Most of the time I regard live music and other entertainment in restaurants as a sign that either the restaurant is desperate or simply one to avoid.
However, the Ritz has been doing this forever, and on weekend evenings, it seems as much part of wallpaper as the, well, wallpaper.
But I am reminded of a time we went to the Savoy back in, probably, the mid 70s. We were having a decent meal, but were puzzled by a flyer on the table about Roy Castle appearing in concert. Asking a waiter, he explained it was happening "here later." There was a dance floor space in the middle of the dining room, but we couldn't quite see Roy Castle performing there. After all there were really only me and my brother who'd heard of him (from Record Breakers). But later in the evening, part of the floor rose to form a stage, and indeed Roy Castle came on and gave a quite remarkable performance across a range of genres, including a virtuoso piece on the Swiss Alphorn. We all just sat there transfixed by the man's seemingly limitless talent.
