Jazz Dobells Folk

This shop sign originally hung outside Dobell's record and book store at 75-77 Charing Cross Road and subsequently at its premises in Tower Street/Tower Court. The business was run by jazz fan Doug Dobell who went to work at his father's bookshop on Charing Cross Road in 1946. After he joined the family business the shop began selling records in addition to books. Dobell's shop specialised in jazz and rapidly became the hub of the Soho scene gaining both national and international notoriety. The shop also became a Mecca for teenage skiffle music fans in the fifties.

In the mid fifties Dobell launched a record label, 77 Records, named after the shop's street number. The label specialised in jazz, blues and folk and released an early Bob Dylan track recorded under the name 'Blind Boy Grunt'. Famous visitors to the shop included American blues legends BB King and Muddy Waters.

In 1981 Dobell's was forced to relocate from Charing Cross Road to nearby Tower Court/Tower Street in Covent Garden due to the demolition of the entire west side of Charing Cross Road including the store. This sign moved with the stock from the Charing Cross Road store to hang outside the new premises. Doug Dobell died in 1987 but the business continued until 1991. The sign was one of several items collected by the museum from the shop following its closure.