Making jazz music accessible and affordable, the Con Cellar Bar - located in the basement of Camden's popular Constitution Pub – is a real find.

The Venue
Con Cellar Club is named for its location - the Constitution Pub's cellar. Positioned a few streets away from gutsy Camden Town, behind an inconspicuous door, the serene stretch of canal water that the club’s back door leads out to is a real highlight. Here it is quiet and peaceful, and everything - from the modern residential blocks to the surface of the canal waters - is grey and calm. All except the lively jazz-inspired mural on the Consitution's canal-facing wall.

The Constitution is a standalone pub located in the middle of a residential area. From the outside, it appears to be long established with weather-browned bricks. The interior is very much a sports pub - with TVs and scruffy leather seats turned to face the screens. In contrast, the cellar is a squat space with windowless exposed brick walls and a condensed arrangement of dark worn wooden tables and chairs. A 360degree turn will get you acquainted with the whole cellar: its compact stage, which is essentially just a little platform as big as a fireplace; the equally small bar in another nook; and the exit to the canal.

The Atmosphere
Con Cellar Bar’s windowless dark decor and dim lighting provided by candles and Christmas lights create an intimate, enigmatic atmosphere. This small intense space only accommodates one efficient member of staff behind the bar. Musicians play within easy reach of the audience and the low ceiling provides excellent screechy jazz acoustics that could easily reach decibels to make you flinch involuntarily. You can only hope that the majority of the thirty-year-old working class crowd have eardrums as resilient as their capacity to drink.

The Music
Live original jazz music can be heard every Monday at at this independently run venue. There are enough regular bands at Con Cellar Bar to warrant a different sound every week unless you come back when the loop ends. The bands here are generally made up of two-to-four local and established artists. Some play bebop whilst others play cool jazz. Best of all, the cover is just £3.

The Drink
The wine selection at Con Cellar Bar is small (reds and whites only from Chile, South Africa and Italy priced at £15 a bottle) although the draught beer selection (Kronenbourg, San Miguel, Carlsberg, Becks and Heineken, among others, priced at £3-£3.90) more than makes up for that. Highballs go for around £3.50. There are regular deals on drinks (doubles for £2.95) but these are not advertised below ground level. Fortunately, you can always carry these down.

The Last Word
Top points for the venue and atmosphere although it might be handy to have a pair of earplugs - don't worry you'd still be able to hear through them.

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