A popular local cafe losing its public entertainment licence has resulted in an uproar among its regular patrons and performers.

Blu Jaz Cafe, located at 11 Bali Lane, is known for its live entertainment such as poetry slams, musical performances, and comedy shows.

According to The Straits Times, some of the local acts it has hosted include local comedian Fakkah Fuzz and singer Charlie Lim.

According to the article, Blu Jaz was first informed of the termination of its licence on Aug. 31.

There was no definite cancellation date then. The owners then submitted an appeal.

On Oct. 8, the police informed the cafe that the appeal was unsuccessful because of its "poor track record of compliance" with licensing conditions.

The police also informed the cafe that it would have to stop live entertainment by Oct. 22.

Why is Blu Jaz Cafe's licence being terminated?

According to a petition created to appeal against the termination, the main factors that contributed to the decision by the Singapore Police Force (SPF) were, ironically, the result of "noise" and overcrowding, signs of a successful live entertainment business:

• July 2016, Nov. 2017: Two offences of failure to ensure windows and doors remained closed (i.e. a noise issue). Each of these offences constituted three demerit points.
• April 2018, May 2018 : Two offences of overcrowding by over 20 percent above the capacity. Within a week, both offences raked up a total of 18 demerit points

The establishment's director, Aileen Tan, told ST that it had chalked up more than 24 demerit points in the past two years due to overcrowding, a result of the very small capacity allocated for the cafe's operations.

According to Tan, the cafe is only allowed a capacity of 43 for its operations on the first floor.

Across two floors, the licence only allows for 73 people.

After accounting for 20 staff, and about five to eight pax for band members, there's very little capacity left for patrons on the ground floor, which is the main cafe space and where music gigs are held.

The second and third floors are usually where the cafe hold other events like open-mic performances.

The cafe can still operate without an entertainment licence, but it will not be able to provide any live entertainment.

However, for many of the cafe's patrons, Blu Jaz Cafe is renowned for its live performances.

Additionally, live performances are what helps sustain the place financially, as Tan says the rental is "astronomical".

While Tan has informed all scheduled performers of the licence cancellation, many of them are angry with the decision as the cafe is seen to be one of the very few places that offer live, ground-driven creative performances.

"Death of live music scene"

Lydia Tan, 28, is one of the regular patrons of Blu Jaz's open jam sessions.

She calls the termination of the licence the "death of the live music scene":

"Blu Jaz is not a formal concert hall.. there’s no distance between performer and audience. And I know a lot of my musician friends showcase their originals for the first time there."

Natalie Soh, 26, who attends Blu Jaz's open mic sessions, calls the place a "safe space" for her to practise her live poetry:

"Anyone can just go up to read whatever they’ve written - be it a song or a poem or whatever, as long as it’s original writing".

Other professional jazz musicians such as Greg Lyons and Aya Sekine have also expressed their disappointment online, urging members of the public to go sign the petition:

https://www.facebook.com/gregblyons/posts/10161295796030647

Local stand-up comedian Sharul Channa calls the venue a "home to many artists":

Local jazz singer Alemay Fernandez calls the termination "beyond ridiculous":

And here are a couple of InstaStory pieces by DJ KoFlow:

Both Greg Lyons and DJ Koflow attributed the licence termination to complaints by residents of a nearby condominium.

The condominium in question is DUO Residences, part of an integrated development including a hotel, and office spaces.

Residents of DUO Residences recently moved in during the earlier part of 2018.

Programme director of Blu Jaz, Anuj Kumar spoke to Mothership, justifying that that while the cafe isn't pointing fingers, it isn't an illogical conclusion seeing as the latest round of demerit points (a whooping 18 points) came right after the residents moved in.

However, Anuj also shared that the cafe had received visits from the police based on baseless noise pollution complaints.

For example, there were occasions when there was no one practising in the cafe but officers went down because "somebody complained".

If you'd like to sign the petition, you can head over here.

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Top image via Blu Jaz Cafe