Deep Dive: Brighton's first dedicated jazz and blues bar

Brighton is about to get something it has been missing for a while: a proper, dedicated jazz and blues bar. Deep Dive Jazz & Blues Bar opens its doors on 4 September at 36 St George's Road in Kemptown Village, and it is being billed as the city's only venue devoted solely to the two genres. For a town with a big appetite for live music, that is a gap worth filling.

The place comes with a bit of history already built in. It is owned and run by Lonnie Allon and his wife Nicky, who spent six years at the same address running Nanima Asian Kitchen & Café, which opened at the start of the pandemic and grew into one of the city's most loved institutions, picking up the BRAVO Best Value award for Brighton and Hove along the way. Nicky, of Malay and Punjabi heritage, does the cooking by intuition, while Lonnie takes care of the shopping and the front of house. Nanima also made the Sustainable Restaurant Guide as a Sustainability Champion, so the new venture is stepping into a well-regarded spot.

The good news for foodies is that Nanima is not going anywhere. Renamed as Nanima Kitchen Café, it stays on as the resident kitchen at Deep Dive, serving homemade cakes, pastries, fresh sandwiches, savoury snacks, a daily special main meal and evening small plates, plus coffee and speciality drinks six days a week. You will find things like beetroot and red pepper soup, Madras chicken with coconut rice, Szechuan salmon with noodles and a range of curries, with Singapore Laksa and Thai Papaya Salad appearing as weekend specials. There are hot soups every day, such as Japanese Mixed Mushroom and Thai Tom Kha, and plenty for vegetarians and vegans, including Indonesian Sambal Aubergine and Spinach & Paneer Pastry. The café pours Union Hand-roasted Coffee alongside a selection of speciality teas and fresh juices, while the bar side leans into the music with a wide range of bourbons, whiskies and cocktails.

On the music front, Deep Dive is planning to be busy. Live sessions are set to run three or four nights a week, rounded out with guest DJs, vinyl listening parties, album launches, swing dance nights and open-mic jam sessions. The weekly shape is already taking form: regular jazz slots on Thursday evenings and Sunday afternoons, Saturdays handed over to 'all-day blues' — a mix of vinyl, streaming, solo piano or live duos and trios — and 'Funky Fridays' celebrating funky blues and jazz with guest DJs. It is an intimate room, with around 20 seats inside, which suits the kind of listening and playing the place is built for.

For Lonnie, this is a long time coming. His ambition to open a jazz and blues bar goes back to the mid-1990s, when he worked at the famous 'Ain't Nothin' But the Blues' bar in central London. Thirty years on, it is finally happening. It slots neatly into Brighton's existing scene rather than competing with it: The Verdict on Edward Street remains the city's only purpose-built jazz venue and the only full-time one outside London in the south of England, while Casablanca Jazz Club in The Lanes keeps its late-night party nights going. Deep Dive, by contrast, is the kind of place you settle into for an evening of listening, with a drink in hand and something to eat from the kitchen next to you.