Dock Road Lytham

During our initial research there was a void in the early years from when Ditchburn bought the rights to manufacture Jukeboxes from the Hawtin’s Brothers… to how Ditchburn finally arrived at Dock Road in Lytham, as the home for the company, many weeks of hard work by the Ditchburn Project has unearthed some new and surprising information about Ditchburn Equipment Ltd. Many thanks to Arthur Phillips for his inspiration to look more deeply into this, and to find the answers. The Very Start … 1947. Ditchburn Equipment Ltd. Engrs Preston New Road Marton Blackpool. Geoffrey Norman Ditchburn… using his £10000 severance pay from Rowe Brothers in Liverpool, bought the rights from the Hawtin Bothers to manufacture the Music Maker MK2 Juke Box ( Automatic Phonograph as GND insisted it be called) in December 1947, he based the company for the next few months at the original workshop that Hawtin’s had used to build the Jukeboxes, on Preston New Road, Marton. near Blackpool this is documented in the 1947 phone book and it shows they both shared the same telephone number. 1948. G N Ditchburn Blue Hills Links, Hey Rd, Hoylake. Wirral. Geoffrey Norman Ditchburn lived at Hoylake on the Wirral, and we wouldn’t be surprised if he was finding it hard to commute the 80 miles each way, everyday from his home to Blackpool and back, so he decided to look at a base for his company closer to home and found one in the in the centre of Liverpool and by the end of 1948 this became the new home of Ditchburn Ltd. 1948 - 1952 . Ditchburn Equipment Ltd 19 Old Hall Street Liverpool. The new HQ for Ditchburn was to be within a magnificent building at 19 Old Hall Street, Liverpool , once the home of the famous late 1800s “Royal Cafe” this was to be Ditchburn’s manufacturing home for the next few years. The Royal Cafe, 19 Old Hall St. from 1888. 19 Old Hall St as it is in 2019 1952. Ditchburn Equipment Engineers Ltd, Freckleton St ,Lytham, Lancashire. It was at the beginning of 1952 that Ditchburn decided to move his growing operation from the Centre of Liverpool back to the quiet area of the Fylde Coast, its not really known what brought on this decision, but most likely it was due to the high overheads of the centre of Liverpool, and probably to do with an agreement with Mr Ditchburn’s ex-employer, Rowe Brothers regarding the manufacture of office partitions within a certain radius of their factory, or possibly that there was a shortage of Engineering skills in this area at the time, although it has also been said that it was possibly because Mr Ditchburn’s wife liked the Lytham area and thought it would be a nice place to live… and as we all know the wife is always right… 1953. Ditchburn Equipment Ltd (Sales) 17 Morefields Liverpool. GND decided than rather lose his key staff when moving from Liverpool back to the Fylde Coast he would retain them, by opening a sales office a short distance from the original Liverpool HQ, this office remained open until the 1960s, I was alway curious about my Mk2 BTH Jukebox amplifier as it had the label shown below, it seems this label must have been designed around 1949, during the transition between moving from Blackpool, to Liverpool, and the planning of opening a London Depot which didn’t actually open until late1953, at the time of the Label design there was no mention of Lytham, i guess thats when the wife stepped in. The new Liverpool sales office in 1953 1954. Ditchburn Equipment Ltd (Engrs), Dock Road Lytham. By 1954 Ditchburn had outgrown the Freckleton St factory, and it was decided to move everything over the old Lytham Laundry on Dock Road, the Freckleton St factory was not sold and would be later utilised when the company grew yet again. It was also during this year that Ditchburn opened their sales office at Terminal House in the Centre of London. 1955. Ditchburn Equipment Ltd 202 Garscube Road Glasgow. The Ditchburn company was moving at a rapid pace and more machines were being operated across the whole of UK, so it was felt necessary to have a depot in Scotland to cover the northern regions. It was about this time in 1956 that the Freckleton factory was also back in use by Ditchburn Everything stayed this way through to 1958 when another service depot was then required 1958 Ditchburn Equipment Music Makers 161 Horseley Heath Tipton Midlands. The West Midlands Service Depot 1959. Ditchburn Equipment Ltd 47 Bank St Glasgow The Glasgow office moves into a shop premises on Bank St which would be its home for the next 9 years it would eventually move but not far away. The Glasgow Ditchburn office as it is now in 2019