'%20d='M32%203C16.4%203%206%2015.3%206%2031.2c0%2010.9%206.6%2020.1%2014.3%2026.2L32%2077l11.7-19.6C51.4%2051.3%2058%2042.1%2058%2031.2%2058%2015.3%2047.6%203%2032%203Zm0%2014c-8.8%200-14.5%207-14.5%2016.4V55h29V33.4C46.5%2024%2040.8%2017%2032%2017Z'/%3e%3cpath%20fill='%23C99B4A'%20d='m27.5%2055%204.5-24%204.5%2024h-9Z'/%3e%3c/svg%3e)
Before you visit
Happening Here
Blues at The Jazz Bar ft. Jim Keilt
The Jazz Bar · Old Town
19:00£5/7 on the door; free to play
Blues at The Jazz Bar ft. Jim Keilt at The Jazz Bar.
No booking required.
Confirmed by The Jazz Bar. View source. Checked .
The pub’s story
Drummer and organiser Bill Kyle opened The Jazz Bar at 1A Chambers Street on 1 July 2005, in premises previously known as Cellar No. 1 and the Beat Basement. This venue must not be confused with Kyle’s separate Bridge Jazz Bar, opened in 2002 and destroyed in the Cowgate fire that December. After Kyle’s death in 2016, the Chambers Street bar continued until a cost crisis forced closure in April 2024. Crowdfunding helped it reopen that July under The Jazz Bar Edinburgh CIC, incorporated on 2 April 2024. Current listings show live music every day and a full 2026 festival programme: continuity achieved through reinvention, not an unbroken business record.
What to notice
- 01
At street level, look for the trumpet on the corner that marks the basement entrance.
- 02
Inside, the close-set stage and audience make scale central to the listening experience.
- 03
Read the present programme as a community rescue story as well as a continuation of Bill Kyle’s musical vision.
The time rail
The building, the pub and its interior may date from different periods. The timeline keeps documented dates separate from tradition.
Bill Kyle’s separate Bridge Jazz Bar opened and was destroyed in the Cowgate fire that December; it was not at this address.
Kyle opened The Jazz Bar at 1A Chambers Street.
Founder Bill Kyle died.
The venue closed in April and reopened in July after crowdfunding under a community-interest company.
The current programme advertises live music every day and festival seasons.
Sources & confidence
The venue’s history and contact pages establish the two distinct Bill Kyle venues, exact 2005 opening and current programme. Companies House verifies the active CIC and incorporation date. Contemporary reporting documents the April 2024 closure and July reopening. The account separates the destroyed Bridge Jazz Bar from Chambers Street and treats the interruption honestly.
Research reviewed
- Contact UsThe Jazz Barofficial
SupportsCurrent address, operation, hours and live-music offer.
- HistoryThe Jazz Barofficial
SupportsBill Kyle, the separate Bridge venue, exact Chambers Street opening and venue history.
- THE JAZZ BAR EDINBURGH CIC — SC805421Companies Housegovernment
SupportsActive CIC status and 2 April 2024 incorporation.
- The Jazz Bar announces closureSTV Newseditorial
SupportsContemporary April 2024 closure account.
- Why This Bar Is My Favourite In The WorldForbeseditorial
SupportsReopening, crowdfunding and subsequent continuity context.
