JDW bids to lure trade with jazz music move

First it was plasma screens and now JD Wetherspoon is bringing in live jazz and movies to attract the punters.

The chain has been granted a licence to host live bands and screen films at a Berkshire pub.

The move aims to attract new customers after wet sales dropped following the smoking ban at the Back of Beyond pub in Reading, which came in six months ago.

The Back of Beyond used to hold jazz sessions under the old licensing regime and last week Reading Borough Council granted the pub a licence to show live bands.

The plan is to host jazz bands and nothing else.

JDW has already outlined plans to put in plasma screens at all 650 of its pubs within the next 12 months.

The chain could screen World Cup matches although no decision has yet been made.

A small number of other JDW pubs host jazz sessions - and not all of them are smoke-free.

For example, smoking is banned at the Miles Thompson in Kendal but not at the Bluecoat in Rotherham, which has jazz music for a few hours on Sunday evening.

JDW spokesman Eddie Gershon said decisions to host live music are taken on an 'ad hoc' basis.

'It's up to the area manager or pub manager. It's not something that originates from head office.'

As for showing films at the Reading pub, Gershon said: 'It is just an idea that [the management] is looking into'.

Last summer, hundreds of people watched films screened from the garden of JDW's Imperial pub in Exeter.

At the council hearing into the Back of Beyond, JDW's solicitor Nigel Connor said since it went non-smoking, more people eat at the pub but drink sales are down.

The licence was granted on condition the back windows of the pub are shut when music is played.