Stephen Plumb wrote in to tell us about a jazz bar in N20 called The Griffin.

The Griffin is a long established public house on the main drag through Finchley/Whetstone to Barnet – the old Great North Road. The pub is only is a few minutes stroll from Totteridge and Whetstone Station on the Northern Line.

The landlord/manager is a guy named Matt Hope who, when not pulling pints and keeping the Brewery’s accounts straight, is a time-served trumpeter and graduate of Leeds College of Music. Simply put, the Griffin is a musician’s dream; having as it does, a musician landlord.

Matt has a number of different musically themed evenings in the week including a Monday covers band led by Steve Pearce (the wonderful session bassist) of Fletch’s Brew fame. The live jazz takes place every Sunday night at 7.30pm It’s a great vibe and its becoming a bit of a “hang” attracting some noted musos at the bar to listen. We’ve had Geoff Eales, Mick Hutton and Robin Jones pop in on different occasions.

The format is very relaxed and listener friendly with a House Trio of Gareth Hunt on Piano, Wally Shaw on Bass and myself on Drums.

I have worked with Gareth since the 90s; he is head of jazz studies at St Paul’s School and is on the staff at the Purcell School. Wally is the house bassist at Googlies jazz club in Enfield.

Since starting last September the Trio has been privileged to back inter alia:

Brandon Allen
Georgina Jackson
Simon Bates
Ashley Slater
Alan Barnes
Brian Corbett
Georgia Mancio
Finn Peters
Dave O’Higgins
Christian Brewer
Derek Nash
Sid Gauld
Kevin Fitzsimmons (vox)
Frank Griffith (jokes)
Gareth Lochrane
Carl Orr (Fletch’s Brew)
Nick Newall (The Kinks & Zoot Money)
Dan Foster (Kairos Ensemble)
Gabriel Garrick
Freddie Gavita

This coming week we have John Etheridge.

More information HERE