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· Our Story · this. story test
How Paignton ended up with a piano bar.
· Black & Ivory ·
Black and ivory — the two keys that make everything on a piano possible. Press one, you get a note. Press the right combination, you get music. That's the idea this place runs on.
Black Ivory is the only piano bar in Paignton, and one of just a handful of piano bars in Devon. We're a working piano bar — not a cocktail bar with a piano in the corner, not a restaurant that does occasional live music. The piano comes first; the rest of the room is built around it.
Good music played live, good gin poured properly, and an atmosphere that this part of Devon has been waiting for. Plenty of places to drink between Paignton and Torquay, but very few where the room itself does any of the work.
Somewhere between the seafront promenade and a serious gin list, Black Ivory fills that gap — live music every week, a small room that earns the atmosphere, and a bar that gives you a real reason to stay out past dinner.
“A pocket of Mayfair, on the seafront. We came for one and stayed for three.”
· Why a Piano Bar in Paignton? ·
Better restaurants, more independent businesses, a proper crowd that wants more than the obvious options. Black Ivory is for that crowd — and for anyone visiting Torbay who wants an evening that doesn't feel like a holiday cliché.
Paignton has been changing. Black Ivory fits what it's changing into.
There's no playlist running on an empty Wednesday. Either someone's playing the piano or the room is set up like they're about to. The music drives everything else — what we serve, how the room feels, why people stay.
We're not trying to be the biggest bar in Torbay. The room is the size it needs to be for live music to work in it. When someone sits at the piano, you can hear them from anywhere in the building — and that's the point.
Our gin list runs to more spirits than most cocktail bars in Devon. Our cocktails are short on theatrics and long on actually tasting good. Our wines are chosen because we drink them, not because someone in marketing says we should.
· The Week ·
Wednesdays are live piano evenings — our resident pianist, an early start at 8pm, and tables that book up by Tuesday lunchtime. The first Sunday of every month is our open mic piano afternoon, hosted by Tony Scorza and Al Bovey, and any pianist is welcome to play the Grand.
The last Saturday of the month is Jazz & Gin Night — slower tempo, stronger drinks. Special evenings sit on top: hosted wine and cheese, themed cocktail launches, guest performers.
· Visiting Paignton or Torquay? ·
Black Ivory is two minutes from Paignton seafront and a fifteen-minute drive from Torquay harbourside. If you're staying anywhere in Torbay, you're within reach. We're a short walk from Paignton railway station for anyone arriving by train from Exeter, Plymouth or further afield.
Free parking on nearby streets after 6pm. Bookings are recommended on event nights.
· Get in Touch ·
The room is small. Tables go quickly on event nights. Worth booking ahead.
