Fri 23rd Aug 2013 - Breaking News - Geronimo wins £1m jazz pub bid Geronimo wins £1m bid to move jazz pub’s music room: Geronimo has won planning permission for a £1 million renovation project at The Bull’s Head in Barnes, West London that includes moving the pub’s famous jazz club. The proposed changes sparked a 3,900-signature petition against relocating the pub’s music room to the Thai restaurant at the back of the premises, with campaigners saying the new venue, which is smaller than the current room, would mean a 40% reduction in audience sizes. However, Geronimo, which is running the site after it was transferred across from parent Young & Co’s tenanted division in July, said the company was fully committed to keeping live music at The Bull’s Head. Managing director Ed Turner said: “It is true that we want to create a new music room at the venue. However, we will only do this if it is as good as or better than the existing room in terms of the musical experience. Geronimo Inns sought planning permission to add to the current layout of the venue to enable them to improve the experience for fans attending shows; this includes, new loos, including facilities for disabled customers, a first floor dining function room and an extension to the stables to create a music room of a similar size to the current one with its own bar and loos. Our proposal is to add a centrally located trade kitchen in order to service the pub, the proposed first floor dining room and music room. This in turn required us to look at the location of the music room. Whilst the existing room has a wonderful history, the most important aspect for us is to guarantee the next generation of live music at The Bull’s Head. Therefore, we have proposed that the music room is relocated to what is currently the Thai restaurant, with a new bar and a further set of loos. However, we would not be able to do this unless we fully comply with all environmental health regulations to ensure that we remain a good neighbour to the local residents. In addition, the suggested move would not work unless we are able to match, or ideally improve on, the acoustics in the music room. To this end we have had the acoustic surveys completed and have consulted with acoustic specialists to ensure that we can achieve this.” The changes were approved by a meeting of the London Borough of Richmond’s planning committee. Geronimo already runs another West London music venue, The Half Moon at Putney, which it took over in October 2011.