Eleven stores across the country have closed
PMT – Play Music Today store opposite Temple Meads station on Temple Way, closed in June 2025(Image: Google Maps)
One of Bristol’s last remaining music stores has closed after the national chain went into administration.
PMT – which stands for Play Music Today – closed the doors of its store opposite Temple Meads Station on Temple Way, along with ten other stores across the country.
The Bristol branch of PMT moved a couple of years ago from its long-standing base in the city centre underneath the Rupert Street multi-storey car park.
PMT sold musical instruments, equipment and sound equipment and was one of Bristol’s longest-running music stores.
Nationally, 96 people have been made redundant, with the store chain also closing its warehouse in Liverpool, and another 48 people retained to assist the administrators.
The administrator has said all of PMT’s stock, including the online retail stock, has been sold to an online retailer Gear4Music, for an estimated cost of up to £2.4 million.
The store was the fourth largest retailer of musical instruments in the UK, with a £43 million turnover, and it was the largest chain of on-the-street music stores in the country, with locations in major cities across Britain, including in Bristol.
Insolvency firm Interpath has been appointed to act as administrators for the PMT company, which was called S&T Audio Ltd.
They said the company bosses cited a ‘variety of challenges in recent times’, including the competitive pricing of instruments shrinking the margins of top-branded gear, “fragile consumer confidence” affecting the sales of high-end products, and rising costs associated with rent, business rates and employees.