‘How I got the Jam House out of a jam’ – nightclub boss

THE MANAGER of one of Birmingham’s most popular night spots has told how he kept the venue going through the recession – and how new bars in the city centre face a challenging future.

John Bunce runs the Jam House in St Paul’s Square in the Jewellery Quarter. It’s a night club best known for its association with music legend Jools Holland and its distinctive mix of live music, dancing and eating.

Birmingham favourites Ocean Colour Scene and Ruby Turner are regulars, and forthcoming acts include the original line up of the Three Degrees, and US soul stars Ben E King and Gary US Bonds.

Mr Bunce is a Birmingham night scene veteran, having cut his teeth in the city’s original ‘chicken-in-a-basket’ venue the Night Out. He oversaw its transformation into the Dome nightclub and ran it for 15 years.

He took charge at the Jam House when its original owners sold the venue to nightclub giant Luminar, and has nursed the business back to financial health (“It was losing £200,000”).  The nightclub chain has been particularly hit by the financial downturn, as many of its giant dance venues suffer from the impact of punters cutting back on their discretionary spend. Other Birmingham venues targeting the ‘grown up’ bar market went to the wall, such as Bar One Ten on Colmore Row and the Living Room on Broad Street.

Now in the run-up to Christmas, when the Jam House makes almost 25% of its annual turnover, Mr Bunce talked to TheBusinessDesk.com about the impact of the recession on his business.

“Go back to November 2008,” he said. “I won’t deny we hit a brick wall with our corporate business. Corporate hospitality was around 25% of what we did – private parties and functions, conferences and the like. That just stopped and we reeled for perhaps six months.

“Luckily Christmas was upon us when that happened and that gave us a little bit of breathing space. There was no sign of the public weekend, dancing, dining and music-loving customer going away, so we made a point of targeting more of that business, replacing much of the corporate spend.”

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The Jam House has since returned to something of an even keel, and certainly hasn’t been hit by the volume reductions suffered by parents Luminar.

But the environment remains challenging, he concedes, and he’s therefore somewhat puzzled by the profusion of new bar openings apparently targeting Birmingham’s business community. The past three months has seen three new names on the scene: Colmore Bar & Grill, Chameleon and NuVo.

“I don’t know whether they’re mad or not,” said Mr Bunce. “I do think they’re bloody brave! There is a reduction in spend generally and people are far cuter. They’re looking for value.

“I look at some of these new venues and I think some of the fit-outs are remarkable – but I’ve not seen many customers in them, I’ve got to say.”

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