The Spice of Life

Upcoming concerts in London

The Spice of Life in London

About The Spice of Life

The Spice of Life is a compact Soho concert pub with an approximately 100-person standing room in its Backstage Cellar Bar. Its draw comes from the split personality of the building: a working main-bar pub upstairs and a dedicated basement stage below. Current listings put jazz clubs, blues jams, acoustic bills and promoter-led showcases in that small room, giving the programme a broad, clubby rhythm across the week. Expect close quarters and a direct view of the performers instead of a distant hall experience.

A pub that changed its tune

Research places a pub on this Cambridge Circus site in the late eighteenth century, when it traded as the George or George and Thirteen Cantons; an 1892 sale notice used the latter name. By September 1935 it carried both George and Thirteen Cantons and Scots Hoose, with the Scottish name taking hold through the mid-century. The current building dates to 1898, and the venue became The Spice of Life in 1986. Its musical thread predates that rename: the Scots Hoose hosted folk performers through the 1960s and 1970s, including Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Cat Stevens, Bert Jansch and Sandy Denny. Punk followers gathered there in the late 1970s, with the Sex Pistols among the acts associated with the room; a jazz club arrived during the late 1990s, bringing players including Jamie Cullum and Soweto Kinch.

What the room offers now

The booking pattern is presenter-led and deliberately mixed: recurring Spice of Life Jazz Club nights sit alongside Monday blues-and-jazz jams, Sunday Jazz Notes sessions, acoustic showcases, Hot Vox multi-artist bills, funk-and-soul nights and comedy. Jazz and blues supply the clearest through-line, while singer-songwriter, indie and band showcases fill many weekend slots. Music happens downstairs in the Backstage Cellar Bar; the main bar remains a separate pub space upstairs, useful for a pre-show drink or a reset between sets. For concertgoers, the small standing capacity makes this strongest for discovery bills, jams and performers whose detail benefits from proximity.

Sources

  1. Events & live music — The Spice of Life
  2. Soho Pubs – Part 3 — A London Inheritance
  3. Soho Comedy Club — JK Comedy Club
  4. The Spice of Life — Hot Vox
  5. Spice of Life, London — CAMRA
  6. Spice Of Life, London — Capacity, Contact & Booking Info — GigXchange
Upcoming shows
25
Address
6 Moor Street, W1D 5NA London
Phone
020 7437 7013
Next show
Sun, 23 Aug 2026
Official siteDirections

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