London’s De Underground record store has received a blue heritage plaque for its contributions to several underground music scenes in the ’90s.

Owned by Mike De Underground, Cool Hand Flex, Uncle 22 and DJ Randall, the hugely influential store only ran for five years between 1991 and 1996, but has now been officially recognised by the London Borough of Newham Heritage Project as “instrumental in the development of UK hardcore, jungle and drum & bass music”.

As well as being a well-respected record store, De Underground also operated as a recording studio, responsible for a number of seminal releases including De Underground Crew’s ‘Melody Madness’ and the heavily sampled ‘Six Million Ways To Die’.

Posting on Instagram alongside a picture of the plaque being presented, Rendezvous Records wrote: “Massive respect and thanks to all involved with De Underground, it’s been a privilege and delighted to see @newhamlondon and @newhamheritagemonth recognising your contribution to British culture, our lives are richer for it.”

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Audio clips have also been installed around Sebert Road in London, playable via QR codes on placards attached to streetlights, with the intention of recognising and celebrating Black innovators in UK dance music history and culture.

A new hour-long podcast, titled ‘Crate Digging: The Influence of De Underground Records’, has also been produced by Rendezvous Records to celebrate Newham Heritage Month. The podcast features interviews with various key figures from the scene at the time – listen below.

Meanwhile Record Store Day will have events taking place in both June and July in 2021.

It comes after the 2020 version of the annual celebration ended up being split across three events in August, September and October.

After announcing their initial date of June 12 for 2021’s RSD at the end of last year, an additional date of July 17 has since been added.