A musical instrument retailer founded in Liverpool and backed by investor YFM is to close its 11 stores around the country after failing to find a buyer to rescue the business.
Play Music Today was a multi-channel retailer of musical instruments and associated musical equipment, the UK’s fourth largest, and its main warehouse was in Liverpool.
The company operated from 11 stores across England and Wales, as well as via its online platform PMT Online and recorded sales of £43m.
Rick Harrison and Howard Smith from Interpath were appointed joint administrators to S & T Audio Limited, which trades as PMT (Play Music Today) yesterday (11 June 2025).
PMT faced a variety of challenges in recent times which had impacted financial performance. Competitive pricing of musical instruments had shrunk the margins of top-branded equipment, while fragile consumer confidence was impacting sales of high-end products.
The Company was also impacted by the ongoing industry-wide upward pressure on fixed costs, including rent, business rates and people costs. In addition, and following a number of recent insolvencies across the sector, credit terms had also tightened up and down the supply chain, all of which ultimately had a detrimental impact on PMT’s cashflow.
In its last set of published accounts to the end of April 2024 the business achieved revenue of £43m (2023: £47.1m) and reported an EBITDA of £182,489 (after making a loss of £574,133 the previous year).
It made a pre-tax loss of £280,193 in the year.
In a statement this morning the the directors said they sought to explore the options available to them, including a possible reorganisation of their store estate, as well as sale, refinance and investment options. However, with no solvent option available, the directors took the decision to appointment administrators.
Immediately following their appointment, the joint administrators concluded a knock-down sale of £2.4 million worth of stock and “certain intangible assets including websites, trademarks, and commercial data,” for £1.2 million to York-based Gear4music, which said it is not acquiring any part of PMT’s trading business, nor any other assets or liabilities, and has no current plans to use the PMT trading name.
Rick Harrison, managing director at Interpath and joint administrator, said: “It’s been a tough few years for specialist music equipment retailers who have battled headwinds including rising costs, dwindling margins and the rising cost of living affecting consumer behaviour. Unfortunately, despite the best efforts of the board, in the case of PMT, these challenges proved too difficult to overcome.
“While we are pleased to have concluded a sale of the stock and other assets to Gear4music, our immediate priority is to provide support to those employees who have been made redundant, including supporting them with claims to the Redundancy Payments Service.”
In 2019 YFM Equity Partners funded a management buyout (MBO) led by David Black, who became managing director of the business. At the time, Jamie Roberts, of YFM, said: “The founders of PMT have done a great job in building the brand in a growing niche. They are bucking the wider high street trend with the plan to open new stores, but we also see a huge opportunity to invest in its existing online presence to continue PMT’s impressive growth.”
PMT has its head office in Southend, a warehouse in Liverpool, and stores in Birmingham, Bristol, Cambridge, Cardiff, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Newcastle, Northampton, Norwich, Nottingham, Oxford, Portsmouth, Romford and Southend.
