diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index fa0d50e06..a57b2acb6 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ Changes to Calva.
 ## [Unreleased]
 - [Continue to support -Aalias for jack-in](https://github.com/BetterThanTomorrow/calva/issues/1474)
 - [Add custom commands from libraries](https://github.com/BetterThanTomorrow/calva/pull/1442)
+- [Clojure-lsp not starting when offline](https://github.com/BetterThanTomorrow/calva/issues/1299)
 - Workaround: [VS Code highlights characters in the output/REPL window prompt](https://github.com/BetterThanTomorrow/calva/pull/1475)
 - [Exclude REPL output window from LSP analysis](https://github.com/BetterThanTomorrow/calva/issues/1250)
 
diff --git a/src/lsp/download.ts b/src/lsp/download.ts
index 3f8804436..021c68c46 100644
--- a/src/lsp/download.ts
+++ b/src/lsp/download.ts
@@ -7,9 +7,14 @@ import { https } from 'follow-redirects';
 import * as extractZip from 'extract-zip';
 
 async function getLatestVersion(): Promise<string> {
-    const releasesJSON = await util.fetchFromUrl('https://api.github.com/repos/clojure-lsp/clojure-lsp/releases');
-    const releases = JSON.parse(releasesJSON);
-    return releases[0].tag_name;
+    try {
+        const releasesJSON = await util.fetchFromUrl('https://api.github.com/repos/clojure-lsp/clojure-lsp/releases');
+        console.log("loaded latest Json" + releasesJSON);
+        const releases = JSON.parse(releasesJSON);
+        return releases[0].tag_name;
+    } catch (err) {
+        return "";
+    }
 }
 
 function getZipFileName(platform: string): string {
diff --git a/src/lsp/main.ts b/src/lsp/main.ts
index 3ba4abef5..c4811f574 100644
--- a/src/lsp/main.ts
+++ b/src/lsp/main.ts
@@ -401,7 +401,7 @@ async function activate(context: vscode.ExtensionContext, handler: TestTreeHandl
     if (userConfiguredClojureLspPath === '') {
         const configuredVersion: string = config.getConfig().clojureLspVersion;
         const downloadVersion = ['', 'latest'].includes(configuredVersion) ? await getLatestVersion() : configuredVersion;
-        if (currentVersion !== downloadVersion) {
+        if (currentVersion !== downloadVersion && downloadVersion !== '') {
             const downloadPromise = downloadClojureLsp(context.extensionPath, downloadVersion);
             lspStatus.text = '$(sync~spin) Downloading clojure-lsp';
             lspStatus.show();