Return of the Colony Room Club

For over five decades, the Colony Room Club in Soho was THE hang-out for London's Bohemians and counter-culture vultures. In those days Soho had lots of such private members clubs ... the Groucho, Garrick, Black's, Gerry's, Tricia's, Jazz After Dark etc. and many still remain. However, the Colony - once favoured by Francis Bacon, Damien Hirst, David Bowie, Molly Parkin, Tom Baker and so many more - shut its doors in 2008. But now it's open again - and open to all. Darren Coffield, one of the Young British Artist group that gave us the likes of Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin and Gavin Turk, has faithfully recreated the Colony in a basement below the building in Heddon Street where Bowie posed for the cover of 'Ziggy Stardust'. It's basically an art installation that you can drink in! And it's there for six months until the end of April 2024. I was honoured to be invited to a private party of old members to celebrate the Colony's return last week (15th November). Things then turned into a Soho club crawl with old friends that bought back many good memories. But I was back out on the Chiltern Hills the day after!