tokai Lawsuit LPs,etc etc. (Although back then, I was only really interested in wild finishes, spikey bodies, or anything with shark-fin markers)

A shop run by musicians, no computers, just stuff you could get your filthy mitts on and try, through any of the old Marshall, Park, Laney, Hi-Watt, Crate, Vox etc they had stacked from floor to ceiling (if you could find a seat, the shop being no more than about 12' wide). I took my Jackson snakeskin strat in there about 1989, and it drew a crowd of people who just wanted to SEE a real Jackson in the flesh - while I rubbed my balls over the PRS's and other things I had no real intention of swapping my guitar for.

Those were the days before Exchanges suddenly opened up their huge downstairs cavern with hundreds of guitars all laid out by manufacturer, all held on a stock computer, with a clean carpet, a drinks machine you had to pay for, and No Smoking...and the magic was lost. No mental deals to be had, no forgotten beauties waiting to be uncovered behind some Japanese guitar parts shite (which is now ESP), just another soul-less shithole run by accountants whose only musical interest was cash-tills ringing. I could be wrong, but I don't think they are there any more - the days of me going out to look round places like that are long gone, though I will go bargain hunting in old-school second hand shops in bad neighbourhoods LOL

A 10 min walk away was New St, with several guitar shops in, all full of decent kit, plenty enough to give you blue balls on the train home.

Ah, The Good Old Days. Oh wait, there was a thing about London I did enjoy - phone box tart cards. Oh, the perversions I was introduced to, the exotic things I tasted (and piss, of course, haha). I see now that they are actually collectable, wish I'd kept some...

[darrellm]

London music shops have always been over-rated: I've been working up there on and off for the past 30 years so always take the opportunity to have a look around when I'm up there. Denmark Street is very disappointing even back in the 80s, poor stock and over-priced, although I did see a Charvel Surfcaster in one of the shops. Soho Soundhouse had a USA Charvel in once, I went in several times after work as it would have been my dream guitar back then, but for some reason it didn't have a Floyd on it but some other trem, and kept going out of tune when I used it. The only guitar I've bought in London is my Les Paul, and that was from Flying Pig which was not in the centre but a bus ride out.

Jackons and Charvels have never been prolific over here. Before the internet I literally spent decades even trying to see a USA Charvel in the flesh. I remember walking into a music shop in Washington and my draw dropping when I saw all the USA Charvels and Custom Shop models. I did eventually buy a USA Charvel here in the UK, one of those limited runs, but that was mail order after playing one in the USA.

As stated above, the regional guitar shops are much better. Musical Exchanges in Birmingham was a regular of mine too, they used to have JT of Budgie's giant stage-prop Flyng V in there. One of the best I've been too is Guitar Village in Farnham, still open now unlike most of the previous shops mentioned.