It was with disappointment that I recently heard of the closure of Madame Jojos in London’s Soho. For those that don’t know Madame Jojos has been at the centre of the Soho scene for more than half a century.

The club has always been known for putting on a good nights entertainment for an affordable cost. Whether it was the burlesque performers, comedy or dancing allnight to rare soul and funk played on orignal 45’s that took your fancy. Madame jojos was the place.

In the heart of the city and a stones throw from those types of bars and clubs that you have to ‘look right’ to get into. Jojos had no admittance policy, all that was needed was a good attitude.

So Madame Jojos had its license revoked by Westminster Council on 24th November. The official reason was due to a violent altercation involving the clubs security staff. But it seems that it was only a matter of time. The Soho development company (Soho Estates) had plans approved to redevelop the site that Madame Jojos sits on back in 2013. It seems that the council want to clean up Soho and make it ‘family-friendly’. Soho was never family-friendly, and nor should it be.

Madame Jojos was the only venue to have a 3am license 7 nights a week and probably the last to ever to be granted such a license. Soho in my opinion is one of the best parts of London. It’s wonderfully diverse and that’s why I like it. This so called ‘gentrification of soho’ is killing all that is good about the area.

The big draw for me has always been the record shops of Soho and of course Madame Jojos. When I lived in London I was a regular at Deep Funk hosted by veteran soul DJ Keb Darge. Many a good night was had dancing to rare and sometimes not so rare records. It was always enjoyable and Keb always had great guests.

How you can help Save Soho and Madame Jojos?

Please sign the petition to ‘Save Madame Jojos’.
Tweet with the hash-tag #savejojos.
Listen to Stephen Fry &Tim Arnold talk about the Save Soho Campaign.