WHY YOU’LL LIKE DEEP DIVE BAR:
There are bars, and then there are places that feel like they were always meant to exist. Deep Dive Bar on St George’s Road in Kemptown Village is firmly the latter. Brighton’s only dedicated jazz and blues bar, it is the kind of neighbourhood venue that pulls you in on a Tuesday afternoon for a coffee and keeps you there until the saxophone player finishes his last set at eleven.
Brighton’s only dedicated jazz and blues bar
Think a Brooklyn jazz bar transplanted to one of the most characterful streets in one of England’s most characterful cities, and you are getting close. See all their latest events on our Brighton food and drink events round up, or check out the Deep Dive Bar Instagram.
The Story Behind Deep Dive Bar
This is a venue born from genuine, long-held obsession. Owner Lonnie spent time working at the legendary Ain’t Nothin But the Blues bar in Central London in the mid-1990s, and the dream of one day running a place just like it never left him. Some thirty years later, after six successful years building Nanima Asian Kitchen into a Kemptown institution, Lonnie and his wife Nicky have made that dream a reality. The warmth and welcome they bring to Deep Dive Bar is entirely personal. This is their life’s work, and it shows in every corner of the place.
Kemptown Village: The Right Place for It
Deep Dive Bar could only really exist in Kemptown. This eclectic, bohemian area of Brighton, stretching east from St James’s Street through one of the city’s most independent-minded and culturally rich neighbourhoods, has always had its own distinct energy. It is the kind of place where an afternoon wander leads you somewhere unexpected, where the nightlife feels authentic rather than manufactured, and where a jazz bar feels not just welcome but necessary. Deep Dive Bar has already become part of the fabric of the area, adding something genuinely new to the Kemptown nightlife scene.
Food and Coffee at Deep Dive Bar
The kitchen is in the capable hands of Nanima Kitchen, and the food runs all day from the moment the doors open. Start with a flat white and a homemade pastry in the morning, move through fresh sandwiches, speciality savoury snacks and delicious home-cooked casseroles and specials: bold, flavourful and built for sharing over a round of cocktails while the band tunes up. Daily specials keep things interesting, and the coffee is, as Lonnie himself puts it, damn fine.
Live Jazz and the Events Programme
The evenings at Deep Dive Bar are where everything comes alive. Live jazz and blues feature every week, from intimate piano duos and solo performers to full bands, saxophone led sets and everything in between. The programme is packed and constantly evolving: expect vinyl listening parties where the music does the talking, open mic jam sessions that throw the floor open to whoever turns up with an instrument, swing dance nights that clear the space and fill it with movement, guest DJ sets that keep things loose and late, and conversational salons for those who like their evenings with a bit of substance. Keep an eye on the Restaurants Brighton events page or Deep Dive Bar’s Instagram for what is coming up. Entry to live shows is free, with a discretionary fifteen percent surcharge on food and drinks on music nights, which is a very fair price of admission for what is on offer.
The Essentials at Deep Dive Bar
- Brighton’s only dedicated jazz and blues bar, open six days a week for coffee, food, cocktails and live music in the heart of Kemptown Village
- Founded by Lonnie and Nicky, whose hands-on warmth and thirty-year ambition to open a juke joint of their own is felt in every detail of the place
- All-day food by Nanima Kitchen, from morning pastries and damn fine coffee through to lunchtime sandwiches, soups and daily specials
- A packed weekly events programme including live jazz and blues, vinyl listening parties, open mic jam sessions, swing dance nights and guest DJs, all with free entry
- Alfresco seating on St George’s Road, one of Kemptown’s most characterful streets, and a lively, music-driven atmosphere that genuinely adds to the nightlife of the area
- Deep Dive Bar is open Tuesday to Saturday from 11am until 11pm, and on Sundays from noon until 10pm. Walk in whenever you like. That is rather the point
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This place is the real deal. Chilled, local, neighbourhood café/bar, with great coffee, a wide selection of freshly-prepared food, plus a full bar and awesome cocktails. We’ve already been to three live events, all very different – easy solo jazz guitar on a Sunday afternoon, full-on jazz trio on a weekday evening, and a great blues bash on Saturday. The cocktails are killer too. Seriously, Kemptown Village just got sexy.