A two-floor jazz bar is to open in the heart of Margate, bringing a 'Prohibition-era style club' to the seaside town.

Crybaby Jazz will open in The Centre at the end of the month.

The brainchild of entrepreneurs George Grossmith and Freddie Hiscock, it is their first venture after spending recent years running pubs and bars.

They have agreed a five-year lease with commercial property and investment company Evolve Estates, for units 6 and 7 at The Centre.

The upper floor will be used mainly for acoustic sessions, while the lower floor will be used for live jazz bands.

Explains George Grossmith: "We’ll be focusing on live music and the bar will serve a great selection of cocktails and wines. Margate is enjoying a real resurgence and there are plenty of venues opening up in the town. The Centre is an ideal location for our bar and we’re working really hard to get everything finished so we can open to customers.

“Margate hasn’t had a jazz bar for a long time, so it’s exciting for us to bring it to the town. It’s a significant investment for us but we believe the bar will be popular.”

The Centre, hit hard by the loss of stores over recent years, is now seeing something of a revival.

Phil Murphy, of Evolve Estates, added: “The Centre is a vibrant shopping precinct, full of independent traders, plus our popular UpMargate creative hub, pop-up and studio space. We’re really pleased George and Freddie recognised that it is the perfect home for their new jazz club and it’s great to see a new concept take space in Margate.”

The duo will run the bar themselves for the first few months, but hope to be in a position to take on staff in the summer.

Once fitting out of the building is complete, it will be open from Wednesday to Saturday from 10am until midnight.