Pembroke: Jazz player in a clef stick

IT WAS a case of the day the music died yesterday for Peter Ind, the jazz musician, as his two jazz clubs slid down the scales to receivership. The Bass Clef and Tenor Clef, both in Hoxton Square in north London, have been home to an arcane brand of modern jazz for the best part of a decade. But yesterday Mr Ind called in Ernst & Young to act as receivers to the two clubs as well as Wave Records, the label Mr Ind used for his recordings.

The clubs, I am told, will remain open for business.

GROSVENOR INNS became the proud owner of the pub with the longest name in the world yesterday when it acquired two outlets owned by David Bruce, famous for his Firkin brewery and the man who launched a thousand hangovers. For the record, the pub's name is: Bertie Belcher's Brighton Brewery Company at the Hedgehog and Hogshead, It's Really in Brighton Actually. Enough to challenge the technique of even the most accomplished signwriter.

THE CBI has made its move to replace Andrew Sentance, its former chief economics adviser who left to join London Business School last month. Kate Barker, the 36-year-old head of economics at Ford of Europe, will take up the post in mid- March.

The post does not guarantee entry to the ranks of the Seven Wise Men; the Treasury plans to soldier on with just six members in its think-tank. 'If they have got a group of people that work well together, they probably wouldn't want to change things,' Ms Barker says. 'They would also want to choose an individual, not a job.'

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SPECULATION is rife over whether Lazard Brothers, the City investment bank, is suffering from an outbreak of mice. One source said the rodents had been seen scampering about in the dealing room as well as having the run of directors' offices.

A Lazard spokeswoman said she had heard no reports of non-paying tenants of the squeaky, white, whiskery variety. But she did confirm their presence. 'They are here,' she said, while denying she was holding the conversation from high up on her chair.

Senior figures at the bank were highly amused by the running rodent rumour. Peter Rintoul, a director of Lazard Investment Trusts, said: 'I'm sure there are a lot of strange sightings in this place, but none of them includes mice.'

IT IS A busy time for Ivan Massow, a financial consultant to the gay community. He was on hand at the candle-lit Blacks club in Soho for the launch of Phase, the new gay magazine where he is an investor as well as the lifestyle editor.

He also tells me that his book, Ivan Massow's Gay Finance Guide, will be published at the end of March. 'It's a very useful book for anyone,' he says, adding that it will be 'in plain English' and much easier to understand than competitors such as Allied Dunbar's tax guide.

He is also setting up a company that will be 'the straight arm' of Ivan Massow & Associates. 'I don't want to say too much because someone else will come in with more money. But it's a serious plan to change our stance in the market.'