100 Club given protected status by Westminster Council

Following the closure of numerous central London venues in recent  years, Westminster Council has granted special protected status to the 100 Club, one of the world’s oldest jazz clubs, situated at 100 Oxford Street at the north end of Soho. The venue first presented jazz in 1942 and became known as the Feldman Club after drummer/vibist Victor Feldman’s father started promoting UK jazz musicians as well as big American names such as Glen Miller. In 1948 it changed name to the London Jazz Club and during this time the late Jazzwise writer Tony Hall was the club’s MC.

During the 1950s the club changed its name to the Humphrey Lyttelton Club when Lyttelton’s agent became the new lease holder. By the early 1960s the club’s music policy branched out into skiffle and blues and it became the 100 Club in 1964 as the British beat and R&B scene exploded on an international scale. Since then the 100 Club has faced changing fortunes but always kept abreast of the contemporary rock, indie and roots music scene, even promoting early punk gigs in 1976, while still staying faithful to jazz and blues and infamous ‘secret’ gigs by The Rolling Stones and Paul McCartney.

The club was granted status as a Community Interest Company in September as a not for profit social enterprise for the public good. In addition to its newly protected status, the 100 Club will benefit from a new move to cut business rates for grass roots venues in the Soho area, championed by London’s Night Czar, Amy Lame´. The 100 Club’s owner Jeff Horton told Music Week: “This is a game changing approach from a local authority in supporting grassroots music venues. I hope that other local authorities will adopt a similar forward thinking approach to support the music industry.”