Fresh look pledge as new owner buys Ronnie Scott's.(News)

Legendary jazz club Ronnie Scott's is being dragged into the 21st Century by a new owner with a fresher look, a younger bill and the possibility of a regular radio programme recorded at the venue.

Sally Greene, owner of the Old Vic theatre, has bought the London club from its co-founder Pete King for an undisclosed sum. Negotiations took 18 months, with King--who had run the club solo since Scott's death eight years ago--remaining at the venue as an advisor and booker.

The club is to be officially relaunched as a more "comfortable" venue in the autumn, with a new menu and a bar area upstairs to give customers a place to talk. However, Green intends to keep the character of the club as it is.

She says, "Ronnie Scott was a man imbued by jazz. He had it in his heart and tummy and head and toes. You feel that in there; I go in there and smile. I love jazz and I went to every other jazz club in the world before buying Ronnie Scott's and they can't touch it for atmosphere--even Blue Note."

Although the club has struggled financially in the past, Greene insists Ronnie Scott's can make money. "I wouldn't have bought it if I didn't think it could," she says.

Various initiatives are planned, such as increasing the number of CDs of performing acts on sale at the venue. Greene, who is the wife of millionaire property tycoon ...