Music shop McCullough Pigott to close after 200 years in Dublin

Music shop McCullough Pigott is to close, bringing an end to 200 years of business in Dublin.

Generations of music pupils bought their instruments and sheet music from the shop, which started out as Pigott on Grafton Street in 1823. The instrument shop remained there until a devastating fire destroyed the premises in 1967.

The original founder of McCullough’s, Denis McCullough, was the president of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB), but was sidelined by Patrick Pearse and Tom Clarke during the Easter Rising.

He was from Belfast and moved south to continue his business affairs after independence as a piano tuner and lutier.

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Pigott merged with McCullough’s shortly after the Grafton Street fire, but the company went into voluntary liquidation in 1993. It was acquired by music publisher Hal Leonard.

The premises in Suffolk Street was sold in 2008 and the shop moved to South William Street.

Hal Leonard Europe has now called time on 200 years of history by closing the shop along with six retail stores in the UK.

The company has forbidden staff from speaking to the media, but The Irish Times understands they were given very short notice before the public announcement was made last week that the shop is to close.

On its Facebook page, staff posted: “It is with deep regret that we inform you, on Monday 20th February, Musicroom/Hal Leonard Europe announced their plans to restructure their Musicroom consumer business in the UK and Ireland.

“This involves the closure of seven Musicroom retail stores, including Musicroom@ McCullough Pigott Dublin. Please bear with us and we will post further updates when available. But for now, it’s business as usual. We would like to thank all of our loyal customers for your business and we look forward to welcoming you over the coming weeks.”

In a statement, Hal Leonard said it was moving its sheet music business towards e-commerce. UK and Germany managing director Tom Venvell said “sales and profitability have been impacted by challenging market conditions. With costs continuing to rise, we need to make these changes”.

* McCullough Pigott is the latest significant music shop in Dublin city centre to close following the relocation of Waltons to Blanchardstown in 2018 and the closure of Charles Byrne in 2021.

The McCullough Pigott sheet music shop will certainly close but there is still a possibility that the instrument shop, which is attached to it, may be saved as it is a joint venture with Joe Lynch.

Music teacher Aideen Cooney of the Cooney School of Music in Lucan has launched a petition to save McCullough Pigott.

While many pupils now access sheet music online, she said “it is vital that students still have a physical outlet to purchase their music. There is nothing like the feel of a good book and for every book they go in to buy, they will probably leave with two or three others and maybe a nice mug or new pencil or even a new case for their music”.

To date the petition has almost 700 signatures.

*This paragraph was amended on February 28th, 2023. The original version wrongly stated that Walton’s had closed.