EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Mystery as Prince Andrew’s favourite club Tramp – which once played host to stars including Michael Caine, Peter Sellers and Keith Moon – closes its doors
Could this be enough to make even Prince Andrew break out in a sweat?
Tramp, the London nightclub where he would dance around the dance floor with Virginia Roberts, has abruptly closed its mouth – under baffling circumstances.
There was no inkling of impending drama when Tramp presented Idris Elba four weeks ago as the Luther star celebrated the launch of his new rose champagne, Porte Noire.
But just a fortnight later, five key directors – including Guy Sangster, son of the late horse breeding magnate Robert Sangster, and Kevin Doyle, who took over the club for £4 million in 1998 – resigned in unison from the holding company that now owns Tramp.
I was told that members, who pay an annual subscription of £1,000, were subsequently ‘shocked’ when they received an email informing them that the club had closed because it had been ‘sold’.
A fashion show, which was due to take place there this week after months of planning, appears to have become the first casualty of the closure. ‘I got a call saying the club had been sold and that my event was being canceled unless I could pay £2,000 in advance,’ says one organizer. ‘It’s very sad. I have had a great relationship with Tramp for years.’
Tramp, the London nightclub where Andrew would dance around the dance floor with Virginia Roberts, has abruptly shut down – under baffling circumstances. In the photo: Prince Andrew at Tramp
Stopping traffic: Socialite Tara Palmer-Tomkinson celebrates her 21st birthday at the club
I was told that members, who pay an annual subscription of £1,000, were subsequently ‘shocked’ when they received an email informing them that the club had closed because it had been ‘sold’. In the photo: Prince William in Tramp
A fashion show, which was due to take place there this week after months of planning, appears to have become the first casualty of the closure. Pictured: Joan Collins with Percy Gibson at Tramp in 2001
The club’s founder, the ever-affable Johnny Gold, who died two years ago at the age of 89, is said to have been appalled – and especially shocked that Tramp had fallen silent during the party weeks before Christmas. Pictured: Jack Nicholson outside Tramp
Calls to the club are politely answered but provide no relief, with an articulate young woman merely confirming that Tramp is closed. Pictured: Rod Stewart with his then wife Rachel Hunter at Tramp in 1997
Tramp’s new owner appears to be Luca Maggiora, who is described as a “former bank credit analyst turned leading hospitality entrepreneur.” In the photo: Shirley Bassey and Isabell Kristensen at Tramp in 2010
Calls to the club are politely answered but provide no relief, with an articulate young woman merely confirming that Tramp is closed.
“We are not issuing a statement at this time,” she tells me. “If anything changes in the coming weeks, or (whenever) that may be, (we) will contact you.”
The club’s founder, the ever-affable Johnny Gold, who died two years ago at the age of 89, is said to have been appalled – and especially shocked that Tramp had fallen silent during the party weeks before Christmas.
The son of a Brighton bookmaker, he and two business partners – one of them, Oscar Lerman, husband of bonkbuster novelist Jackie Collins, sister of Joan – opened the club in 1969.
Gold captured the spirit of the times perfectly and was in charge of a box where stars such as Sir Michael Caine and Peter Sellers and social miscreants such as Dai Llewellyn, the son of the ‘Seducer of the Valleys’ baron, played in an uninhibited manner. could relax.
This also applies to the Rolling Stones and others from the emerging rock world, none with more enthusiasm than Keith Moon, drummer of The Who.
On one particularly percussive occasion, he lowered a 17th-century chandelier into a cascade of falling plaster. He was banned – but only for 48 hours. He then returned to the club naked, tied to the hood of a white Rolls-Royce.
Tramp’s new owner appears to be Luca Maggiora, who is described as a “former bank credit analyst turned leading hospitality entrepreneur.” The right man for Tramp’s new moon?
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Student Grandma Lady Brady!
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