Soho jazz club Ronnie Scott’s to reopen this month
London jazz club Ronnie Scott’s will reopen for live music performances this month after an initial attempt in August was put on ice following changes to coronavirus restrictions.
The Soho venue will open on 19 September for live concerts, and has also reopened its upstairs area as a cocktail bar at weekends.
Ronnie Scott’s had been running online live streams during the coronavirus lockdown, but in a statement management said “we have really been missing the audience”.
“As you would expect there will be distancing, but in a way that might not be so bad,” the club said.
“The club was always so damn busy it might even appeal to you to have a little more space.”
Social distancing and safety measures will include a 50 per cent reduction in capacity, the Evening Standard reported.
Other measures will include deep cleaning, air conditioning, temperature checks and hand sanitiser.
Ronnie Scott’s general manager Fred Nash told the newspaper: “We are proud to have scored 100 per cent in a Covid-safety audit without compromising the great atmosphere of the club and not putting in measures which are quite frankly, weird or unnecessary.”
The government had originally planned to allow indoor live music performances to go ahead from 1 August.
However the decision was postponed at the last minute due to a jump in coronavirus infections in England.
Performances are now allowed indoors with a limited, socially distanced audience.