A move to North Street was forced upon the company in 1952 just before Rock and Roll hit the shores of Britain and transformed the musical scene. A busy thoroughfare, the shop could be seen by passengers on the many buses that plied the route. Jazz was also an increasing influence, fuelled by the Yankee 'Invasion' of Britain during the war. Ronnie Scott bought saxophones at Scheerers in the 60's. Red Price and many of the Leeds jazz bands were regular customers. The north swung to the sounds of Scheerer's instruments. With the Sixties, the musical world moved into the electric age. Guitars sold so fast that staff were exhausted after a Saturday serving the new 'Beat' generation. Even though he never quite approved of these newfangled contraptions, Billy turned a blind eye and let Alec Swain continue with a free hand.

In 1971, Billy's grandson Paul entered the business and effectively skipped a generation. Billy finally retired in 1974 and Simon his other grandson joined the firm in 1976. Several changes happened towards the end of the decade. The guitar craze had settled down but keyboards became ever more popular thanks to advances in electronics. Amplifiers grew larger and larger. More significantly however, the schools market began to develop and Scheerers capitalised on this trend. The government put money into musical education and percussion instruments became very popular. Soon the shop was too small to cope and the education division had to be split off into premises on Sydenham Road. Simon eventually took over this side of the business.

Today, it is a thriving business supplying several hundred schools the length and breadth of the country, particularly primary schools. One very popular service is the 'Rent Purchase' scheme. Allowing parents to pay a quarterly sum towards an instrument whilst they are learning it. The scheme takes the risk out of fostering potential musical talents.  The Eighties saw a further expansion of the educational side as well as the retirement of Alec Swain. To many, numerous customers for his service and encouragement still warmly remember him. For nearly four decades, he was the public face of Scheerers. Roy Bedford who also followed ably succeeded him in his footsteps as bandmaster to the Yorkshire Volunteers.

1986 saw another chapter in the Scheerers story open up. With the closure of Barkers, there was a gap in the market for sheet music in the area. Christine Tomlinson, who had been the manager at Barkers, was recruited to set up and develop sheet music sales within the shop. This has proved so popular and successful that it now accounts for nearly a fifth of the company's turnover. The retail instrument side takes one third and the educational division just over half. In 1995 it became clear that, in an ever changing economic climate, the company's needs would be would be best served if both the educational and retail divisions were combined under one roof once more. Thus, during the summer of 1996 a move to 89/90 Merrion Centre was effected whereby an almost fivefold gain in available display and storage space was gained. The world has changed much in the last century and Scheerers has changed with it.

Given the tremendous changes over the last 130 years, it is interesting to try and image the future directions of popular music. Can anyone forecast what we will be listening to in 25, 50 or 100 years from now probably not? However, the chances are that John Scheerer and Sons will still be around to cater to new generations of musicians.

Simon Reynolds
Managing Director

Page1