Only one of the six stores (in NW England) remains open following an administration process. The online business continues. Unfortunately the Belfast store has closed and the stock been removed.

Popped in to look at the range of beginner guitars, was greeted with friendly staff and helpful advice, which let me make an informed choice on a starting guitar within my budget. Definitely worth a visit in person, as opposed to buying online!

Very helpful and a good selection on display to choose from .

A superb shop with very friendly and knowledgeable staff. Youre made to feel very at ease whilst choosing your instrument and never put under pressure. We have purchased both a Tanglewood acoustic guitar and Ukulele from Dawson and would go nowhere else for our musical needs. Highly recommended and pleased to support a local retailer.

I had a broken headphone socket which I had bought from Dawson and I went back and a shop assistant fellow remembered me and said that it was covered by warranty which was a delight to me

Ive bought a good few instruments here and have always been received in New working order.HOWEVER my last item (clarinet) has arrived in an unsealed box with its packaging opened. Also the mouthpiece and barrel attached and the reed opened and in place.This is highly unacceptable. Even with covid-19 you think that I wanna see a used reed and expect my mouth to touch it 🤔 I think not.The item wasnt even for myself it was a gift to my 7year old who wants to join her older sister in making music.Very disappointed with this purchase and will be calling into my local shop in due course.

Great shop, really helpful staff. Lovely banjouke 😀

It was permanently closed :(

After almost 40 years of acquiring my first guitar, which has not been played for the best part of 30 years, the bug reappeared. I first visited Dawsons Belfast on Tuesday 14/10/202 and I am so glad I did. Staff member John was a true inspiration! He took time to listen to what I had in mind. Expressed a true interest in helping me and offered his guidance based upon his many years experience. Today (Thursday 16/01/202) I returned to Dawsons Belfast and purchased a fabulous Epiphone Dove Pro. I love it!. Thanks John and everyone at Dawsons.BTW, in my search for my new guitar I also visited another major music shop in the centre of Belfast. Although I was the only customer in the shop no one even said hello never mind offering to help. Dawsons you have a customer for life!

One of the only music shops left in the country where you dont mind going in. In other places the staff wont even look at you and behave like snobs, regardless of what youre wanting to buy.Im so grateful that Dawsons is here. I live an hour away so I phoned for some advice and made it there not long before closing. The staff were excellent - set me up to try whichever amps I wanted, never rushed me or tried to close early. They were perfectly helpful but didnt push any products on me - a rarity nowadays.Fantastic place. Thank you to Leia and Josh for helping me find the right amp (and apologies if Ive spelt any names wrong). I havent stopped using it since I got home!

Fantastic music shop! I went in looking to get an electric guitar and amp and spoke to Chris. He took the time to listen to what I was looking for, gave several recommendations for different guitar/amp setups and best of all, explained why he was making those recommendations based on his own experiences.The store offers interest free finance to pay for things over 9 or 12 months which is amazing for getting an instrument that would otherwise be a bit too much for a one-off purchase. The staff are all very helpful, knowledgeable and friendly and they have a great stock of pianos, acoustic and electric guitars (among other instruments) and accessories.

They have a great range of stuff here and dont seem bound to endorse one brand over another. The guys were brilliant and really encouraged me to try the instruments out for myself. Great place but location quite difficult to get a car close to if one was purchasing a larger item.

I love it I got my first bass guitar from there it took them I while and was the only one in the shop and I love demoing the basses there fantastic they have such a good selection of guitars basses. The acoustic department is amazing I love everything about it I will be back for strings and other gadgets that they have for sale love this place every staff member has so much knowledge about the guitars and they can answer all of your questions and they also have amazing prices for their guitars that you cant get anywhere else I Highly recommend they are very interested with musicians that walk in you can pick there brains about any type and genre of music you ask them about love it

Went to speak to the technical guy about leads, no one else knew the first thing about them, waited 10 mins to speak to him, and then left. On one hand, I cant expect everyone to know about guitar leads in a music shop, but only one person in the whole place knows about guitar leads, why arent the staff getting basic training..

Excellent musical instrument shop. I like that the instruments are available to be played. Perfect atmosphere for the budding rockstar

Best music shop in town in my opinion. Staff are super helpful and always have anything I need! Cant say much more than that.

Very helpful and polite people. I did not buy anything but was served like a king. First class!!

Ross was very helpful, really nice guy and an asset, he didnt try to push a sale on us and helped us throughout .We didnt purchase anything as we couldnt find what we were looking for .

Very friendly helpful staff. Pleasant environment. They leave you alone to browse and dont hassle you while you decide what youd like to buy.

While the shop does have a great range of instruments and equipment I found the staff to be disinterested or having a lack of knowledge when asked by a beginner for advice. While buying a guitar the assistant advising me stated she didnt know much about them as she was a piano girl and the guitar people were standing around downstairs, but at least she tried. On several occasions the staff have just stood behind the counter chatting with no interest in the customers. Overall probably good if you have a good knowledge of what you want or need but dont expect much help or guidance.

Needed a boom cymbal and hi hat stand and rang the shop to check prices and availability.Phone call was taken by Andrew who needed to confirm Stock and offered to ring me back, which he did within 15 mins. When I arrived to pick up my gear he was courteous, very helpful and extremely pleasant to deal with.Well done Dawsons, you have ensured a repeat customer through both your competitive prices and staff attitude.

Easily the Best music store in Belfast, staff workers and great and kind when offering help and services for products and demonstrations, and are willing to help for repairs. Wide variety of musical needs in one convenient space (in comparison to other local competitors).

Great service, very helpful staff but didnt have what I was looking. To be fair though I called in just after Christmas before they had a chance to take a new delivery and restock

Good range of instruments. Service can be a bit slow but OK

Great shop. Got my banjo strings and a few picks. Bought a lovely Ibanez bass. Some staff are lovely. I always buy my stuff there.

Very helpful staff when I went before Christmas to buy my husband a guitar. Great advice and he loves his new Martin.

Poor any music shop worth its salt should have all the flagship keyboards I didnt even see one

Helpful staff and a large selection of products. Limited parking and accessibility. A good website for online shopping too

I rate 1 star because of the lack of left handed guiatrs. I wanted a good quality acoustic but they had 1 at about £100. Very poor as usual.

I once waited over 5mins in the queue while 3 customer assistants were serving 1 customer (he was haggling for a set of free guitar strings); I gave up and walked out.Reasonable selection of gear, nothing spectacular, its definitely not one of the better stocked Dawsons.There only ever seems to be 1 customer assistant on the floor, while very attentive she doesnt know anything more about the gear than is written on the information label.What Id like to see is customer assistants who are enthusiastic about the gear, knowledgeable, and friendly instead of condescending.

Great choice. Really cool wee shop.

Pleasant and knowledgeable staff

Sam was really helpful in my quest from start to finish.on my gaining a speaker to connect with the new wifi system.for my duties as quiz master and master of ceremonies at rathmore manor newtownabbey.i will certainly be heard more clearly and directly by my fellow residentsAgain thank you sam and dawson music.

Updating this review to reflect the current state of music shops in Northern Ireland.Dawsons offers most mainstream music supplies including drums, guitars, pianos, electric pianos and more. Also in store is a range of digital and analog synthesizers and other audio gear. The prices here are sometimes a little more than what you could find online, but the store is genuinely the only place in the country where you can find more advanced gear from the likes of Moog etc.The staff are also very friendly and will let you try anything within reason.In NI its very difficult to know what youre buying in terms of instruments, with most things being ordered online simply because theyre not available here. So from that perspective Dawsons is a valuable connection to the rest of the world of music from our little country, and a good place to go for your music needs.

Friendly knowledgable staff. I always give these guys a shot before trying online.

Found hi-quality audio lead I needed. Staff friendly and helpful.

Needed some advice on guitar tech. Sales guy Paul was extremely helpful, taking me through products, explaining pros and cons, experience, opinions etc.

Really helpful staff. Ordered the product in and it arrived a week later rather than the estimated 3 weeks. Phoned us up and picked it up next day.

OK. So I wanted to take my time and choose the right guitar for me. So I put a deposit on a guitar over the phone, called in and decided not to purchase. For no other reason than just the wrong guitar for me. I didnt see anything else on display and the staff new what I was after. I asked them about other guitars in the store and voila a nice guitar appeared. I put a deposit down and went away to think about it. In the meantime they refused to change the strings before I purchased it and then the manager was quite rude and just told the staff to refund my deposit so they could sell it to someone else. I would understand if I was being rude and demanding but all I wanted was more time and a change of strings. This seemed a stretch too far for the manager and there was NO WAY I was buying a guitar off him. So I went to matchetts and received the customer experience I expected. Patience, knowledge and no problem putting the right strings on a jazz guitar before I bought. My advice..... Shop in Matchetts.I see your reply and find it insulting. I have not exaggerated any point on my review.it was bad enough dealing with your staff face to face but now Im having to defend my review online. Shame

Great place to get a guitar, whether youre a novice or pro

Dawsons sits on the old site of Marcus Music in Royal Avenue.They have a great range of both electric and acoustic guitars as well as a great selection of synths and keyboards.The staff are clearly very knowledgeable and are also very helpful and friendly.Ive bought a few items from here including a guitar and a few techy items-never disappointed.

Very friendly and excellent range of quality instruments

I got an absolutely stunning guitar. The customer service is second to none. Friendly and extremely helpful. The product itself is stunningly beautiful, beautifully finished and plays like a dream. If anyone is thinking of getting a new guitar my advice to you is buy one from Dawsons Music. I purchased an EPIPHONE SG SPECIAL VE ELECTRIC GUITAR - VINTAGE WALNUT and I was amazed at how beautifully crafted it is and it is available dream to play. I highly recommend this company.

They let you use the instrument before you buy and very helpful staff. Ground floor is amps and guitars leads and pedals and upstairs keyboards pianos and mixing decks

The music shop is a dying reality but these guys are keeping the dream alive and are more than happy to accommodate your needs to try their vast selection of guitars!!!

They have the largest range of percussive triangles in the country, literally hundreds of different models. They have had to get rid of most of the guitar section for the Electric Triangle display, there were a few disgruntled string bashers in when I was in, but the sales assistant explained the merits of the instrument, they werent convinced.

Great selection of instruments knowledgeable staff.

Very nice people 👍

Lovely store. Prices for all budgets, kind employes. Ive spend about an hour playing guitars, Ill be back for sure.

During my visit I was allowed to wander at will, without pressure to buy. The staff were pleasant and friendly.

Excellent music store

Really nice staff, decent selection and lots of music being played. A good place to spend an hour salivating over the lovely guitars.

People who worked there were absolutely accomodating and allowed costumers to play instruments and just spend time there

Great shop just upgraded my guitar today and Paul was a great help couldnt do enough and helped me pick the right guitar highly recommend this shop

Great pleace to visit if you are into music or if you just want to play on a few instruments you may want to get Into. There is everything from DAWs to Guitars and all the accessories.

Have a wide variety of instruments and will order in if they dont have it. Very friendly, approachable staff

Great staff, were able to find what I was looking for in moments.

Great shop with good range of musical instruments, professional advice and services, buy my two guitars from it. Worth of visiting, recommend.

Great shop for trying out instruments

Fantastic music store full of quality instruments and all accessories, the staff are friendly and helpful too.

In my opinion, the best music shop in Belfast, there clean and restring guitar deal is well worth the money

Very helpful staff and brilliant prices .

They have a good variety on stock and the staff is helpful.

Customer Service How It Should Be - From the moment you enter the store and witness how the staff interact with each other and customers, its obvious youre in safe hands.I brought my 11 year old son to the Belfast store a couple of weeks ago to look at guitar options for his Santa list. Within 10mins, Dan had my son hooked up to an amplifier, loop pedal in place and turned a shopping trip into a very memorable experience for a young child. Nothing was too much hassle as Dan went the extra mile to ensure we had all that we needed.Hannah was able to recall a phone conversation I had with her from the previous day even down to the model of guitar we were interested in! and Maeve had endless knowledge on strings to match certain guitars and which amplifiers work with certain guitars.Great job guys, youve gained a loyal customer

Only place that hand a 3/4 size acoustic guitar for lefty in stock and so helpful!

Brilliant selection of instruments. Great demo rooms, particularly for the acoustic guitars etc. Staff are very helpful and know what they are talking about.

RE: Des McIlkennys review. I will second his experience because I was there advising him, as his jazz guitar teacher, on which guitar might the the most suitable for him.He was told the foam under the bridge of the archtop guitar he put a deposit on, Just slips out. I bit my lip while I was looking at the keyboards displayed in the window because by that stage, with some of the nonsense I had already heard the staff saying, I thought there was no point talking pro talk with less-than-amateurs.Just slip(ing) out a free standing bridge would totally put the guitar out of its factory setup and scale length and would require a professional to reset. If you were to tell that to someone who didnt know any better you would be setting them up for a bit of a tuning nightmare and a costly reset job for the fault of the staff talking nonsense.I used to go to Dawsons only for strings and small items after Marcus vacated. Ill go to Matchetts instead. They are musicians and have good knowledge and great customer service.Also; to tell a reviewer publicly online that their review is not acknowledged by the staff is seriously insulting to the customer. You need some serious customer service training.

Helpful staff. Straight forward purchase.

Very good selection of instruments, including newly released electronic drums

Terrible customer service, not a great range of products either. Unwilling to fix faulty products on their shelves and apparently not keen on making a sale...

Decent place to find that sound for cheap.

Very friendly staff who are always willing to get you playing the instruments. Great setup in the shop

Great selction of stock. amanda very helpful.

Great atmosphere, Staff and products, Chris in particular was amazingly helpful.

Staff always helpful, even if you are there just to play a few guitars to make your mind up... great spot!

Great knowledge and customer service

Great service and friendly staff.

Good shop, friendly / helpful staff, easy parking nearby.

Really nice staff! The store is in a good location and there is a great selection a instruments.

Great music store, not many of them.

Lovely staff, great music, live music every now and then. Whats not to love

Always love spending time in Dawsons stores (in both Belfast and elsewhere in the UK) and I personally feel like they have the most welcoming atmosphere. Staff are pleasant, mannerly and I get the feeling that they are actually interested, not only in you but also in what your musical needs are.I bought my first real gigging guitar from Dawsons back when they were still out in Bangor and Ive been a loyal follower ever since. I still have, love and cherish that instrument (Farida D62-AN. I dont think they make that model anymore).I wouldnt need to travel far to find staff in some other music/guitar stores who can scarcely believe that you dared to interrupt the craic occurring between them and their mates. In that store, customers are seen as an inconvenience by some of the staff. Same staff also think that are the dogs danglers. They look down on a lot of customers; trying to belittle, embarrass or downright intimidate them by taking every opportunity to show how much they know and how little the customer actually know.In the era where of the online powerhouses of Thomann and Amazon, buyers are attracted more than ever to the huge discounts that come as a result of the bulk buying power and the lower overheads, Dawsons should be proud of the staff they have in Belfast because they are what gives the store its soul and they are what keeps me coming back year after year.

Great shop with helpful staff.

Staff is nice, though do not expect pros working there.What i liked the most is that this is, to my knowledge, the only shop in belfast that has large selection of synths, dj equipment and other midi stuff.The prices are average to the market rate. Return policy sucks, so you will have to be absolutely sure you want a thing youre buying, cause if it isnt faulty - no refund...Other than that, great place, come in test the stuff they have.

Decent selection, friendly staff

Good range of instruments and staff are very helpful. Will be my go to place for music equipment from now on.

Great staff and great stock!

Plenty to look at unfortunately guitars are all locked up. Cant really judge a musical instrument from appearance you need to play it.

Fantastic staff, prices and instruments

We popped in to buy a violin for my daughter. The staff were very helpful in getting her an instrument to suit her level.

Very friendly staff with a great selection of products available to demo.

Disinterested staff... good prices though.

Very helpful staff

1 of the best music stores in belfast

I called into see about hiring a small P.A. system for 50th birthday party, which the shop hadnt any available at the time, as a local coffee chain were doing an open mic weekend and had hired all there systems. Spoke to Les, who appeared to be a manager/partner, he went out of his way and organised to pick up a system in Bangor and bring it to the Belfast store for us. We were delighted with the service price and how much Les had put himself out on our behalf. Wish him good luck in there Belfast store, Mannix & Elaine McAlister.

Do you sell GretchesI am going to come up on Wednesday.

Friendly staff very helpful

Really friendly and helfull staff

Upstairs was closed when I was there, but friendly helpful staff.

Waited for almost 10 mins to buy a plectrum