Shop of the Week: Cremona House Violin Shop

Walking into Richard Bristow’s Perry Road shop feels like stepping back in time. With its antique instruments lining the walls in the shop’s original nineteenth century cabinets, Cremona House Violin Shop stands in sharp contrast to the shimmering modernism of Zero Degrees opposite.

Cremona House was set up by George Darbey in 1879, making it the oldest specialist violin shop in Europe still in its original location. Darbey started his career as a cabinet-maker, explaining the exceptional craftsmanship of the shop’s furniture, but soon became the greatest English violin maker of his time.

Darbey retired in the 1920s when his son Harry, a dealer and concert violinist, took over the running of the shop. Harry employed restorer Albert Tinney who continued to run the shop until 1982, when Richard took over. “We’re still here, doing the same thing they did back then,” he says.

Cremona House Violin Shop in the 1920s under the management of George Darbey.

Richard and his colleague Ken Green buy, sell and restore a variety of modern, antique and vintage violins, violas, cellos and double basses. The pair met in the early 1980s on a training course in Wales and focus on restoring by hand rather than by machine, as well as dating and valuing instruments. The shop no longer makes violins, and playing seems to be less of a priority: “We both play very badly,” Richard admits.

The shop relies on people coming in with their instruments and many are centuries old. “Sometimes we have people come in with their great-grandad’s violin, one that he may have bought here back in the 1900s,” Richard says.

The bell above the door tinkles and a customer who works in a charity shop enters with a violin that has been donated. After examining it and using a torch to peer inside, Richard identifies the instrument as late Victorian. “There is a fair bit of money in that, but a lot of restoration is also needed,” he says, finally estimating that the violin could retail at £600-£700 after the right work.

A selection of cellos sold in the shop. The one on the far left dates from 1700 and retails for £70

To value a violin, Richard first identifies its nationality and age. One way of doing this is by focusing in on the instrument’s labels, although this is a notoriously hit-and-miss method as violins traditionally have false labels. The oldest instrument the shop has sold was estimated to have been made in 1680 and the shop’s current oldest resident is a cello made in 1700, retailing at £70.

As for the shop’s typical customer, Richard says: “You get everything from young students coming in for the inexpensive violins, going right the way through to professionals looking for something really good.”

Some of the violins on sale at Cremona House. The cabinets were made in 1879 by original owner George Darbey.

When the shop first opened, you could buy a good violin for £20 in old money, Richard says, though that wasn’t to say that the instruments were all that price: “The shop sold Italian violins sunning themselves in the window, violins which are probably worth about £30,000 to £40,000 now.” The most expensive instrument Richard has ever sold fetched £60,000, though in the world of stringed instruments that is small change, with Stradivari violins going for several million.

On the future of the violin trade, Richard said is was concerned about cutbacks to music lessons in schools limiting the number of young people who have the option to learn to play the violin. “It’s certainly not a dying profession, but perhaps it’s getting more elitist,” he reflects.

“I don’t think anyone in any of the violin shops are sure of what happens next,” he adds, thinking of the future of the shop once he and colleague Ken Green retire. “We think there are a few people around who might be interested in taking on the shop. We definitely don’t want to see it go.”

Cremona House Violin Shop
7 Perry Road, Bristol, BS1 5BQ
www.violinvaluations.com