The Jazz Cafe

The Jazz Cafe is a 500-capacity venue at 5 Parkway in Camden, London. Jon Dabner and Jean Marshall started it in the 1980s in Newington Green and moved it in 1990 into a former Barclays Bank building on Parkway. Mean Fiddler took over bookings in 1992, MAMA Festivals bought Mean Fiddler Music Group in 2008, and the Columbo Group acquired the venue in 2016.

The programme covers jazz, soul, funk, hip-hop, reggae, Afro club nights and electronic music, with the Saturday Soul City party mixing soul, disco and house. Jamiroquai, Amy Winehouse, Roy Ayers and Herbie Hancock are among the acts who have played there, and drum and bass names such as Dillinja and Doc Scott have also appeared. Juls and GUTS have held residencies.

After the 2016 takeover the venue reopened following a £3 million refit that added a third bar, improved the mezzanine restaurant and installed a d&b audiotechnik sound system. A further upgrade in 2022 renewed the DJ booth, lighting and sound.