Family firm of jukebox manufacturers dance to their own tune

FAMILY firm Sound Leisure, one of only two companies in the world that manufacture classic 1940s jukeboxes, has seen a surge in orders over the past year.

The firm has received so many orders that they are looking to expand to meet their 2-3 week order time frame, and last year saw turnover jump from £5.5m to £6.5m.

Sound Leisure was set up in 1978 by Eddie Moss, and Alan Black, the father of current Sound Leisure managing director, Chris Black.

Mr Black (Jr) said: “Dad’s still here, 70 years-old and working six days a week. He loves it and lives it. Eddie was 81 and still coming in 3 months before he died.”

A love for the business fuelled the pair and Sound Leisure retains its family-centric credentials. Mr Black’s wife, mother and brother have all worked at the business.

It was originally set up to repair foreign jukeboxes from Germany and America. “My dad wanted to build his own, and got the opportunity when he met Eddie,” said Mr Black.

“That’s how the business was formed and since then we’ve diversified widely.”

The firm wanted to build 1940s-style jukeboxes but these were double the cost, with 70 hours of labour going into each one, whilst a normal pub jukebox can take around six hours to manufacture.

“Everything’s top quality.” said Mr Black. “The skills our staff have to have are those of a skilled cabinet maker.

“Since the pub industry has suffered since the smoking ban, we started to look more at the home market for the classics, we approached Harrods and now we do about half and half between commercial and individual orders, so it’s not all doom and gloom.

“We’ve pushed them to a wider audience, expanding our range and suppliers. We re-engineered everything to make sure the updated models were more home-friendly.”

At Sound Leisure technology goes hand-in-hand with design. Slim-line, mobile-friendly jukeboxes, with remotes to modernise, if you want to that is.

Sound Leisure supplies pubs and clubs, as well as operators that distribute jukeboxes. Now they supply all over the world, getting orders in from as far away as Australia and the US.

The US is a target market for the firm, and a hard one to crack. “It’s quite a scary situation going into America,” Mr Black said, “It’s a massive place that could fill up our production line. We’ve got to walk before we can run! And at the same time we’re supplying Europe and the two commercial and home-use sides of the business.”

Recently the firm secured a contract with a distributor in Louisville, which they predict will bring in revenues of $2m to $3m in the first year.

The firm also operates jukeboxes across Yorkshire, Lancashire, and up to Newcastle and down to Northampton, employing 115 people in its Crossgates site, an area where the firm has been based for 30 years.

Mr Black said: “We have a wide variety of products and personnel skills within the business. Within the business we have electronics workers, designers, computer programmers, carpenters, polishers, metalworkers, toolmakers, back forming people and sales people.”

So it seems inevitable then that Sound Leisure would be affected by skills shortages.

“It’s certain industries you can find people in. We struggle in engineering as there is such a shortage of engineers, and in the cabinet-making industry as well.

“We’re bringing in apprentices and training them up from scratch, and work closely with schools.

“We try to help by breaking down perceptions of the manufacturing perceptions, from what it was and what it actually is now.

“It’s been neglected for many years until recently and now it’s being pushed by government and industry – that’s the way forward. “

Despite shortages in the sector, Mr Black is ambitious and hopeful for the future of Sound Leisure. He said: “It’s a growing market – everyone’s lifestyles are changing.

“People are going out less, they have top entertainment in their own home, they can sit in own front room to watch sport for example, and buy cheap alcohol from supermarkets.

“We also have a wide demographic. Some are well-off and will buy one on a whim, but other people want a jukebox like they had when they were kids, and have saved up for ages for one.”

The firm has manufactured bespoke jukeboxes for brands like Jack Daniels, Sailor Jerry’s and NASCAR in the US (the distinctive red colour for the body of the jukebox took three months to find from a factory in Italy)

But as Mr Black said: “Every day there’s a new story and a new challenge. We just want to spread our net as far as we can and diversify the business from its classic roots.”