EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Chelsea nightclub loved by the royals to be reopened by Guy Ritchie's best man
Beloved by royals including Prince Harry, who once beat a retreat via the fire escape, 151 was the basement nightclub in London’s King’s Road from which George Michael was turned away.
‘He had an earring,’ explained Giorgio Burlo, who barred men with earrings or tattoos from the club he founded in 1985.
The venue has been closed since the horror of lockdown, with Burlo retiring after almost 40 years as the custodian of society’s secrets.
Now, however, I can disclose that 151 is to reopen in the new year, thanks to a nightclub veteran behind some of the royals’ favourite watering holes.
Piers Adam, 60, who was best man when his pal Guy Ritchie married Madonna, is to relaunch 151 in February in a bid to bring some glamour back to an increasingly corporate Chelsea.
‘London is the greatest city in the world and King’s Road is the artery of fashion and style,’ he tells me. ‘151 has a special place in my heart, as it does for many other Londoners, and I can’t wait to reopen it. We want people to feel that they don’t need to go to the West End for a great night out.’
Chelsea nightclub 151 is to be reopened in the new year by Piers Adam, Guy Ritchie's best man
The venue was loved by royals including Prince Harry who once beat a retreat via the fire escape
151 was also the club from which singer George Michael was once turned away
Doomed socialite Tara Palmer-Tomkinson ‘lived' at the popular venue
Adam’s partner in the venture is Marc Burton, 40, with whom he worked at Mahiki and Whisky Mist in Mayfair.
With royal pal Guy Pelly, Burton went on to open Tonteria, a Mexican-themed nightclub in Sloane Square at which Harry was a regular.
Known for hosting some of the wildest nights in the capital, Tonteria regularly featured dancers dressed in bondage-style lingerie. A bottle of tequila cost £5,000 – and VIP clients could have their drinks delivered to their table by toy train.
Such was Harry’s fondness for the club that he visited on a Monday, Thursday and Saturday during one week in 2014.
At a World Cup party, Burton reportedly snatched phones from two excitable young Chelsea girls who had dared to point them in the direction of Harry as he breezed past them to join his entourage of friends in the tiny VIP room.
The girls ended up in tears and eventually their phones were returned, but only after the blurry photos were deleted.
At 151, the opening night was attended by Princess Diana’s onetime lover, James Hewitt. Doomed socialite Tara Palmer-Tomkinson ‘lived there’, Burlo reflected, while Bob Geldof held ‘lots of parties’ at the club.
Last year, he told me of their royal patrons: ‘Harry came a few times. He walked around, talked to people. William was serious. He was sitting there, in a corner. He behaved like a Prince; like someone who would one day be king.’
Another royal, not normally associated with night-time frolics, popped in. ‘Prince Edward came,’ recalled Burlo, adding that he was accompanied by ‘an entourage’ of friends.
There were much older visitors too, including actor Leslie Phillips, for ever known for his fruitily-voiced ‘Ding Dong’ catchphrase, who cruised into 151 when in his 50s, and lawyer George Carman, who secured the acquittal of former Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe, when Thorpe was accused of conspiring to murder his former lover, Norman Scott.
Strictly's Samba was not unfair to Chris, says Nadiya
Strictly was branded ‘discriminatory, unfair and in poor taste’ by some viewers for making Chris McCausland compete in a ‘sambathon’ on the dance floor last weekend at the same time as six other couples.
McCausland, who is blind and lacks spatial awareness, was the first to be eliminated.
But Strictly pro Nadiya Bychkova defends the producers’ decision.
Speaking at a party hosted by Chelsea Dental Clinic & The London Laundry Club, she suggested spatial awareness was not needed for a samba.Referring to Chris’s elimination, she says: ‘I don’t think that’s anything to do with that. The show would never put him at a disadvantage.
‘He blows my mind every week.’
Strictly pro Nadiya Bychkova has defended the show's decision to make blind contestant Chris McCausland compete in the Sambathon with six other couples on the dance floor last weekend
Where's Rupert? He's the wally in the red hat!
Has Rupert Everett done his best impression of Where’s Wally?
The star of My Best Friend’s Wedding turned up at the launch party for his friend John Seilern’s travel memoir, Crumbs From The Banquet.
However, Everett, 65, insisted on wearing his woolly hat indoors at the JGM Gallery in Battersea, south London, just like Wally, the children’s puzzle character who wears a bobble hat and glasses.
Rupert Everett resembled Where's Wally? in a red hat at the JGM Gallery in Battersea, south London
Single Mia is quids in
Splitting up with Romeo Beckham doesn’t appear to have hit Mia Regan financially.
The 22-year-old Prada and Gucci model, whose relationship with David and Victoria Beckham’s middle son ended this year, has some enviable figures.
Latest accounts for Mia Regan Ltd, the private company into which she pays her earnings, disclose a £522,000 annual profit – almost double the £295,000 she made in 2023 – and takes her accumulated profits to £1.2million.
Mia Regan doesn't appear to have been hit financially by her split with Romeo Beckham
Naming her lifestyle business after the desirable corner of California where she lives with Prince Harry is proving challenging for the Duchess of Sussex.
I hear that Meghan has asked the US Patent and Trademark Office for three more months to register American Riviera Orchard, which she announced amid great fanfare nine months ago. Last month, I told how a firm that owns the trademark Royal Riviera had objected to her move. Its owner, the fruit seller Harry & David, is a
US institution with annual sales of £1.7billion.
Sir Brian May admits he had designs on Mary Austin, manageress of the Biba fashion store in Kensington, west London, who became Freddie Mercury’s first girlfriend.
‘I actually asked Mary out,’ the Queen guitarist recalls. ‘Then Freddie went, “Oh, is she with you? I’d like to ask her out”. I said, “I think you should... we’re only friends really”. And the rest is history.’ Mercury later told Austin he was bisexual, but they remained close. In fact, the singer left half his estate to her, including his £25million mansion in London.
Sir Brian May at the F1 Grand Prix in Silverstone, Northampton in July
Sex Pistols star John Lydon may have a built a career as an anti-Establishment rocker, but he claims he’s now inspired by Bob Monkhouse and Tommy Cooper.
The punk, 68, known as Johnny Rotten in the band, says he bases his one-man show on them. He adds: ‘Monkhouse was insanely rude, he was very funny. Cooper I could never figure out. Was this staged and done ever so brilliantly, or was it chaotic, comedic anarchy? The key to it is that it’s a touch of both.’
George Carman was toasted at The Cavalry and Guards club when his friend Karen Phillipps launched Get Carman, her book about the late libel lawyer. He once wanted to cross-examine Mohamed al Fayed’s banker, but it was nearly lunch.
The judge agreed after Carman said: ‘This witness will be very short.’ When he stood for the oath, he was barely visible over the top of the witness box!
