Jodi Bessell and Chris Scott certainly looked the part, in smart waistcoats and crisp white shirts. They were preparing for their latest ‘soft launch’ test evening for the first jazz restaurant venue of its kind Bristol has seen for decades, possibly ever.
And as the pair spoke of their love of jazz in a gloriously converted old bank just across the river from the city centre, Chris said one comment from those who have been inside already summed it up.
“One person said to us ‘I love it here, it feels just like going back in time’, and that was just it, that’s what we’re trying to create - somewhere that is just totally different.” Bessell Scott’s House of Jazz will officially open on Tuesday, July 4 - American Independence Day a fitting date for a new Bristol establishment that aims to be a portal to New Orleans of maybe 70 or 90 years ago.
Read next: Plans to convert bank in the heart of Bedminster into new home for 60 people
Outside, the building on Bedminster Parade opposite the old Wills Factory No. 1 still looks very much like the old NatWest bank that served this busy part of Bedminster for almost a century. Inside, it is like stepping in to another world.
“We’re primarily a restaurant,” said Jodi. “We’ll have live music six days a week and in the week from Tuesday, we’ll have performances on the stage but you book a table just as you would a restaurant,” he added. “On Fridays and Saturdays, we’re going to be having some bigger names in music performing and these will be ticketed events.”
“We want people to come in for those events, settle down at their table and it be their table for the evening. On Friday and Saturday, they can stay all night. There’s nowhere else like that in Bristol,” added Chris.
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The interior is an extraordinary transformation. A large stage backs onto the frontage, with an open area in front for the patrons to get up and have a dance. Restaurant seating is spread over two floors up to a mezzanine level, with seating for 75 diners all told. Downstairs in the banks old vault, a separate and more exclusive cocktail bar seating 18 has been created.
“We knocked down a couple of walls to make this and found that,” said Jodi, pointing at a huge steel door that was the bank’s old nightsafe. The accountants of the factories back in Bedminster’s industrial heyday would have dropped in the cash bags and cheques up on the street and they landed down below, safe behind the formidable-looking safe. “We have no idea what’s behind there, we haven’t been able to open it,” added Jodi.
Down in this intimate lounge, the live music from upstairs will be subtly streamed on a big screen, and there’ll be bespoke drinks just available there. “We’ve made up some new cocktails, named with respect to the area,” added Chris, listing the St Mary’s - named after the church across the river - and the National Westminster, in honour of the building’s former occupiers.
“A few people have told us there’s supposed to be a tunnel from here under the road to the old tobacco factory, but we haven’t found it yet,” added Jodi. The building was empty since at least the late 2000s, and was pretty much derelict inside, before the transformation that has taken place over the past year or so.
Combining jazz and food in this way is something of a passion for the pair. They opened their first version of this in Cheswick Village a few years ago, and have always wanted to come to this area. “We grew up going to the Old Duke and we used to love going up to London to Ronnie Scott’s,” explained Chris.
“London’s got a few venues like this, which are places to dine and watch live jazz music, Manchester’s got Matt & Phred’s Jazz Club, but there’s nothing like this in Bristol, which is a shame because Bristol has got such a thriving jazz scene,” he added.
Bristol is, of course, the city that gave the world Acker Bilk, and every big name in jazz music has played at the Old Duke in King Street over the decades. Chris and Jodi’s idea is to bring in big jazz acts, but not so it’s a concert or a gig, so it’s combined with a full evening out with dining.
“It will be New Orleans soul food,” explained Chris. “So it’s steaks, with a cajun twist, we’ll have gumbo, that sort of thing,” he added. “We’ve opened last weekend with tester events for family and friends and this on Friday is the first night for a full run of the kitchen, so we’ll see how it goes,” he added.
“We were looking around at suitable venues and almost stumbled across this one,” said Jodi. “I grew up in Windmill Hill so I know this road very well. When we saw inside this old bank, we knew this was the place, it’s an amazing building,” he added.
“Bedminster has got a lot of things going on, a lot of changes and it’s on the up, so we knew this was the right place,” added Jodi.
- Bessell Scotts House of Jazz opens on Tuesday, July 4 on Bedminster Parade
