Read the room - that's the best way to describe how Greg Edwards will prepare for his last ever DJ set in the UK, which will be in Maidstone.

Music supremo Greg, who back in the 1970s and 1980s on Capital Radio played soul and funk to millions alongside the likes of Kenny Everett, has more than 40 years of experience to prepare him, not to mention a stack load of records.

Despite it being a momentous event when Greg plays at Sphera Cocktail Bar in Ballin', Bank Street, Maidstone, don't expect him to come with a playlist at the ready.

"I am not a DJ really," he says. "I listen and present music to people. I don't create my programme before I get there. I will see how the audience are reacting to the other DJ. I will follow the audience. If you put on something slow, the ladies will grab their fellas and say 'dance with me'. Then it becomes something different.

"My evening will never be non-stop dance music.

"In Maidstone it is a new bar. Everyone will be dressed up. The club's owners also want people to see the beautiful decor so won't have too many people. I will deal with the night as I see it. I carry enough records within the genre of soul and club music and will be able to accommodate 95% of the people."

And on his way to Maidstone, will he have the radio on? Well, surprisingly no...

"You will be disappointed to hear I don't listen to the radio," he says. "When I was on Capital Radio with Kenny Everett and Roger Scott, we were always learning from eachother. We'd be like 'what was that record you played? Leave a copy behind.'

"We were all employed as individuals to deliver what should be coming out of the speakers for the listeners.

"But now I have enough music in my life - I stick a CD in my stereo and I drive."

Despite mixing with the showbiz great and good for decades, it's not something Greg wants to dwell on. Nostalgia is not his thing.

"I don't personally collect photos or memorabilia. Whether it's Stevie Wonder or someone else famous, I'm not that sort of person. I know other DJs do collect memorabilia. But I don't need nostalgia.

"I have been in the entertainment industry for many years and meeting the artists and management, there are so many egos. And I don't want to be the centre of attention. I just want to get on with my work."

Greg, who celebrates his 74th birthday on Christmas Eve, chose Maidstone as his final UK gig not exactly due to nostalgia of the many appearances he made in Kent at venues such as Warehouse in Maidstone, Zens in Dartford and Greenways near West Malling, but thanks to a good relationship with the management, who previously ran Banks.

"I have enjoyed working with them before. It was fun. I have always had a good gig in Maidstone.

"Every time I'd been asked recently I have already been booked up or not been in the country, so it came up and I thought I must do this."

Greg will be saying goodbye to gigging at clubs across the country, though not completely to the music industry, as he plans to do four specials next year, though none are in the UK.

"The chasing up and down every week being on the motorway, and coming up against mad drivers, I'm too old to deal with that now.

"What is important to me now is that I have the time to be with my family."

* Greg Edwards had been due to be at Sphera Cocktail Bar in Ballin', Bank Street, Maidstone this week but the event has been rescheduled to 2022. Find out more here.