Ray’s Jazz in Foyles not dead yet.

I’m sure that I’m not the only BSH reader who tries to fit in a trip to Ray’s Jazz in Foyles on any trip to that Big Fancy London. Those of you who are familiar with that corner of this country’s best book shop will share my surprise on being greeted with this sight when I rolled up there on Sunday gone.

I had been saddened when it was split off from the café when they moved next door from the old shop, but this looked like the end. I had read somewhere that the last employee had escaped and they were looking for someone new to take on the role of permanent fixture. I found a wanderer in a Foyles t-shirt and, through my tears, asked the inevitable question, expecting to be told that there was no longer any demand for jazz. Instead my newly acquired guide escorted me along the walkway past the steps to this:

I suspect that it is in a state of transition and stuff still needs to be moved from the old place to the new corner, (and it does feel like a corner). There’s no natural light, I like to think that’s because jazz fans are nocturnal creatures. The racks of new and second hand CDs are there as are the crates of LPs. I will update following my next trip to the bright lights. Dave Sayer