The founder of one of Bermuda's best loved nightclubs died late last week after a lengthy illness.

Hubert Brown created a Mecca for jazz lovers at Hubie's Bar, one of the only bars on the Island that offered live jazz.

It soon became a place where, despite its back of town locale, tourists and locals alike would seek out. It has also played host to a wide range of jazz lovers, from politicians, to Premiers, jazz musicians and the ordinary man and woman.

Mr. Brown's brother-in-law, Dani Moore said: "Hubie would bring the tourists outside and make sure that they got a cab, and if a cab did not come he would be sure to get someone to take them to where they could find a cab. He took care of everyone."

On Friday night, two days after his death, the bar was open as usual and musicians and patrons turned up to celebrate and honour his life.

Mr. Moore spoke fondly of Hubie and said: "He was a soft-spoken man who was very well liked. He had a smile that would have killed you and he loved a good joke. He was always a fine dresser and sleek dresser"

Hubie and his wife of 48 years, Eleanor, were very close, thought they did not have any children of their own.

Mr. Moore said: "After our parents died they adopted all of us as if we were all theirs. Christmas was always at their house.

"They were so close and they spent a lot of time together. When he wanted to get away he would go fishing."

Remembering a family joke they often laughed about, Mr. Moore said: "When they met, he walked her home and then she walked him back and then he walked her back until finally Hubie said: 'No one walks me home', and he walked her home and left her there.

They were a great couple."

Hubie's Bar is a place where you can sit and relax, listen to music, or dance or bring an instrument and play with the band.

Mr. Moore said: "Many seniors remember him as being the three times table tennis champion; he was also a great checkers and billiards player."

Before founding the jazz bar, Hubie ran an auto-body garage on Parsons Road until the Government took the piece of land back. He then bought the bar and renamed it Hubie's Bar.