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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
World
Harry Dougherty

Annabel’s owner Richard Caring DJs and tells stories at bash

Richard Caring, owner of The Ivy and the Birley clubs, was on the decks at his Mayfair venue Annabel’s last night for a cocktail auction. “I’m a DJ virgin... bear with me,” he told guests.

Caring and his wife Patricia were raising money for their charity by selling art from his other venue, George, which is having a revamp.

Lots included Tracey Emin’s I’m A Rare Bear, for around £65,000. Caring paid tribute to Patricia’s work on the foundation, jokingly telling her: “I’m broke but I’m doing the best I can”. Caring said the charity were on track to plant two million trees in the Amazon and had delivered 2 million meals both in the United Kingdom and in Brazil.

He added that he’d been inspired to create the new Annabel’s, which reportedly cost him £100m, when he saw an older couple asleep at the bar in the original venue.

"When I first got involved with Annabel’s everybody said to me don’t change anything... so for 9 years I walked around not touching anything, not doing anything because I was too frightened" he said.

"Then one night I walked into Annabel’s 10 o clock, I was on my own, for a drink, and there was an elderly couple asleep at the table on the right hand side, and I said... "I’m sorry I have to do something'"

He hopes George is going to be a success too. "George has had a complete and utter refurb, I hope you like it because if you don’t I’m going to go and live in Pyongyang because it’s driven me crazy" he said.

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