Ronnie Scott's

The late show, starting around 23:00, half the price and twice the room

Two saxophonists opened a room in Gerrard Street in 1959 and moved to Frith Street six years later, and the club has run continuously since, through the decline of Soho, its gentrification and whatever it is doing now. Jimi Hendrix played his last public performance here; the list of everyone else would take the rest of this page.

The room is small, the tables are close, the food is decent rather than the point and the policy is that you listen. Talking through a set gets you a word from the staff, which is the reason the place still sounds like a jazz club rather than a bar with a band.