It was almost 2 months since Notting Hill Carnival, summer is over and we can feel de blasted autumn chill creeping in [stuepps] but alas! The folks at Busspepper Promotions seem to be one step ahead and from their party invite promise to take us across the Atlantic in a southerly direction, back to the warm waters of our beloved Caribbean Sea... with "Welcome to Jam Rock".

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Everyone was calling for a good fete, and as we walked from Oxford Circus tube station, this was obvious with Trini voices in the air and a queue wrapping onto Oxford Street. People passing by must have been wondering what all of these well dressed people were doing lining up to get into La Senza at 11pm - as that is how it would have seemed from one side.

As we pull up, we were directed to the VIP entrance and in without any problems. The first thing your eyes would catch on entering was a poster with a Rasta going up an escalator in a city subway which led to what would seem to be a back-of-yard Trenchtown village. On entering the main club area you could notice the sweet aroma of coconut incense, the light filling the room was red, yellow and green, on the wall was a maxi sized poster of what seem to be a Toco beach with waterfalls faded in, to further enhance the mood were several bouquets of tropical flowers, palm leaves and coconuts. There was clearly an island feel to this London club.

First drink at the bar was a rum and coke, to our surprise, this Spanish bartender pulled out a bottle of Royal Oak! What more could a Trini in London ask for???!! As if this was not enough the music levels suddenly raised and we didn't know what hit us, style upon style! On investigation of the DJ booth we observed this was the handy work of DJ Kern Crosby (High Fidelity / Less than Zero), also in the mix were The Gladiators (Lyndon and Spicer) who maintained the pace as the dance floor got hotter and hotter. "Out in the streets, dem ah call it muuuuurrrder"... Mr. Jr. Gong run de big track Welcome To Jamrock.

Scoping out the crowd, there were a lot of fresh faces (and eye-food) and although Trinis were in the majority, there had quite a nice cultural and multinational mix of people - islanders from Barbados, Jamaica, Cayman, St. Lucia and a handful of British, American and other feters, all blatantly having a ball.

There were a couple Rastas in the corner dressed in chefs' jackets, who were none other than Hassan and Co., they were serving up a selection of paratha, curry, pelau, jerked 'reggae' wings, patties and even bake n saltfish. Sampling their sweet-han' was the perfect end to a good night out!!

"Busspepper Promotions aim is to provide the highest quality party environment while integrating island style partying within an international clubbing arena," explained Mateen Hepburn co-founder of the organisation. He further stated, "We may be a bit more expensive, but premium quality does not come cheap!"

Trini Jungle Juice gives this one our "thumbs up" rating