Tucked in a basement at 100 Oxford Street in London, the 100 Club has been hosting live music since 24 October 1942, when it opened as a Sunday night jazz venue called the Feldman Swing Club. It took its current name in 1964, after Roger Horton, father of today’s owner Jeff Horton, took over the premises. Through swing, jazz, punk, and beyond, the low-ceilinged room has stayed remarkably unchanged for decades, giving it a lived-in character few venues can match.
The 100 Club’s biggest claim to fame came in September 1976, when it hosted the two-night 100 Club Punk Special, widely regarded as punk rock’s first international festival. The bill featured the Sex Pistols, The Clash, the Buzzcocks, and Siouxsie and the Banshees, an event now viewed as a turning point in British music history. Decades earlier, the room had welcomed jazz greats like Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman, and it later hosted surprise warm-up gigs from the Rolling Stones.
Stats at a Glance
- Location: 100 Oxford Street, Westminster, London, England
- Type: Basement live music club
- Opened: 24 October 1942 (as Feldman Swing Club; renamed 100 Club in 1964)
- Capacity: About 350
- Famous for: The September 1976 punk festival featuring the Sex Pistols and The Clash
A Venue Built on Reinvention
Before it was the 100 Club, the basement room went through several identities: Macks restaurant, the Feldman Swing Club, the London Jazz Club, and the Humphrey Lyttelton Club, reflecting London’s shifting music scenes across the 1940s and 50s. When Roger Horton took over in 1964, the venue settled into the name it still carries today, even as its booking policy kept evolving from jazz to rock to punk and beyond.
That willingness to host almost any genre is part of what has kept the 100 Club relevant for over 80 years. The same room that once staged trad jazz nights later became a proving ground for punk, and it has continued booking everything from Northern soul all-nighters to indie and blues acts.
Surviving to the Present Day
The 100 Club faced a serious threat of closure in 2010 due to rising costs, but a sponsorship partnership with Converse helped keep the doors open. It remains an independently run venue known for its unaltered 1970s-era decor, a detail regulars and performers alike often point to as central to its atmosphere.
Today the 100 Club continues to operate as a working music venue, hosting jazz, punk, rock, and dance events, while its history as the birthplace of British punk’s first festival remains its most cited legacy.
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100 Club FAQs
Where is the 100 Club located?
The 100 Club is in a basement at 100 Oxford Street in Westminster, central London, near Tottenham Court Road station.
Why is the 100 Club famous?
It’s best known for hosting the 100 Club Punk Special in September 1976, a landmark two-night festival featuring the Sex Pistols, The Clash, the Buzzcocks, and Siouxsie and the Banshees.
How old is the 100 Club?
The venue has hosted live music since 24 October 1942, when it opened as the Feldman Swing Club, making it over 80 years old.
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Photo: Majo76 / CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.