Balfour (Marine) Engineering Co.
290/296 High Road, Ilford, Essex

Brand: BAL-AMi

BAL-AMi Jukeboxes were manufactured in the UK from 1953 to 1962, mostly being derivatives of those made by the American AMI Incorporated, jukebox company.[1]

Founder: Samuel  Eric Norman (1915-1962)

The import restrictions introduced in the years following World War II, prevented many types of goods from being sold unless they had a certain percentage of locally manufactured content. The popular record-playing jukebox was one example and was almost exclusively made in the United States at that time.

For any of these jukeboxes to be allowed to be sold in the UK, at least 53% of their content had to be manufactured locally. Recognising an opportunity, a London-based businessman, Sam Norman, engaged with John Haddock of the AMi jukebox corporation. An agreement was reached in 1953 for Norman's company, Balfour (Marine) Engineering, to manufacture AMi jukeboxes at the Balfour factory in Ilford, Essex, under licence from AMi.

During the following ten years, Balfour produced jukeboxes that were mostly identical to their AMi counterparts, aside from their internal electrical systems and amplifiers. The electrics were to UK specifications, and the amplifiers were generally provided by Beam-Echo. From 1955 onwards, these jukeboxes were distributed under the name of BAL-AMi.

To address the needs of some smaller venues such as coffee bars, BAL-AMi also manufactured some machines unique to the UK and holding just twenty records (giving forty selections allowing for two sides per disc).

[1] The New Musical Express Feb 11, 1955, page 10.