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North London Man’s Aladdin’s Cave of Jukeboxes

The Islington Tribune recently unearthed one of the UK’s truly great collectors – a local man who has one of the country’s largest private collections of jukeboxes.

Living in a small Georgian terrace near Angel station, David Webb keeps his lovingly tended collection of more than 30 jukeboxes from across the years. The local paper paid him a visit to discuss his collection, and his ongoing passion for the romantic music machines.

Mr Webb began collecting the jukeboxes some 15 years ago, after a lifetime’s love of rock and roll. Now they virtually crowd he and his wife out of their own living room. Some of the machines are almost 80 years old, and they bear amazing names, such as the Mother of Plastic, The Trashcan, The Tona-Lier and The Teardrop.

His love of jukeboxes was an accidental infatuation. As a buyer and seller of antiques, one day he was left with a 1956 Wurlitzer 2000 after a client failed to collect it. He became intrigued and decided to keep it.

Mr Webb pointed out to the paper that although people mostly associate the jukebox with dancing, they were also linked to the Mafia, because they were the perfect form of cheap entertainment for speakeasies during Prohibition.

After it ended, their popularity continued to soar, and a respectable company such as Wurlitzer was able to grow and grow. By 1940, Wurlitzer jukeboxes were so popular that its factory had “trees going in one end and boxes coming out the other,” he said.

“They made everything on site, down to the nuts and bolts. That expertise was valuable for the war effort,” Mr Webb added, explaining that jukebox factories were eventually turned over to help make artillery pieces and shells.

The good news for enthusiasts is that Mr Webb’s collection can be seen by appointment, by calling 020 7713 7668.