The rise and fall of celebrity hotspot The Groucho Club

It was once the venue of choice for the London glitterati but it appears the party is over for famed celebrity haunt The Groucho Club.

The club’s licence has now been suspended by Westminster City Council after a request by the Metropolitan Police.

Neither the police, nor the club itself, have shed any light on the “serious criminal offence” that forced it to close its doors, but it is not the first time the venue has been dogged with claims of illegality.

In its heyday, an upstairs room was apparently nicknamed the Peruvian Procurement Department, such was its reputation for the alleged availability of cocaine.

It is a startling fall from grace for a club once frequented by the likes of Princess Diana, Kate Moss, Harry Styles and even Ant and Dec.

The club was founded in 1985, at a time when very few private members’ clubs were open to women (and in fact, The Garrick Club only voted to allow women to become members this year – prior to that, they had to be invited in and accompanied around the building by a man).

A group of publishing heavyweights (Liz Calder from Bloomsbury, Carmen Callil from Virago and literary agents Ed Victor and Michael Sissons) wanted to invent a “new kind of club”, according to the official history of Groucho.

They wanted it to be “a place where the creatives can mingle, unwind, and spark some serious magic, regardless of gender, a club anyone could apply to join based on merit, the antithesis of the stuffy gentlemen’s clubs of the day”.

It would become “the blueprint for the modern members club”.

The club was named after Groucho Marx’s famous claim that he wouldn’t “want to belong to any club that would accept me as one of its members”.

The group (backed by club owner Tony Mackintosh) bought a slightly dilapidated townhouse on Dean Street for £450,000, raising roughly the same amount again to transform it into the “hottest ticket in town”.

Rod Stewart, Freddie Mercury, and Liam Gallagher were among the famous faces to visit, alongside Keira Knightly and Lily Allen (who was later given a year-long suspension from the club).

Such was the venue’s success at attracting members that a rival Soho club was said to have been launched purely to cater for rejected Groucho applicants.

Stories from inside the club soon became legend

There was the time Bill Clinton walked through the doors one Christmas, only to be serenaded by Bono singing “Happy Birthday Mr President”.

Julie Burchill, a columnist for The Times, wrote in a 2005 article commemorating Groucho’s 20th anniversary: “It seemed symptomatic of the times when my then best friend Toby Young had sex in the toilets with a Lady Diana impersonator.”

Young is on record as responding: “I can’t claim to have been the first person to have had sex in the Groucho Club’s toilets – the truth is we didn’t go all the way – but I’m sure it’s happened on numerous occasions. The irritating thing was that as I emerged, I was spotted.”

How did you become a member – and what were the rules?

“Two current members have to write to the committee to propose you,” wrote PR executive James Herring in 2005. “If you’ve been lucky enough to get the nod, you’ll then get a letter saying you’ll be able to join in three years’ time.”

Membership was reportedly £1,500 a year, and being a celebrity was not always a guaranteed entry. The Spice Girls were rejected by the membership committee, while Al Pacino was turned away at reception unrecognised.

To preserve privacy, after 5pm the use of mobile phones was strictly prohibited, unless you were taking a “short discreet” call. No photos or videos were allowed to be taken at any time inside.

The Groucho Book of Rules also states the following: “The wearing of string vests is fully unacceptable and wholly proscribed by Club Rules. There is enough distress in the world already.”

The Prince of Soho

Overseeing the debauchery was front-of-house manager Bernie Katz, who partied with celebrities but was known for his discretion.

Nicknamed the “The Prince of Soho” by Stephen Fry, Katz was the son of notorious south London gangster Brian “Little Legs” Clifford.

Clifford was a criminal and club owner who was murdered at home while he slept.

Katz, aged 17 at the time his father was shot, would later write in his memoir: “Never one to miss an opportunity, I sashayed over to his wardrobe and navigated my way across the sea of footwear to his black Pierre Cardin alligator skin shoes I’d secretly always had my eye on. Thank God they were in the wardrobe. You see something good always comes out of tragedy.”

He would become known for his discretion at the club, partying with celebrities and protecting their secrets until the end of his life.

Katz died suddenly, at the age of 49, with Sienna Miller, Noel Fielding and Jude Law turning out for his funeral – the latter giving a eulogy.

The club’s downfall

Katz’s retirement (a few short months before his death) was seen by some as the beginning of the end for the club. In 2016, 14 veteran members wrote to general manager Matt Hobbs with complaints including “open drug taking” and arguing the club had lost its “unique feel”.

Hobbs left the club in 2018, a year after it had announced a 40% increase in the membership fee.

The company was bought in 2022 by Artfarm for a reported £40m.

According to The Times, a letter titled “RIP Groucho” circulated among members this summer, which pronounced the club “almost dead”, with complaints including rising costs and the decision to disband the old membership committee.