Inside Ditchburn Jukebox Museum cafe serving coffee and vinyl in St Annes

When Karl Dawson discovered that a huge jukebox factory in St Annes was responsible for bringing rock & roll to the UK, he wondered why there was hardly any information about it.

Restored jukeboxes

It set him on a mission, which led to him buying and restoring old machines and finally opening the Ditchburn Jukebox Museum and Coffee Bar.

Since opening in May, the themed café has welcomed music fans of all ages to come and pick out their favourite retro tunes on the restored jukeboxes, so they can reminisce while enjoying coffee and cake.

Milk bar culture

He has also hosted a pop-up record shop, for vinyl collectors to pick up some bargains.

Karl says: “I am trying to recreate the coffee shop and milk bar culture of the 50s and 60s. The jukeboxes are all free to play, and everyone has a story to tell about their favourite song.”

One of the jukeboxes has even been rigged up to play modern tunes via Bluetooth - so there is something for all ages.

And Karl says that some younger customers were pleasantly surprised by the sound of vinyl. “It sounds so warm, it’s not like they are used to hearing on a Bluetooth speaker. They can’t work out how the sound can come out of that piece of plastic and I explain about the grooves.”

‘Everyone has a story about their favourite song’

The music enthusiast had first learned about Ditchburn Jukeboxes a few years back when a friend had mentioned they were made in St Annes. Then when he found one on e-bay, it started off an ‘obsession’ with fixing up old machines that were made by the company.

But despite playing a huge role in bringing popular music to the UK, he was surprised by the lack of local history about the firm.

He continued: “I tried the heritage centre, they didn’t really have much. I started a Facebook page and asked local people that may know someone who worked there to help me find out more. I had a few people send me photos, then it just snowballed. I had so much content that I decided to setup a dedicated webpage to preserve the history.”

Karl, who has worked in engineering as well as having a passion for music, had fixed up 10 Ditchburn machines including jukeboxes, vending and background music machine, by 2022. He also had been sent a lot of articles, stories, and photos, from ex-Ditchburn employees - and some of those are now framed on the walls of the museum.

Watch the video above to hear what Karl has to say about the Dukebox museum.