The Pump House Jazz Club celebrates its 40th birthday next week with a special concert featuring Richard Leach, one of the first musicians to ever grace its stage.

The jazz club was founded in 1972, shortly after the Pump House Theatre and Arts Trust opened. Started by Trevor Anthony Hodgkinson of the Trevor Anthony Allstars, the club has become one of the most well-established jazz venues in the UK, hosting professional bands from all over the country and overseas.

South Oxhey resident Dot Bemrose remembers the very first night the club opened. “We went in there and we listened to the Trevor Anthony Allstars and Main Avenue. We liked it so much we went back the next week and the week after that – and we’re still members 40 years later, my brother-in-law and I go every week.

“We enjoy it so much, there’s a different live band every week, and it’s a lovely atmosphere, everybody’s so friendly. I’ve made so many friends down there.”

Over the years, Dot and her fellow Jazzers have enjoyed listening to international stars like Ball, Barber and Bilk and Sarah Spencer’s Transatlantic Jazz Band.

“We had Alex Welsh there once,” Dot says, “and you got offshoots from all the big bands. Recently we had the front line of The Big Chris Barber Band. It’s interesting stuff, some are very entertaining, some are more serious – you get a good mix."

  • Richard Leach’s Seven Stars of Jazz play the Pump House Jazz Club, Lower Board Road, off Lower High Street, Watford on Thursday, October 11 from 8.15pm to 11pm. Details: Hazel Fox on 01923 467269, www.pumphouse.info