DJ converts van into portable booth for road trip

Jack Lydon began the van conversion in 2023

A man who converted his van into a portable DJ booth has set off on a European tour.

Jack Lydon, 29, from Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, converted the vehicle into a living space that has a double bed, kitchen and shower, along with record decks and CDJs.

The freelance project manager and DJ said the van, which is covered in Japanese-inspired wooden slats which were cut by hand, was the result of “painstaking, long hours” of work.

"It’s my bedroom put on some wheels, so that I can take it around Europe," he said.

Mr Lydon wanted his decks to have a permanent position so that he could open the doors and play out music

Mr Lydon, who plays funk and soul, began the project in September 2023.

“There was a full solid six months of planning, designing, on my laptop in computer-aided design beforehand, and just making sure that I got the layout right,” he said.

Mr Lydon added that the finished design was not the first that he had come up with.

He went through about 12 different layouts for the van, as he wanted to get his DJ decks in a permanent position so that he could open the doors and play out the music to people.

He started his European adventure on Monday, in the Netherlands.

The Japanese-inspired wooden slats were all cut by hand

"I didn’t want [the DJ decks] to be in the way of the bed, but it was when I came up with the idea to have the bed on the wall and take away all that space," he said.

"The essence is just me combining my two passions - which are travel and music.

"I didn’t want to just go back-packing."

His work was recognised by a competition run by eBay, which gave him a £10,000 prize for being named van conversion of the year.

He said he was "super grateful" to receive the award, "because not only was it the validation that I needed, but it came with a nice little cash prize as well".

The freelance DJ started his journey on Monday