On his way back from Paris Fashion Week on Friday, 5th March, P Diddy made a stop in London to celebrate the launch of his new album, Last Train To Paris.Launching a party at Kensington nightclub Amika, Diddy notified the club only six hours in advance, giving his team of 40 party planners a £500,000 budget to put on the event.
Known as a legendary host Diddy did not disappoint, from the pyrotechnics, confetti bombs, a girl dancing in a cage, 500 bottles of his premium vodka Ciroc, 100 bottles of Moët Rose and Ace of Spades Champagne, and even spraying the rooms with his Sean John fragrance.Diddy then closed out the night with a surprise performance, which included a premiere of his track ‘Hello Goodbye’ which has only been heard once before in Miami a few weeks ago.
London welcomed the new year in with style on December 31st with major parties taking place at all of the top London clubs to celebrate the start of 2010.
The eastern influenced nightclub Chinawhite, which reopened this year at a new location on Winsley Street - off Oxford Street, held a ‘Forget the Year Party’ which was attended by a very fashionable London crowd.
funkybuddha - based on Berkley Street, and popular with diners visitingLondon restaurant Nobu - invited guests to enjoy all the house drinks (spirits, wine and beer) they wanted at their New Year’s Eve party.
HEYJOCLUB, owned by multi-millionaire libertarian Dave West, held a dinner and dance for it’s VIP members with guests enjoying fine Russian food, Champagne and cocktails at the bar.
New Year’s Eve in London is the biggest night of the year with millions of people flocking to the centre of the capital to enjoy the nightlife and the top night clubs hosting their most extravagant celebrity parties.
Although 2009 has been much publicised as a bad year for the economy the best London clubs are still pulling out all the stops with VIPs expected to be arriving in limousines and enjoying the events, popping Champagne bottles, as they normally would during the festive season.
These are clubs regularly frequented by A-list celebrity clubbers such as P.Diddy, JLS, Girls Aloud, Jay Z, Kate Moss and Beyonce where entry is controlled by strict guest lists and the crowd is mostly made up of elite clubbers more used to gracing the pages of Tattler than The Sun.
James WJ Wilson, Director of Forbidden London Clubs, one of the leading promotion companies in London’s club-land believes the top bars and clubs have everything to look forward to as he forecasts a great Christmas and New Year in the West End.
“London is the most fashionable city in the world and despite Gordon Brown’s best attempts to derail the economy, the nightlife – bars, night clubs and restaurants – particularly at the top end of the market, are still performing well.”
“People are perhaps not spending at the same level as they were two years ago, maybe we’ve seen the last of the bankers splurging £30,000 on bottles of Cristal Champagne for now, but overall most of our clients are wealthy and still want to enjoy themselves. In my opinion there is no better place to do that than at the best events in London which are hosted by the top clubs and promoters.”
Lord Dave West, owner of the HEYJOCLUB in St James’s is well known publicly thanks to his Cherie Blair assisted battle against the smoking ban and his penchant for bright pink suits; he echoed this view.
“I own one of the top clubs (HEYJOCLUB) and one of the best restaurants (Abracadabra Russian Restaurant) in Central London and we are finding that the high-end customers we entertain are still enjoying spending their money on fine food and fine wines”
“Many of our best clients are Russian and the government has not managed to ruin everyone’s fun yet, they’re still spending.”
With Christmas and New Year’s Eve just round the corner and most companies still planning on rewarding their staff for what could be considered a difficult year, things are looking bright for the glamorous London clubs the VIPs and celebrities love.
The middle of the week - or as the our New York cousins like to call it, ‘Hump Day’ - will never be the same again as one of the top VIP nightclubs in London, Vendome - based on Piccadilly in Mayfair, launches Vendome Wednesday this week.
There will be live music from former Libertine and Babyshambles frontman Pete Doherty (the ex-boyfriend of model Kate Moss) and no stranger to rehab. Clubbers can also expect the best tracks from the London club chart from top DJs Kitt Proudfoot, Ollie Collins and Rich Stone.
If that wasn’t enough, there will be complimentary cocktails all night courtesy of Belvedere IX super premium vodka and no doubt plenty of bottles of fine champagne from the bar being popped and poured.
Directed by Andrew Steggall of The Motion Group, the production brings together a cast of actors and celebrities fresh from box office smash hits, to enact Vivienne’s call for a more cultured society, delivered by 25 characters from literature, art and history including Pinocchio, Aristotle and Alice from Wonderland.
Prior to the performance you are invited to view a special exhibition of unforgettable art inspired by the manifesto, curated by highly acclaimed underground artist Sanja Sakic. Immediately after the performance there will be a short Q&A session with Vivienne Westwood, followed by a champagne reception and an exquisite three course dinner accompanied by live music.
Climate change futurologist James Lovelock, author of The Vanishing Face of Gaia, will also be attending to share his thoughts on what the future holds for the human race - a concern very close to Vivienne’s heart. Guests will have the opportunity to show their support for positive change by learning more about the Prince’s Rainforest Project and the COP 15 conference on climate change.
The evening will conclude with a star-studded VIP afterparty at the HEYJOCLUB in Mayfair, where Vivienne, the star of the night, will be joining us.
A once in a lifetime evening not to be missed.
VENUE: The Bloomsbury Ballroom, Bloomsbury Square, London,
WC1B 4DA
DRESS CODE: BLACK TIE / SPIFFY CASUAL
TICKET PRICE: £250 + VAT PER PERSON; TABLES £2,050 + VAT (10 PEOPLE)INCLUDES ART EXHIBITION, PERFORMANCE, CHAMPAGNE RECEPTION, THREE COURSE DINNER AND FINE WINESPRIVATE TABLES AVAILABLE FOR PARTIES OF EIGHT OR MORE
Active Resistance Art Exhibition Tickets - £10 + VAT PER PERSON
Active Resistance Art Exhibition and Performance Tickets - £60 + VAT PER PERSON
Active Resistance VIP After-party Tickets - £30 + VAT PER PERSON
To celebrate Youth Music’s 10th Birthday this November, an exhibition named ‘Destroy Rankin’ will feature 70 of the world’s greatest musicians and visual artists, as part of a groundbreaking body of collaborative artwork based on Rankin’s iconic portraits of musicians.
As part of National Youth Music Week 2009, Youth Music will take over Phillips De Pury London - based near Victoria - for a festival of art and live music featuring performances from Destroy artists.
Original works by celebrities Damien Hirst, Douglas Gordon, Debbie Harry, Michael Stipe, U2, Mat Collishaw, Marianne Faithfull and many others will be auctioned to support the UK’s biggest music charity for young people.
The Exhibition will be open from Monday 9th to Saturday 21st November 2009 at Phillips de Pury, 9 Howick Place, London, SW1P 1BB
Last Wednesday, the relaunch of LondonVIP club Chinawhite on Winsley Street in Soho proved memorable for many - including Prince Harry, who watched ex-love Chelsy Davy get too close for comfort to renowned playboy Hugo Taylor after the pair enjoyed a few glasses of Champagne together.
Celebrity gossips claim that word got back to Harry that Hugo made a play for his former girlfriend at the relaunch of the London night club and the young prince - third in line to the throne - was furious at the news…
A source said: “Hugo had told a number of pals that he’s got his eye on Chelsy, and as they are all in the same circle of friends it got straight back to Harry.”
Hugo, known as ‘Fagin’ by friends, is a new club promoter for Chinawhite - alongside Forbidden London Clubs of course - and has been linked to Princess Eugenie and model Saskia Boxford.
Chelsy and Harry met in 2004 and were together for five years. They split at the beginning of this year and have been linked with a number of other people - namely, for Harry, TV presenter Caroline Flack - but finally sorted out their differences and got back together last month.
Despite seeing other women, the prince was apparently “gutted” when Chelsy called off their romance. The course of true love never did run smoothly…
Celebrity gossips have whispered that Chelsea and England footballer Frank Lampard is smitten with 2008’s Strictly Come Dancing contestant and TV Presenter Christine Bleakley after flirting with her in at Amika nightclub in Kensington, London, last Saturday.
Frank and Christine arrived with a group of people from Strictly Come Dancing including Zoe Lucker and Joe Calzaghe and the dancers Aliona Vilani and Nicole Cutler. They all sat together at a table in the VIP area with Frank next to Christine.
Frank reportedly bought at least three bottles of fine Champagne - possibly Cristal or Dom Perignon - from the bar for the group even though he hardly drank himself.
The couple stayed for a lock-in until 4.30am, but it’s not known if they left in a limousine, London taxi or Mr Lampard’s motor together or if the England midfielder scored. Bleakley, 29, was reportedly first wooed by the Premiership footballer in September at the Pride Of Britain awards.
A Playboy fraudster who spent a night splurging £140,000 on Champagne at top London night clubAmika in Kensington has been jailed for scamming credit card companies out of £1.6m in the pursuit of a luxury lifestyle.
Eamon Zada ran a credit card cloning factory from his Notting Hill flat, obtaining the kind of money required for a life like a millionaire celebrity. When police carried out a search they found a highly sophisticated device which intercepts credit card details from phones.
The team behind London celebrity VIP hangouts Mahiki, Whiskey Mist and The Punch Bowl pub in Mayfair is to open a new bar in the City of London next month.
Kanaloa, the latest venture by Nick House and Piers Adam, aims to break the mould of the male-dominated Square Mile by specifically targeting women. There will be several female-friendly house rules including; free entry for women, complimentary manicures, massages and makeovers. Kanaloa has been given a tropical island-inspired theme, with a long black bamboo bar surrounded by carved wooden pillars as a centre-piece.
The Champagne and cocktails list has been overseen by Papa Jules - the creator of the signature Mahiki rum - while best UK bartender in 2008, Rich Hunt, has been recruited as bar manager. The food will be Pan-Asian inspired.
Nick House said: “Piers and I have both worked in the City and we felt there was a real need to create a sense of escapism and fun in an area that historically hasn’t had the benefit of high quality bars and night clubs.”
