Brooks Blues Bar, Hammersmith's popular music club, is stranger to relocation, having had eight different homes in its 14 years. Now it has popped up in a new venue, The Sound Lounge in Tooting.
Tony Bell and Ann Rosenberg – both now in their 70s – set up the blues club in the cellar rooms of the Brook Green Hotel on Shepherds Bush Road, Hammersmith in May 2003. Various moves followed due to new management or rising rents.
Last autumn, the music club which has hosted Dana Gillespie, Rag Mama Rag, George Melly, Maria Muldaur, Watermelon Slim and Sonny Black, moved to Covent Garden but then had to relocate again due to rising costs.
The Sound Lounge, which opened in January following a £12k crowdfunding project, was founded by singer/songwriter Hannah White and her musician husband Kieron Marshall.
The new venue for the bar offers an informal cafe environment with an affordable vegetarian/vegan menu, along with a variety of beer, wine and a range of coffee.
The first Brooks Blues Bar gig at the new venue will feature blues diva Dana Gillespie accompanied by pianist Dino Baptiste on Thursday 4 May, followed on Wednesday 10 May by Rossano Sportiello from the States, with Dave Green and Steve Brown.
