Blue Note jazz club opens on St Martin’s Lane after winning licence approval

Blue Note, the New York jazz club, opens its London venue on St Martin’s Lane in Covent Garden on Thursday evening. Westminster City Council gave the club its final licensing approval on Wednesday.

The Grammy Award-winning pianist Robert Jasper is booked as the opening act.

What Blue Note London will offer

The first Blue Note opened in New York in 1981. The name has since spread to clubs in several other cities around the world, with Tokyo and Milan among them.

In Covent Garden there are two spaces for live music. Headline acts will play the main room, while a second, smaller room is given over to emerging British musicians. Food and drink are served before and during sets, in the manner of a traditional jazz supper club.

After the approval, Tim Barnes, deputy leader of Westminster City Council, toured the venue. He described it as “another world-class venue” that would “help build the future of live music in London”. The council’s licensing policy, he said, is meant to support venues through a difficult period for trade while the council meets its legal responsibility for safety on licensed premises. He also mentioned a scheme he brought in eight years ago under which grassroots music venues such as the 100 Club are zero-rated for business rates.

Late-night licence row in Covent Garden

Getting to opening night took time. Residents and the Metropolitan Police objected to the late hours the club first proposed, raising concerns about crime, disorder and public nuisance.

Those objections were enough for Westminster to refuse the late-night licence at the first attempt. Police argued that longer opening would put more people in the surrounding streets at risk of crime and disorder. Customers heading home late, they warned, could be picked out by illegal taxi drivers or by thieves snatching phones. One resident went further and asked councillors to make the club close at 11pm.

Blue Note’s owners appealed and worked with council officials on strict rules for managing noise and dispersing guests. The council then reversed its decision and granted a licence until 1am on weekdays and midnight on Sundays.

Barnes said Blue Note would take its place in a West End jazz scene that already includes Ronnie Scott’s and the Soho Jazz festival, which was held last week.