Dawsons Music & Sound, often referred to as Dawsons or Dawsons Music, was a musical instrument and consumer audio retailer with headquarters based in Haydock, Merseyside, UK.

History

Dawsons Music was established in 1898 in

Warrington Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...

by John Dawson, a piano tuner, who opened the shop to cater for growing demand from people wanting to buy new instruments. The company was owned by CH & JA Dawson Ltd until 1980, when it was purchased by Thomas David Briggs MBE. In 2010, Mr Briggs was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Cheshire, responsible for a range of civic duties in the Cheshire region. Thereafter in 2011, Mark Taylor was appointed as Dawsons' new managing director. His appointment made him only the fifth managing director in the company's 115-year history. In 2014, Dawsons announced its trading results over the 2013 Christmas period were the strongest in its history, and it became one of the first retailers in the UK to report how sales from mobile devices were quickly catching up with sales from traditional online sources. In November 2018, the Briggs family sold all interest in Dawsons Music to turn-around specialist SKG Capital. In March 2019 Dawsons announced that they will close their Warrington store, ending its 121-year retail presence in the town and also its

Altrincham Altrincham ( , locally ) is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, south of the River Mersey. It is southwest of Manchester city centre, southwest of Sale and east of Warrington. At the 2011 Census, it had a population o ...

and

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a market town in the Kirklees district in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confluence into ...

outlets. September 2019 saw announcements by Dawsons Music with regards to the termination of their recently promoted CEO, Mark Taylor, and also the sale of their Sankey Street head office and subsequent relocation to Centre Park. As well as the new headquarters the company revealed an updated logo and their ambitious plans for the future. On 20 April 2020, the board of Dawsons Music filed a Notice Of Intent to appoint Administrators (NOI), and

KPMG KPMG International Limited (or simply KPMG) is a multinational professional services network, and one of the Big Four accounting organizations. Headquartered in Amstelveen, Netherlands, although incorporated in London, England, KPMG is a net ...

was later appointed financial control of the business as it entered

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal ** Administrative assistant, Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an admini ...

. On 20 May 2020, it was announced that a new buyer for the business had been found and the company now trades under the name Dawson Music & Sound Ltd. In July 2020 the company moved into a new head office and warehouse location in Haydock, Merseyside. Due to challenging trading conditions, including the Covid pandemic, reduced high street footfall and increased online competition, Dawsons entered administration again on 1st September 2021, with all stores closing as a result. The company ceased trading and was officially dissolved 1st December 2022.

2011 England Riots

Dawsons' Manchester store was one of many United Kingdom city centre locations hit by the

2011 England Riots The 2011 England riots, more widely known as the London riots, were a series of riots between 6 and 11 August 2011. Thousands of people rioted in cities and towns across England, which saw looting, arson, as well as mass deployment of police ...

. Thousands of pounds worth of musical instruments and equipment was stolen, and the store was heavily damaged.

Dawsons and Farida Guitars

In 2004 Dawsons began working with

Farida Guitars Farida Guitars is a Chinese musical instruments brand. Farida, launched in 2004, seems to be a copy of Marina guitars and is part of the Grand Reward Education & Entertainment (GREE) portfolio of brands. GREE was founded in 1995, and is based in ...

as the sole UK distributor. Through its association with Dawsons, Farida established relationships with artists like

Frank Turner Francis Edward Turner (born 28 December 1981), is an English Punk rock, punk and Folk music, folk singer-songwriter from Meonstoke, Hampshire. He began his career as the vocalist of post-hardcore band Million Dead, then embarked upon a primar ...

, Bombay Bicycle Club and The Vaccines, creating limited edition 'signature' guitars for each artist.4. Vaccines website - Retrieved 20 May 2014

References

{{reflist Online retailers of the United Kingdom Companies based in Warrington 1898 establishments in the United Kingdom Companies based in Merseyside Companies established in 1898 Musical instrument retailers