John Beare (1847-1928) founded his shop in 1865. According to an 1898 book, he had soon gained "practically a monopoly of the old violin business in the provinces", being both knowledgeable and a skilled performer. In 1892, he divided his business in two, forming Beare & Son  (run by John's son  Walter) and Beare, Goodwin & Co (taking on Edward Goodwin as a partner).

The Beare & Son division is now based in Dunstable, Bedfordshire, having been trading in one form or another for over 150 years. Throughout this time they have primarily been wholesalers of an extensive range of items for the violin trade, which includes instrument makers and repairers and high street music shops. They have also distributed guitars, their pre-war catalogs (Beare & Sons, London and Toronto) displays various acoustic guitars from Gibson and there were also own brand Beare & Son stringed instruments including guitars, mandolins and ukuleles.

In 1954, the Beare, Goodwin & Co. division changed its name to J & A Beare. In 1998, the company merged with London-based violin dealers Morris and Smith.The company established their first shop at Brewer Street, London in 1865. J & A Beare is a violin dealership and repair shop in London founded in 1892. While in earliest incarnations, it constructed new instruments, it came over time primarily to focus on older ones. Primarily a family business throughout its history, it included outside partners at its inception and in 1998 merged with another long established violin dealer, Morris & Smith, who now run the business following the resignation of Charles Beare, Peter Beare and Frances Gillham in 2012.