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Bunjies Coffee House & Folk Cellar was a cafe situated at 27 Litchfield Street (just off Charing Cross Road),
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
WC2. Opened in 1953 or 1954, it was one of the original ''folk cafés'' of the 1950s and 1960s. Below the café, in a 400-year-old wine cellar, was an influential music venue which changed little until its closure (and conversion of the premises into a restaurant) in 1999. Allegedly named after the first owner's pet hamster, the venue featured, early in their careers, Tom Paxton,
John Renbourn John Renbourn (8 August 1944 – 26 March 2015) was an English guitarist and songwriter. He was best known for his collaboration with guitarist Bert Jansch as well as his work with the folk group Pentangle, although he maintained a solo care ...
,
Bert Jansch Herbert Jansch (3 November 1943 â€“ 5 October 2011) was a Scottish folk musician and founding member of the band Pentangle. He was born in Glasgow and came to prominence in London in the 1960s as an acoustic guitarist and singer-songwriter ...
,
Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
and Paul Simon. Al Stewart secured a residency at the Folk Cellar in 1965, at the age of 19, which was a significant factor in his later success. During the 1960s the venue was run by two brothers, Leo and Theo Johnson and, at this time, a range of artists more associated with mainstream
pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former descri ...
than folk happily performed to tiny audiences in the confines of the cellar; Phil Collins,
Sandie Shaw Sandie may refer to: __NOTOC__ People * Sandie Clair (born 1988), French professional racing cyclist * Sandie Fitzgibbon, Irish former camogie player * Sandie Jones (1950/1951–2019), Irish singer * Sandie Lindsay, 1st Baron Lindsay of Birker (187 ...
, Cat Stevens,
Art Garfunkel Arthur Ira Garfunkel (born November 5, 1941) is an American singer, poet, and actor. He is best known for his partnership with Paul Simon in the folk rock duo Simon & Garfunkel. Highlights of Garfunkel's solo music career include one top-10 h ...
, Rod Stewart,
Long John Baldry John William "Long John" Baldry (12 January 1941 – 21 July 2005) was an English musician and actor. In the 1960s, he was one of the first British vocalists to sing the blues in clubs and shared the stage with many British musicians including ...
,
Amory Kane Jack Daniel Kane Jr. (born March 28, 1946), known professionally as Amory Kane, is an American singer-songwriter, mostly known for his work in Britain in the late 1960s. Biography He was born in San Francisco. His father was a military attachà ...
, and
David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...
being amongst them. In the early sixties, the Coffee House was owned by Lou Hart, and Wednesday night in the cellar was run by Bob Wilson, an art student at St Martins, and Leonore Drewry. Bob finally returned to Staffordshire and Leonore became the resident folksinger at the Ambiance Restaurant in Bayswater. The club was left in the hands of Bert Jansch, newly down from Edinburgh, and Charles Pearce, an art student at the Central School. During this time, a new generation of singers and musicians would come in and play: Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Derroll Adams, Diz Disley and many more including composer John Palmer who played there as a young songwriter in the late 1970s. Bunjies was also a haunt of many writers, comedians and artists. Regulars have included Jarvis Cocker of
Pulp Pulp may refer to: * Pulp (fruit), the inner flesh of fruit Engineering * Dissolving pulp, highly purified cellulose used in fibre and film manufacture * Pulp (paper), the fibrous material used to make paper * Molded pulp, a packaging material ...
. Other London ''folk cafés'' of the 1950s and 1960s included Les Cousins and The Troubadour.


References


Further reading

*"Rock Music Landmarks of London" by Graham Vickers


External links


Classic Cafés
{{Coord, 51.5128, -0.1284, type:landmark_region:GB-WSM, display=title British culture Music venues in London Folk music venues