by Ian Mann
June 11, 2025
Worcester music venue The Marr's Bar, the home to the Music Spoken Here series of events, celebrates its 25th birthday in June 2025. Ian Mann and guest contributor Dave Fuller pay tribute.
PROLOGUE - IAN MANN writes;
June 2025 sees the Worcester music venue The Marr’s Bar celebrating its twenty fifth anniversary.
Founded by musician Brian Marr, aka Marzy, it is primarily a rock music venue but for the past three years it has also been home to the fortnightly Music Spoken Here series of events curated by Evesham based promoter Dave Fuller.
Music Spoken Here continues to build a loyal following and to fulfil its mission of “bringing the best jazz, funk and fusion” to Worcester, often with a tasty side portion of soul, hip hop or gospel thrown in. The MSH series has recently presented its fiftieth show, all of them hosted by The Marr’s Bar.
The new Sunday afternoon series The Sunday Service will increase the gospel, soul and r’n’b quotient but the regular Thursday shows will remain as the MSH flagship.
Dave Fuller is to be congratulated for bringing a strand of jazz to Worcester that is not represented at any of our other local jazz clubs, all of which are far more straight ahead. Marzy and his excellent venue, a great Worcester institution, are also worthy of our admiration for giving Dave the opportunity to realise his vision and for bringing so much top quality music to Worcester. Long may both The Marr’s Bar and Music Spoken Here continue. Between them they bring something very special to the Midlands music scene.
IAN MANN
Music Spoken Here Instigator Dave Fuller has written the following words in praise of The Marr’s Bar;
THE MARR’S BAR CELEBRATES 25 YEARS!
This weekend, the fantastic venue we have made our home for the last three years is celebrating 25 years of great live music, entertainment and community support. At a time when so many live music venues are closing, this is something really positive we can all get behind!
Just over three years ago, I stepped through the doors of The Marr’s Bar for the first time to see Stanley Dee, a brilliant 9-piece tribute to Steely Dan headed up by the charismatic Cavan Daly, who I’d first seen a year or so before in my home town of Watford. At the bar, I got chatting to Brian (Marzy) about an idea I had and he offered me the opportunity to ‘give it a go’. I booked the incredible Yolanda Charles’ Funk Ultra, sold about 30 tickets and at the end of the evening Marzy said “I can see you ain’t messing about. Let me know what nights you want.”
Previously an electrician by trade, it is Marzy’s love of music and respect for musicians (a guitarist, singer and saxophonist himself) that brought The Marr’s Bar into existence and has made it a local, 21st century success story. The three-storey Georgian building on 12 Pierpoint Street was Fletcher’s Dance Studio in the 50s and 60s, but had fallen into a dire state of dilapidation when Marzy responded to a handwritten ‘For Sale’ note in the window in 1998. On viewing it, Marzy recalls “The doors were hanging off, it stunk of despair, damp and piss, cables hanging down, plaster coming off the walls, cheap imitation panelling circa 1976 doing a terrible job of hiding a broken waste pipe. The stereotypical shit hole. I loved it! I have said many times, the building picked me, it was a bit like that Steven King Novel “Christine”, except a squat rather than a 1958 Plymouth Fury. I just had to have it…”
If you haven’t already, I recommend reading the endearing story of the Marr’s Bar on their website, which describes the challenges of restoring the building and some great anecdotes from the last quarter-century - Steve Winwood popping in to see Jim Capaldi play and ending up playing on stage; an impromptu support spot for a young Ed Shearan, who was hanging out playing guitar in the green room one time with Nizlopi. The Marr’s Bar also claims the longest-standing jam night in the UK, which happens every Wednesday, giving local and visiting artists a welcome and encouraging environment to play to a local, enthusiastic audience.
The party starts at 8pm on Friday, with The Mess They Left Behind, Jiksaw, Emma Howett and the Genuine Noise and Rebel and the Banned. Celebrations continue on Saturday with The Severn Collective, The Connor Maher Quartet and Gecco. It’s free entry on both nights.
For more on The Marr’s Bar please visit;
https://marrsbar.co.uk/
DAVE FULLER