Sound Leisure, the family-run jukebox manufacturing company based at Cross Gates, is celebrating 40 years of manufacturing in Leeds – and had the honour of a visit from Princess Anne as the icing on their birthday cake.
The delight on the faces of Chris Black, Managing Director, and all of his staff, was a joy to behold, as The Princess Royal took the time to meet the staff as well as some of Sound Leisure’s international distributors. Her Royal Highness was also given a guided tour so that she could see the manufacturing process.
Sound Leisure’s hand-crafted classic jukeboxes are unique in the world, and they are the only manufacturers of vinyl jukeboxes in Europe. The company’s 80+ employees are highly skilled in traditional woodworking, metal process and detailed electronic and mechanical design.
Princess Anne unveiled a plaque to commemorate her visit, which will take pride of place in the company’s reception area, and signed the visitors’ book prior to her departure.
Chris Black had this to say:
“This has been a real highlight of 40+ years of business. It’s been an absolute honour to welcome HRH Princess Anne to our Leeds based factory, where she met with our dedicated team and international distributors. We were able to demonstrate the methods used in the production of our handcrafted classic Jukeboxes. Her Royal Highness unveiled a plaque to commemorate her visit and that will take pride of place in our reception. We couldn’t be prouder to be a family-run, British manufacturing business and want to express our thanks to The Princess Royal for the time she spent with us.”
There are some memories in our lives which are priceless. I think this one will be very high on the list of those who were at Sound Leisure on 24 September.
Happy 40th birthday, Sound Leisure, from the Leeds Living team.
All photographs by Stella Scheibenzuber, who is working in Leeds with photographer Mark Wheelwright under the Erasmus programme.
