hosted performances from Manfred Mann, The Who, Eric Clapton, Andy Summers, Georgie Fame, Zoot Money and others.

[2] From the outset Stooks ran it as a full-time venue, featuring a variety of live bands each night of the week, including Sundays, with weekend all-night sessions extending to 6.00 am.

[2][5] During the period of Jerry Stooks's ownership the club featured almost exclusively local bands, though several of these included musicians who later achieved wider fame, including Michael Giles and his brother Peter, Andy Summers, and Zoot Money, the original version of whose Big Roll Band played its first public performance at the club in Autumn 1961.

[12] On 14 September 2014 a blue plaque commemorating the club was unveiled at the site of the premises by Zoot Money.

[13][14][15][16][17][18] • Al Kirtley Biography: Jerry Stooks, The Downstairs Club and the naming of Zoot Money’s Big Roll Band