The Boho Soho club where stars cane it
IT was the West End hangout where anyone who was somebody had a coveted private membership.
The Groucho Club in London oozed a bohemian vibe envied by its stuffy rivals and countless celebs partied hard behind its doors.
Now the venue has been sold for £40million, with new owners Iwan and Manuela Wirth vowing to take it back to its “maverick ethos” after fears it had become too corporate in recent years.
It’s currently thought to cost £950 per year to become a member, plus a £250 joining fee and recommendations from two current members.
Opened in May 1985, it took its name from the famous Groucho Marx quote: “I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member.”
Hollywood actor Al Pacino was an early visitor to the venue – but was turned away in 1985 after being mistaken for a tramp by doormen.
Dubbed a “home for hell-raisers” it was the top drinking destination for the likes of the Gallagher brothers and TV presenter Chris Evans – who was spotted with wife Billie Piper on all-day sessions.
Once while Liam Gallagher was eating lunch there, Paul Gascoigne asked him: “Do you want a roll with it? Do you want a roll with your soup?” referencing the Oasis hit.
The furious singer unleashed the contents of a fire extinguisher on him, later saying: “I turn around and say, ‘Here you are Gazza, you f***er.’ He was like Father Christmas, he was like a snowman.”
In 1992, artist Damien Hirst put his £20,000 Turner Prize winnings behind the bar – but forgot the next day and thought he had lost the cheque.
After ringing round friends, he learned he had spent it buying everyone drinks.
Groucho regular Keith Allen cowrote football anthem Vindaloo with Blur’s Alex James there with James later saying: “I think everyone in the Groucho Club that night ended up in the video.”
Years later Allen’s daughter Lily would frequent the bar and got into a fight with a member of the public on her way out after allegedly being verbally abused in 2008.
The Groucho, which was based on members from arts and media backgrounds, saw right-wing commentator Toby Young enjoy a tryst with a Princess Diana impersonator in the toilets, although he insisted: “We didn’t go all the way.”
It was also where George Michael met Liza Minnelli in 1990, where Wayne Sleep
took Princess Diana out for lunch and where U2 frontman Bono sang Happy Birthday to Bill Clinton. Once after a power cut, the celebs in attendance joined forces to provide entertainment. As tea lights were lit, Jools Holland played piano as Tom Jones belted out Sex Bomb with Bono joining him for a duet. Loose Women star Janet Street-Porter was a regular and told how Chris Evans upset Julian Clary there by asking him: “Why has your career gone down the dumper over the last two years?” Janet also got propositioned by a certain female rocker, revealing: “Another night Courtney Love declared that she wanted to have sex with me. She had watched my walking programmes on TV when on tour and was a big fan.” A favourite haunt of supermodel Kate the years, she once spent six hours there with musician ex-husband iaenHdinicne. At the 1996 Smash Hits Poll Winners Party unofficial after-show bash, telly star Denise Van Outen was seen snogging indie guitarist Andy Miller of Dodgy for the first time inside the hallowed walls of the Groucho. The Spice Girls were rejected for membership at the height of their fame while Stephen Fry decided the rules of the bar – no mobile phones and no string vests. Despite its reputation as the place to be for a good time, in 2016 old-school members – fed up with rich bankers being allowed access – wrote a letter of complaint to management alleging there had been an “increase in open drug-taking”. It was previously claimed the upstairs snooker room was nicknamed the “Peruvian Procurement Department” due to the amount of cocaine consumed there. The Groucho insisted it had a “zero tolerance attitude on drug taking”. Today it might not be the celeb magnet it was in its heyday – in recent times, Love Island stars have flocked there, with the likes of Megan Barton-Hanson adding fuel to the fire of veteran members demanding an overhaul to the process of who is allowed in. That’s bad news for Ekin-Su and Davide, but a revamped Groucho might be exactly what the showbiz world needs to light up the current insipid world of media-trained bores, more bothered about posting TikTok videos than good old-fashioned rock’n’roll antics.