THE renowned Jazz Cafe music venue in Camden Town has been sold, with its new owners vowing to return the nightspot to what they say was its 1990s heyday.

The Parkway venue closed last week for a major refurbishment after being bought by music firm Columbo.

Its director, Steve Ball, told the New Journal yesterday (Wednesday) that he plans to revitalise a venue which has hosted a mix of world-famous acts, including Bobby Womack, Chuck Berry, Lee Scratch Perry, Amy Winehouse and Courtney Pine.

Columbo says the 450-capacity club will be open to music fans again in May. The company owns nine other venues across London, including the Old Queen’s Head in Essex Road, Islington, XOYO in Hackney and the Blues Kitchen chain.

Mr Ball, who set up the firm with co-founder Riz Shaikh in 2006, cut his teeth in the music industry by managing Fabric, the well-known club in Farringdon.

He said of the Jazz Cafe in its heyday: “They had a monthly programme and I remember I’d get really excited each month about what gigs I could get to see in the 1990s. They had such an exciting programme. It was so forward thinking, with a mix of vintage  and new acts. They had reggae, soul, funk, hip hop and jazz – whoever was managing it 10, 20 years ago was doing a frankly excellent job. It was the best live music venue in London – and we want to make it so again.”

The firm plans no major changes to the interior, but says the venue needs a refurbishment and an improved sound system.

Mr Ball, who lives in Camden Town, said: “It has not had much love in recent years, so we are going to give it some now.”

He added that the reopening of the Jazz Cafe would help Camden Town re-stake its claim as a music mecca.

“So much that is happening in new music right now is happening in east London – yet Camden has a huge role to play," said Mr Ball. “Camden has the history and some of the best music spaces in the capital, from the Roundhouse to the Electric Ballroom and Koko – and, of course, the Jazz Cafe. Camden Town is blessed, and I feel sometimes we do not celebrate this enough or shout about it.”

The original Jazz Cafe was set up in Newington Green, Hackney, in the 1980s. 

When it made the move to Camden Town, it was run by Vince Power’s Mean Fiddler group. It was then taken over by music firm Mama. 

It sold the business to Live Nation last year. The firm has since sold on the smaller venues in its stable – giving Columbo the chance to move in.