Keith Allen wants to meet me at the Groucho. Well, of course he does. “I haven’t been here in 10 years!” he protests as we find a corner table. That’s all very well, but no one is more closely associated with the central London media haunt than Allen, who had a high old time here in the 1990s with the artist Damien Hirst and the Blur bassist Alex James. Allen’s life membership was a gift from the owners, who felt guilty when he was sent to prison for three months after trashing their previous joint, the Zanzibar. It is an irony not lost on him that the reason he kicked off in the first place was because he objected to members’ clubs. Now here he is synonymous with one.
The 1990s are on his mind because he is starring in a new musical, Rehab, set at the end of that decade. He plays a publicist exploiting the controversy around his star client, a pop star whose drug habit has landed him in recovery. Allen turns up today modelling the character’s look: orange-tinted shades and a silver Bernie Ecclestone wig. “Keith got it in a joke shop,” says Kevin, the show’s PR, from the next table.
