Jongleurs
Encyclopedia
Jongleurs is a chain of comedy club
s in the United Kingdom
. Maria Kempinska MBE established and opened the first Jongleurs club in 1983 in Battersea, London. In 1985 Maria then met her business partner John Davy, and together they built the Jongleurs brand. The company evolved into a corporate brand, specialising in entertaining larger parties. By 2000, there were eight Jongleurs venues across the UK. Regent Inns
plc, the owners of Walkabout
, bought the clubs. Maria Kempinska and John Davy retained certain rights to the brand name as well as creative control over booking acts. http://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2009/01/01/8053/mbe_for_jongleurs_founder
In October 2009, Regent Inns went into prepacked administration allowing for a management buy out which resulted in the formation of Intertain UK. As a result of this adminatration Jongleurs venues in Southampton
, Nottingham
, Bristol
, Oxford
and Bow (London)
all closed down.
As a result of the management buy out, Intertain UK decided to end its relationship with Jongleurs allowing the formation of a new brand of comedy venues, highlight, and Maria Kempinska and John Davy set about building a new chain of Jongleurs Clubs. Hammersmith opened a month after the collapse and Bournemouth, Notting Hill and Clacton followed shortly after. Momo Leisure have secured a franchise and opened a Comedy Club in Nottingham. http://www.morningadvertiser.co.uk/news.ma/article/85530 They recently secure a £2m investment planned for new Jongleurs clubs throughout the country. The most recent being Jongleurs Blackpool which will open at The Winter Gardens, Blackpool on October 15th 2010.
In September 2010 they opened 4 venues with Novus Leisure at Sway Covent Garden and the Tiger Tiger Brand. Currently Luminar
have licensed the brand to 12 Oceana venues around the country.
, Covent Garden
, Portsmouth
, Bristol
, Blackpool
, Glasgow
, Croydon
, Norwich
, Cardiff
and Newcastle Upon Tyne
opening between May and September are The Hippodrome-Kingston, Oceana's in Watford
, Swansea
, Edinburgh
, Birmingham
, Milton Keynes
, Southampton
and Basildon
.
and "Live at Jongleurs" on ITV
. "Live At Jongleurs" currently features on the Paramount Comedy Channel featuring performances filmed at the Camden venue in the mid 90's. Comedians to have featured on Jongleurs TV shows include: Jo Brand
, Rory Bremner
, Julian Clary
, Phil Cool
, Steve Coogan
, Jack Dee
, Michael Mcintyre
, Peter Kay
, Ruby Wax
, and Paul Chowdhury.
Comedy club
A comedy club is a venue, typically a nightclub, bar, or restaurant where people watch or listen to performances, including stand-up comedians, improvisational comedians, impersonators, magicians, ventriloquists and other comedy acts...
s in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. Maria Kempinska MBE established and opened the first Jongleurs club in 1983 in Battersea, London. In 1985 Maria then met her business partner John Davy, and together they built the Jongleurs brand. The company evolved into a corporate brand, specialising in entertaining larger parties. By 2000, there were eight Jongleurs venues across the UK. Regent Inns
Regent Inns
Regent Inns was the parent company of Walkabout, Jongleurs/Bar Risa and Old Orleans chains.It went into administration in October 2009.The part-time executive chairman was Bob Ivell.-Brands:...
plc, the owners of Walkabout
Walkabout & Surfer's Paradise (bar & club)
Walkabout is a chain of Australian themed bars operating in the UK. The brand was owned by Regent Inns, which also controls the Bar Risa/Jongleurs chain. In October 2009, the company went into administration. There are approximately fifty Walkabout venues in the UK: forty eight pubs, three...
, bought the clubs. Maria Kempinska and John Davy retained certain rights to the brand name as well as creative control over booking acts. http://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2009/01/01/8053/mbe_for_jongleurs_founder
In October 2009, Regent Inns went into prepacked administration allowing for a management buy out which resulted in the formation of Intertain UK. As a result of this adminatration Jongleurs venues in Southampton
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
, Nottingham
Nottingham
Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...
, Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
, Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
and Bow (London)
Bow, London
Bow is an area of London, England, United Kingdom in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is a built-up, mostly residential district located east of Charing Cross, and is a part of the East End.-Bridges at Bowe:...
all closed down.
As a result of the management buy out, Intertain UK decided to end its relationship with Jongleurs allowing the formation of a new brand of comedy venues, highlight, and Maria Kempinska and John Davy set about building a new chain of Jongleurs Clubs. Hammersmith opened a month after the collapse and Bournemouth, Notting Hill and Clacton followed shortly after. Momo Leisure have secured a franchise and opened a Comedy Club in Nottingham. http://www.morningadvertiser.co.uk/news.ma/article/85530 They recently secure a £2m investment planned for new Jongleurs clubs throughout the country. The most recent being Jongleurs Blackpool which will open at The Winter Gardens, Blackpool on October 15th 2010.
In September 2010 they opened 4 venues with Novus Leisure at Sway Covent Garden and the Tiger Tiger Brand. Currently Luminar
have licensed the brand to 12 Oceana venues around the country.
Venues
Jongleurs clubs are now in NottinghamNottingham
Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...
, Covent Garden
Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as...
, Portsmouth
Portsmouth
Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...
, Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
, Blackpool
Blackpool
Blackpool is a borough, seaside town, and unitary authority area of Lancashire, in North West England. It is situated along England's west coast by the Irish Sea, between the Ribble and Wyre estuaries, northwest of Preston, north of Liverpool, and northwest of Manchester...
, Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, Croydon
Croydon
Croydon is a town in South London, England, located within the London Borough of Croydon to which it gives its name. It is situated south of Charing Cross...
, Norwich
Norwich
Norwich is a city in England. It is the regional administrative centre and county town of Norfolk. During the 11th century, Norwich was the largest city in England after London, and one of the most important places in the kingdom...
, Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
and Newcastle Upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...
opening between May and September are The Hippodrome-Kingston, Oceana's in Watford
Watford
Watford is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, situated northwest of central London and within the bounds of the M25 motorway. The borough is separated from Greater London to the south by the urbanised parish of Watford Rural in the Three Rivers District.Watford was created as an urban...
, Swansea
Swansea
Swansea is a coastal city and county in Wales. Swansea is in the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan. Situated on the sandy South West Wales coast, the county area includes the Gower Peninsula and the Lliw uplands...
, Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
, Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
, Milton Keynes
Milton Keynes
Milton Keynes , sometimes abbreviated MK, is a large town in Buckinghamshire, in the south east of England, about north-west of London. It is the administrative centre of the Borough of Milton Keynes...
, Southampton
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
and Basildon
Basildon
Basildon is a town located in the Basildon District of the county of Essex, England.It lies east of Central London and south of the county town of Chelmsford...
.
Television programmes
There have been several television programmes which have featured Jongleurs comedy clubs, including "Cabaret at the Jongleurs" on the BBCBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
and "Live at Jongleurs" on ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
. "Live At Jongleurs" currently features on the Paramount Comedy Channel featuring performances filmed at the Camden venue in the mid 90's. Comedians to have featured on Jongleurs TV shows include: Jo Brand
Jo Brand
Josephine Grace "Jo" Brand is a BAFTA winning British comedian, writer, and actor.- Early life :Jo Brand was born 23 July 1957 in Wandsworth, London. Her mother was a social worker. Brand is the middle of three children, with two brothers...
, Rory Bremner
Rory Bremner
Roderick "Rory" Keith Ogilvy Bremner, FKC is a Scottish impressionist, playwright and comedian, noted for his work in political satire...
, Julian Clary
Julian Clary
Julian Peter McDonald Clary is an English comedian and novelist, known for his deliberately stereotypical camp style, with a heavy reliance on innuendo and double entendre.-Early life and education:...
, Phil Cool
Phil Cool
Phil Cool is an English comedian, impressionist and musician.-Early life:Cool discovered that he had the ability to pull faces when he was at school...
, Steve Coogan
Steve Coogan
Stephen John "Steve" Coogan is a British comedian, actor, writer and producer. Born in Manchester, he began his career as a standup comedian and impressionist, working as a voice artist throughout the 1980s on satirical puppet show Spitting Image. In the early nineties, Coogan began creating...
, Jack Dee
Jack Dee
James Andrew Innes "Jack" Dee is an English stand-up comedian, actor and writer known for his sardonic, curmudgeonly, and deadpan style.-Early life:...
, Michael Mcintyre
Michael McIntyre
Michael Hazen James McIntyre is an English stand-up comedian. He is well known for appearing at many British stand-up comedy events and for several roles on television stand-up programmes such as Live at the Apollo and his own show, Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow...
, Peter Kay
Peter Kay
Peter John Kay is an English comedian, writer, actor, director and producer. His work includes That Peter Kay Thing , Phoenix Nights , Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere , Britain's Got the Pop Factor... and other independent productions which have included two sell out tours.-Early career:Peter Kay...
, Ruby Wax
Ruby Wax
Ruby Wax is a BAFTA nominated American comedian who made a career in the United Kingdom as part of the alternative comedy scene in the 1980s.-Early life:...
, and Paul Chowdhury.