Annabel’s owner Richard Caring is set to step up his rivalry with fellow Mayfair clubland boss Robin Birley as he plans to revamp one of the capital’s most expensive private members clubs.
Caring,, who owns the Ivy restaurant chain, is going to spend millions updating Mark’s Club, The Londoner can reveal, moving it from its home on Charles Street to Berkeley Square. This will cause a headache for Robin Birley, who runs nearby 5 Hertford Street, and will compete for similar clients.
The two have a long history: in 2007, Robin’s father Mark sold his five Mayfair clubs to Caring for £90 million. Mark’s Club welcomed guests including Sir Rod Stewart for a 50th birthday party last year.
It has a membership of only 1,500, and is the place where David Cameron celebrated his election win in 2015.
The Boris Diaries?
There were excited rumours last year that Boris Johnson was keeping a personal diary as PM, but Downing Street said there was nothing to it. However, one moment at yesterday’s privileges committee suggests he does have a detailed record of his time in office. Recalling how he was told about a Partygate story by his press secretary, Johnson said: “My diary says it was about six o’clock: he comes in and he says that, as you say, the Daily Mirror is going to run this story.” Is it just a schedule, or something more? Johnson could do with something to help jog his memory as he writes his memoir. He got a £510,000 advance in January, and is working on the book between highly-paid speaking gigs.
Sadiq Khan’s freebies
Mayor Sadiq Khan’s office has disclosed the gifts he got last year, which include a personalised baseball cap and shirt from the San Francisco Giants that he got on a trip there, as well as tickets to watch Liverpool lose at Brentford in January. City Hall also revealed that deputy mayor for culture Justine Simons spent £666 on taxis, two-thirds of the total bill. Far better than going on the expensive Tube.
Reuniting the Floyd will be ‘tricky’, says drummer
Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason thinks a reunion of the band would be “tricky”. He’s not wrong: guitarist David Gilmour and his wife Polly caused a storm recently when they attacked frontman Roger Waters online. Does Mason think there’s a chance of healing? “I would have to ask someone more experienced in the diplomatic world,” he sighs, admitting that Waters can be a “difficult person”.
Eddie’s nod to fashion
Actors Eddie Redmayne, Zoë Kravitz and Zhou Dongyu turned at an OMEGA watches event for the Aqua Terra Shades collection at Somerset House last night. Redmayne told how being colourblind has meant he struggles with fashion, as outfits can be a “complete catastrophe, or clash unexpectedly”. Not clashing were fellow thesp Dominic Cooper and presenter Vick Hope.
Over in the US, Brooklyn Peltz Beckham revealed a large new tattoo of his wife Nicola on his arm as he appeared on Jennifer Hudson’s talk show. It goes with several others that he has in tribute to his partner, who he married last year.
