Hey guys!! I’ve lurked on this forum as a guest for a few years… I’m taking my first ever trip to England on Thursday, as part of a choral tour, and I was wondering if any of you know of any good whistle/music shops in the areas I will be visiting to check out, and maybe buy a few things?
I will be in Windsor, Canterbury, Cambridge, and London… I probably won’t try and look for anything in London, because we’re only there for a day or so total, on each end of the trip.
I’ve been playing a Susato and Clarke’s for a while, but was thinking this my be my opportunity to see some cool things in person!
They have several branches around the country, but the only one I have been to is in London.
Tony Dixon is based in the UK but I don’t know if he has a non-online shop or can accommodate visitors. Another UK seller is http://www.bigwhistle.co.uk/ but again I don’t know if they have a shop for visitors to come to.
I visited Hobgoblin Leeds a couple of weeks ago. Very nice staff and a big choice of whistles, especially Dixon. I left with a Dixon A-whistle, which sounds lovely.
But London is probably going to be the best place to go for whistles and whistle music. There are many music shops concentrated on one road called Denmark Street, which is in the centre of London, and you’ll almost certainly pass it on a shopping tour. You won’t find many whistles on this street but you’ll find a good number of collections of Irish tunes and whistle tutors in the printed music bookshops.
Leaving Denmark St and going left down Charring Cross Road you will come to a music shop on the left hand side that will have some whistles like Chieftains for example. When you are finished there turn around and go back up to Oxford Street 5 mins away.
In the Virgin music megastore on Oxford St (which you will pass on the way to Hobgoblin) go up to the floor with the folk section and you should find about 20 or more whistle CDs if you hunt around a bit.
Five or ten minutes away from the Virgin shop is the London branch of Hobgoblin in Rathbone Place. Here you will find whistles and many other folk instruments to play. They will let you play away to your hearts content. http://www.hobgoblin.com/london/
Apart from the Hobgoblin shops I have only found small collections of whistles scattered around the UK in a few music shops, though the Generation and Clark whistles are ubiquitous.
The ‘Early Music Shop’ on Chiltern St in London has a great collection of recorders and sometimes a few whistles, but I don’t advise going there if you will only be in London for a day. http://www.earlymusicshop.com/news/Lonreccentre.html
One of the main flute shops in London, “All Flutes Plus” will normally have a few whistles but again it is not worth going there to look at whistles if you are only there for a day. http://www.allflutesplus.co.uk/
I think most UK whistlers go to a Hobgoblin shop or buy online from Bigwhistle or from a specific maker.
Given your itinerary, your best bet is Hobgoblin in London.
Most regular music shops in the UK will stock Clarke Sweetone and/or Generation whistles but nothing else so there is not much point going to them, you really need to go to a specialist shop.
There are other shops that specialise in folk instruments. There’s the Music Room and Eagle Music both of which I have found pretty good, but both are in Yorkshire and you are going nowhere near Yorkshire.
Tony Dixon is based in Devon, but again a long way from where you are going. I have bought whistles online from Tony Dixon and I have found his service very good. Each time, I received my instruments within a week. I agree with Iowas about the Tony Dixon A whistle, they have a good tone.
Going to Hobgoblin in London will also give you the chance to see a bit of SoHo. There was a lot of construction going on there when I was last visiting in 2007.
After Hobgob, if you walk west along Oxford street you might see the guy who hangs around outside one of the department stores, playing two or three notes in the second octave on whistle.
Cambridge is lovely but there are not really any folk music shops as such. Millers in the centre of town usually has a few whistle in and wood wind and reed (a brilliant shop for sax and clarinet) sometimes have a few. Hobgoblin of Tottenham Court Road in London your best bet.
Hey guys, thanks again for the suggestions, I wasn’t able to get to Hobgoblin due to our schedule in London, singing at Westminster.
It’s unfortunate, but the trip went very well, so it’s no big loss.
The choir I work with performed in St George’s at Windsor, Ely, Canterbury, Westminster Abbey, the chapel at Eton College, and the chapel at Hampton Court. Quite a trip!
Anyway, I will be on the lookout for a good midrange whistle online. Wish me luck!