Less than an hour before Blu Jaz Cafe’s entertainment license was to be terminated, PEAB grants mercy

Photo: Blu Jaz Cafe / Facebook
Photo: Blu Jaz Cafe / Facebook

With less than an hour to go until live music and performances were supposed to end for good at Blu Jaz Cafe, the Public Entertainment Appeal Board (PEAB) sent the good news. For now, the show will go on at the iconic creative arts hot spot — the cancellation date of the venue’s Public Entertainment License has officially been postponed.

The Singapore Police Force had initially announced that the bar’s license was due to be terminated on Oct 22 due to repeated offenses related to noise issues and overcrowding. The local arts scene got pretty riled up, of course. Here was yet another iconic music venue — where musicians, DJs, poets, comedians and more were welcome to hone their craft — being shut down by The Man. A petition was launched to get the PEAB to reverse or reconsider the police’s decision to terminate the entertainment license — a petition that has since gathered over 4,700 signatures as of writing. Local creatives took to social media to raise awareness about the case and urged the authorities to not let the music die at Blu Jaz Cafe.

Photo: Blu Jaz Cafe / Facebook
Photo: Blu Jaz Cafe / Facebook

On Sunday, Blu Jaz hosted what they thought would be the last jam session to be held with jazz quartet The Blue Monks. According to Blu Jaz’s sales marketing manager Anuj Kumar, it was at 11:26pm that PEAB informed them that the termination will not take effect after all that night — or at least until the board makes a final decision.

“Everyone was caught surprised and was totally elated,” wrote Anuj on Facebook, thanking their determined supporters and PEAB for the mercy. The fight to “keep the music going”, however, is still ongoing, and he urged people to keep signing the petition while the board continues to review their appeal.

Serious safety risk

In a bid to clear the air, the Singapore Police Force (SPF) issued their side of the story regarding their decision to terminate Blu Jaz’s entertainment license. It was mainly due to overcrowding, they noted, and it was bad enough to pose very serious safety risks to patrons and staff.


“The approved occupancy load for the second floor of Blu Jaz Café is 30 persons. However, on 28 April 2018, Police found that there were more than 150 persons on the second floor of Blu Jaz Café, more than five times the approved occupancy load. In a follow-up check the following week on 5 May 2018, the Police found an even higher number, close to 200 persons, on the same second floor, more than six times the approved occupancy load.”


SPF also added that they were concerned that the venue’s management did not address the breach (despite warnings) and allowed severe overcrowding to recur without putting in place any mitigating measures.

“It is untenable to treat different outlets differently,” SPF noted.

Facing the music

Photo: Blu Jaz Cafe / Facebook
Photo: Blu Jaz Cafe / Facebook

“We acknowledge that overcrowding and noise issues must be managed, and take responsibility in our oversight,” wrote Anuj in his grateful Facebook post.

During the period in limbo, the management promised to take action and resolve the oversights highlighted by the authorities — including the installation of sound-proof doors and windows as well as adding an external staircase to the building to manage overcrowding.

“We hope that the authorities will grant us the necessary time to put all possible further measures in place to manage the overcrowding and noise issues.”



Reader Interactions

Leave A Reply


BECOME A COCO+ MEMBER

Support local news and join a community of like-minded
“Coconauts” across Southeast Asia and Hong Kong.

Join Now
Coconuts TV
Our latest and greatest original videos
Subscribe on