Charlotte St Blues is London’s newest live music venue. It is situated about ten minutes walk from Tottenham Court Rd tube and thus another ten mins from Sterns. It is a large, spacious venue and considerable sums have been spent on making it a good place to hear live music. I’ve been twice and the only fault the venue has that I can note is a tendency to let the musicians play somewhat too loud. The venue has a long bar and assorted seating leading up to the stage. There’s space enough for dancing. Upstairs there are sofas to sit on and – i kid you not – a specialist whiskey bar. That’s right, fancy a select single malt and they will serve it. Which is to say that Charlotte St Blues appears aimed at a high end clientele – most blues bars are scruffy places – and last night’s crowd appeared to be city types who had not suffered too much from the downturn. A little odd perhaps but it is a much better venue – and value – than Ronnie Scott’s. And blues is now heritage music like jazz so why not have an up-market venue?