Caterer Loves… Karaoke

Karaoke is officially cool. Or it will be, if Lucky Voice private karaoke bar in London has its way. Set up by Martha Lane-Fox, founder of lastminute.com, the luxury karaoke venue could be a sign of things to come.

The new joint aims to blow away any preconceptions of warbling drunks and dingy pubs and make karaoke a serious alternative for a stylish night out.

Lucky Voice has nine suites for hire along with 4,000 songs to choose from. Customers get a plasma-screen TV, big speakers and cordless microphones, and food and drink is available. Despite being open for less than a month, apparently it already boasts many regulars. Think swish in a Lost in Translation kind of way rather than sad.

Any venue with an entertainment licence can host karaoke, and if Japan is anything to go by, the UK should be bracing itself for an influx of sing-along venues. Karaoke has been popular in Japan since the 1980s, with businessmen diving into the bars straight from work. There are also more than 100,000 karaoke boxes dotted around the country, where people can walk in off the street and blast out a tune in a soundproof booth.

Literally translated, karaoke means "empty orchestra", and there are numerous theories regarding its origins. One describes how a performer failed to turn up for his gig at a snack bar, so the owner put some tapes on and asked customers to sing.

Karaoke has spread around the globe like wildfire, and is taken with such seriousness in some US towns that it borders on a national sport.

Prices at Lucky Voice vary from 5-10 an hour per person.