Twenty Brakspear pubs have signed up to take part in the company’s second annual Jazz & Blues Festival, running next month.
Each participating pub will host at least one jazz or blues performance during the Festival, taking place from 7th-16th November. With more than 30 gigs in total, the Festival will showcase a diverse range of music from trad jazz and R&B covers to original material, performed by up and coming artistes as well as seasoned entertainers.
The Festival spreads beyond Brakspear’s Henley heartland, with pubs in Richmond, Banbury and the Cotswolds taking part this year. Brakspear has helped some tenants to find appropriate artistes and stage their gig, while all participating pubs are being supported with tickets, posters, a Facebook advertisement and a section for their concert on the dedicated website www.brakspear.co.uk/jazzandblues.
All pubs hosting performances will be selling Top Notch, Brakspear’s seasonal ale brewed at its Bell Street Brewery to support the Festival, with a jazz-themed pump clip. Last year, Brakspear sold 11,500 pints of Top Notch and supplies ran out well before the end of November.
Brakspear chief executive Tom Davies said, “Live music and pubs are perfect partners and we’re delighted to be running the Brakspear Jazz & Blues Festival again. The gigs, most of them free to customers, add value to their experience of the pub, and for our tenants they provide a traffic driver during November, which can be a challenging trading period.
“Last year’s Festival was a great success and we learned much from it to make this year’s event even better, including upping our production of Top Notch. Jazz and blues fans are clearly a thirsty crowd!”
Caption to attached image: Niall Kelly, who is performing at Henley pubs the Saracens Head and the Row Barge during the Brakspear Jazz & Blues Festival
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Issued on behalf of: Brakspear
Further information: Ros Shiel
ros@shielporter.com / 07841 694137