The word ‘institution’ gets thrown around a lot these days, especially when it comes to discussing beloved, family-run businesses. Forsyth, the historic music shop on Deansgate, truly deserves the title.
It was founded in 1857 by the original Forsyth brothers, with a bit of persuasion from a little-known composer, Sir Charles Hallé (he was setting up an orchestra in the city, and needed somewhere to supply it). So far, so prestigious. The shop, which sprawls over five floors on Manchester’s most iconic thoroughfare, has stayed in the same family for five generations. Today, siblings Emma and Simon Loat run the shop.
Forsyth originally started out life in a building across the roads which doesn’t exist any more, but 126 Deansgate is its established home. “You can come in to buy anything from a plectrum to a grand piano,” Emma tells us. There’s one of the biggest selections of sheet music around, as well as a shiny collection of guitars and other string instruments.
Emma is well aware it’s an increasingly rare thing to encounter a shop dedicated to all things music like this these days, with many of their competitors going out of business, and it’s something her and her brother take very seriously – not just as vendors but as collectors of rare instruments, and a place for the classical music community to come together, from across Manchester and beyond.
As well as the shop, they also host concerts on the piano floor, as well as having a collection of rare and historic instruments in the basement. The very top floor, off limits to the public, is home to the piano workshop, where beloved instruments are tuned and restored to their former glory. It truly feels like a place frozen in time.
When you look around however, there’s one question that strikes you almost overwhelmingly: ‘How do they get the pianos inside?’ The answer is – a huge lift. The original one used water hydraulics, the current one – installed in the 1970s – doesn’t feel much more modern. Every corner of the shop is layered in history, from the 1800s harpsichord in the basement to the 1980s oak wooden shop fittings on the ground floor.
The main attraction is undoubtedly the piano floor – a vast expanse of some of the most pristine instruments you’ve ever seen, by manufacturers that even the non-musical will know are the real deal: Steinway & Sons, Bechstein, Yamaha. The most expensive is a smart, impossibly shiny Schimmel concert piano which will set you back about £140,000.
When they hold concerts up there, they simply push the majority of the pianos out of the way, creating a makeshift stage and seating area for the audience. When it comes to how the pianos are treated, it’s a curious mix of reverence and casualness.
As you can probably imagine, the Loats end up seeing multiple members of the same families come through the door, embarking on their own musical journeys, a mirror of their own multi-generational story. And famous faces too – when the great and good of the Manchester footballing world want a new centrepiece for their Cheshire mansions, this is where they come.
Rumour has it that when Paul McCartney comes to town, Forsyth send a grand piano to his hotel suite.
But you don’t stay in business for nearly 200 years by revealing secrets like that…
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