Popular Temperance Café owner Adrian Gains had decided earlier in 2026 to step back and hand over management and ownership of the venue. The new owners are James Knight (of Leamington Spa band The Swaps) and Emma Colburn (who had been working on sound & pre-event meal opportunities). This handover was on the 31st March 2026 so Adrian had decided to hold a leaving party on April 1st (and due to its popularity on the 2nd as well) which would be in the form of an evening jam with lots of local musicians.
Adrian, who previous to buying the Temperance Café building (including the flats above), had a career in the public sector in the security arena and one of his claims to fame was the numberplate recognition number system. His final 10 years before he retired in 2010 was as a Management Consultant for one of the large firms.
He was interested in the history of Royal Leamington Spa (to give it it’s full name) and wrote some articles for the Leamington Historic Society especially about the southern end of town (known as Old Town) where Temperance Café is now based. The building, which is over 200 years old, in the 1880s was the ‘Westminster Temperance Hotel & Coffee Shop’ (hence where the name came from), which was open as a hotel until the 1930s, and had been a drapers shop before that. In the 1960s & 70s it was ‘Cartwrights Sports Shop’ and after that it was a second-hand furniture shop called ‘Shop of Treasures’.
Adrian bought the building in 2016, which is a grade II listed building, and due to the building inside and out being in very poor condition he gutted it to recreate it as the venue we now see today. He also at the same time renovated the 1st floor flat above and did most of the work itself which is why it took until 2018 before the Temperance Café opened its doors as a coffee shop, art gallery and events space with comedy, poetry Film and music.
On the music front he struggled initially to get musicians performing there so the events mix covered all the sectors up to the COVID lockdowns in 2020/21. One of his early success’s was getting the multi award winning Blues guitarist Dom martin over from Belfast who was Adrian’s first ‘International’ artist even if only over the Irish Sea!
From 2022 as the awareness of the music venue in the blues, folk, rock etc. increased so the venue mix expanded and is now 85-90% of the venue output.
In terms of highlights at the venue Adrian is proud of the fact that The Philosophy Club regularly sells out at its daytime slot and on the music front he is most proud of showcasing Dom Martin, London artists The Cinelli Brothers & Errol Linton, Charm of Finches (from Australia) and watching local Leamington Spa band The Swaps develop.
While he has handed over the ownership of the venue to Emma & James, Adrian has taken an Ambassadorial role looking out for new artists in all genres (both solo/duo or bands) that he will see live at other grassroot clubs and festivals in the UK, to recommend back.
As a thanks to Adrian (who attended with his wife Mary) Emma & James presented him with a delicious looking cake (made by Pinwheel Patisserie) and a painting of the building by Sophie Fletcher, which was commissioned through a wonderful local community arts project called Stoneleigh Arms.
To a packed venue, both in the basement and throughout the venue, the musical evening pulled together by James Knight and others, kicked off at 7:30pm.
The never-ending stream of musicians included one constant that of Ben Haines on drums started with Shanade Morrow (vocals) & Patch Murphy (guitar) with a new song about playing at Temperance called ‘Down at the Basement’. They were then joined by Shanade’s close friend and neighbour Beth Brooks (vocals) and Adam Phillips (keyboards) both from The Swaps on ‘Nobody’s Fault but Mine’.
Then the full line-up of The Swaps (with James Knight on guitar) along with Ben and Jason Page (on electric guitar) played ‘Don’t You Want to Let Go’
After a break to have the presentation to Adrian Gains, the next line-up featured Shipston-on-Stour’s Greg Brice on electric guitar with Jason Page also on electric guitar with Ben on drums on ‘Up Above My Head’ with Greg on vocals. They also gave us a brilliant version of the Woods brothers Song ‘Fine Line’ with Jason on lead vocals backed by Jason.
After another break to buy more drinks and cake the Leamington super group the Leamington Blues Mafia took to the stage with Ben on drums. The group consisted of Steve Walwyn (Dr Feelgood) on lead guitar & vocals, Horace Panter (The Specials) on bass and Nick Rowbottom on vocals & harmonica. They gave us a variety of song genres including the rocky ‘Checking on My Baby’, and the soulful version of the Curtis Mayfield song ‘People Get Together’.
Then the next group included UK Blues Awards winner Stevie Watts on keyboards with Shanade Morrow (vocals), James Page (electric guitar), Adam Phillips (bass) and Ben on drums on ‘Don’t Mess with My Man’.
Then the musicians shuffled again for ‘Further on Up the Road’ with Stevie, Jason, Adam & Ben joined by James Knight (acoustic guitar) and Beth Brooks on vocals.
Then The Swaps played audience favourites/requests of their songs with ‘All You Do’, ‘Scars’ & ‘Sweetheart’ (written by Beth).
Then on The Swaps 12 bar blues song ‘Negativity’ they were joined by Greg Brice (electric guitar) along with Jason Page. Then the varied bar and style song ‘Deep’ with James Knight on lead vocals, before Steve Walwyn replaced Jason Page on lead guitar on the Etta James song ‘I Would Rather Go Blind’
This ended the event with James Knight thanking all the performers as well as James Lee who covered the sound during the evening.