Mean Fiddler tunes in upmarket

THE Mean Fiddler group, organiser of the Glastonbury, Reading and Leeds festivals, is aiming for a more sophisticated audience for its latest London events - The Jazz Cafe Picnics.

Run by promoter Vince Power, the company has tied up deals with English Heritage to run live summer concerts annually at Kenwood House on Hampstead Heath and at Twickenham's Marble Hill House.

The move comes as part of the group's plan to spin off new events and venues from its Camden Jazz Cafe and is predicted to bring in revenue of £600,000, even before sponsorship deals.

Mean Fiddler will sell picnic hampers to save punters dragging their lunch and dinners across the Heath. Billings at the two events, in July and August, include a host of jazz, R'n'B and soul acts, with Zero 7 and Joe the headliners.

The Jazz Cafe division is set to become one of the biggest growth areas for Mean Fiddler, which last year sold its lossmaking bars and restaurants unit to focus on music. The company is already considering other stately home sites for Jazz Cafe Picnics, and is hunting a site in Paris for a permanent cafe bar.

'I had the idea while I was walking my dog on Hampstead Heath. I just thought it's so beautiful here, but it's full of old fogeys. We should bring a younger audience to enjoy it,' said Mean Fiddler music director Rob Hallett.

After having lossmaking stakes in a number of big festivals, the group has benefited from the growing popularity of live music among a widening audience.

Tickets for this year's Glastonbury and Reading festivals sold out almost immediately while more than 500,000 tickets went for Justin Timberlake's 2003 and 2004 tours.

Hallett added: 'Every other big city in the world has these cool, jazzy events and we thought it's about time London did.

'It's going to be more sophisticated than the other festivals we do. I don't want to dis the Glastonbury and Reading crowd, but Jazz Cafe people are not the type who want to go and sleep in the mud for three days. We're hoping they'll come along with the family, have a picnic and a bottle of wine and a cool, civilised time.'

Mean Fiddler has signed up English Heritage to host Picnics at the two venues for the next three years, with options on further festivals in future years. 'Hopefully one day we'll be talking about the 25th Jazz Cafe Picnic anniversary,' said Hallett.

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