The Colony Room
Encyclopedia
The Colony Room was a private members' drinking club for artists and other creative people in Dean Street
, Soho
, London. It gathered a reputation akin to famous clubs of the past such as the Kit-Cat Club
. According to Anthony Haden-Guest
, it is "one of the fiercely eccentric clubs that make all the difference in London. There's absolutely nothing like it in New York
."
The club closed at the end of 2008 when its lease expired.
managed to secure a 3-to-11pm drinking license for the Colony Room bar as a private members club, whereas public houses had to close at 2.30pm. The painter Francis Bacon
was a founding member, walking in the day after it opened. He was "adopted" by Belcher as a "daughter" and allowed free drinks and £10 a week to bring in friends and rich patrons.
The club had a certain notoriety for its decor as well as its clientele; its bilious green walls were as famous as the club itself. In addition to its vile colour, the staircase that led to the establishment was described as foul-smelling and flanked by dustbins. Indeed many members referred to it as “going up the dirty stairs.” The Room was operated by Belcher between opening and her death in 1979.
The Museum of London
website says of the club, "The Colony Room was one of many drinking clubs in Soho. The autocratic and temperamental owner Muriel Belcher created an ambiance which suited those who thought of themselves as misfits or outsiders."
Belcher's sexuality attracted many gay men to the club, many of them brought to the club by her Jamaica
n girlfriend, Carmel. She had a knack for attracting or discovering interesting and colourful people, and the patronage of men like George Melly
and Bacon helped to establish the Colony Room's close-knit community. Lady Rose McLaren
, one of Bacon's friends, was a habitueé of the club in her London days.
Bacon, Belcher, and the club feature in John Maybury's 1998 film Love is the devil.
After Belcher's death, the club continued under her long-term barman Ian Board, known as Ida, until his death in 1994. It then passed to his veteran barman Michael Wojas, who had been employed at the Club from 1981. The Colony Room Club attracted low-lifes as well as artists of all types. It was a cultural magnet for the Young British Artists
group (YBAs), including Damien Hirst
, Sarah Lucas
and Tracey Emin
.
The Colony Room Club was a tiny first-floor room, painted in what is now known as 'Colony Room Green' which enjoyed an important role in Soho society, playing host to major British talent, including Francis Bacon, Peter O'Toole
, Lisa Stansfield
, Tracey Emin
, Michael Andrews
, Lucian Freud
and Damien Hirst
, who offered an opinion of why artists like the Colony: "It's because artists like drinking".
Other regulars included Jeffrey Bernard
, Henri Cartier Bresson and the socialite Henrietta Moraes
, whose portrait by Bacon is estimated to sell for £7.5million when it is auctioned at Christie's next month.
It's the club where Kate Moss
did a stint as barmaid; Dylan Thomas
threw up on the carpet and Princess Margaret popped in for a pink gin. Not only a haunt of celebrities, (many members did not enjoy celebrity status when first they discovered the Colony Room), visitors ended up being captivated and bewitched by the casual and bohemian ambience, where everyone could relax and discourse on all manner of subjects with all types of people.
A fictionalised version of the club appears in the first story ("Foie Humain") of Will Self's
collection Liver
. The club was used as the set/venue for the ITV show Suggs in the City
.
There was a national campaign funded by Colony Room Club members and fronted by dandy and artist Sebastian Horsley
which attempted to secure the use of the premises in the future. According to Horsley: "it has been a vibrant, unique and historical drinking den for artists, writers, musicians, actors and their acolytes. There is nowhere else like it in the world." He also said: "The Colony is a living work of art, it's a tragedy what's happening. From Bacon to Beckett, Rimbaud to Rotten, the Colony must not be forgotten".
The members of the new Committee are Michael Beckett, Michael 'Twiggy' Peel, Chris Battye, Ian Freeman, Cindy Hacker, Johnny Thornton and Kealan Doyle. They are attempting to save the club and are currently soliciting the help of the entire artistic community.
The committee is currently negotiating to re-open the club elsewhere in Soho, while discussions with the landlord of 41 Dean Street continue. On 11 September 2009 the landlord was refused planning consent by Westminster Council to convert the club into apartments, which provides at least a little hope that, one day, the club may be able to return to its spiritual home.
Dean Street
Dean Street is a street in Soho, London, England, running between Oxford Street to the north and Shaftesbury Avenue to the south.-Historical figures:The street has a rich history. In 1764 a young Mozart gave a recital at 21 Dean Street...
, Soho
Soho
Soho is an area of the City of Westminster and part of the West End of London. Long established as an entertainment district, for much of the 20th century Soho had a reputation for sex shops as well as night life and film industry. Since the early 1980s, the area has undergone considerable...
, London. It gathered a reputation akin to famous clubs of the past such as the Kit-Cat Club
Kit-Cat Club
The Kit-Cat Club was an early 18th century English club in London with strong political and literary associations, committed to the furtherance of Whig objectives, meeting at the Trumpet tavern in London, and at Water Oakley in the Berkshire countryside.The first meetings were held at a tavern in...
. According to Anthony Haden-Guest
Anthony Haden-Guest
Anthony Haden-Guest is a British-American writer, reporter, cartoonist, art critic, poet, and socialite who lives in New York and London. He is a frequent contributor to major magazines and has had several books published.-Family:...
, it is "one of the fiercely eccentric clubs that make all the difference in London. There's absolutely nothing like it in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
."
The club closed at the end of 2008 when its lease expired.
History
In 1948 Muriel BelcherMuriel Belcher
Muriel Belcher was the founder and proprietress of a private drinking club known as the Colony Room at 41 Dean Street, Soho, London....
managed to secure a 3-to-11pm drinking license for the Colony Room bar as a private members club, whereas public houses had to close at 2.30pm. The painter Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon (painter)
Francis Bacon , was an Irish-born British figurative painter known for his bold, austere, graphic and emotionally raw imagery. Bacon's painterly but abstract figures typically appear isolated in glass or steel geometrical cages set against flat, nondescript backgrounds...
was a founding member, walking in the day after it opened. He was "adopted" by Belcher as a "daughter" and allowed free drinks and £10 a week to bring in friends and rich patrons.
The club had a certain notoriety for its decor as well as its clientele; its bilious green walls were as famous as the club itself. In addition to its vile colour, the staircase that led to the establishment was described as foul-smelling and flanked by dustbins. Indeed many members referred to it as “going up the dirty stairs.” The Room was operated by Belcher between opening and her death in 1979.
The Museum of London
Museum of London
The Museum of London documents the history of London from the Prehistoric to the present day. The museum is located close to the Barbican Centre, as part of the striking Barbican complex of buildings created in the 1960s and 70s as an innovative approach to re-development within a bomb damaged...
website says of the club, "The Colony Room was one of many drinking clubs in Soho. The autocratic and temperamental owner Muriel Belcher created an ambiance which suited those who thought of themselves as misfits or outsiders."
Belcher's sexuality attracted many gay men to the club, many of them brought to the club by her Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
n girlfriend, Carmel. She had a knack for attracting or discovering interesting and colourful people, and the patronage of men like George Melly
George Melly
Alan George Heywood Melly was an English jazz and blues singer, critic, writer and lecturer. From 1965 to 1973 he was a film and television critic for The Observer and lectured on art history, with an emphasis on surrealism.-Early life and career:He was born in Liverpool and was educated at Stowe...
and Bacon helped to establish the Colony Room's close-knit community. Lady Rose McLaren
Lady Rose McLaren
The Lady Rose Mary Primrose McLaren was a British aristocrat, the fourth daughter of the 6th Marquess of Anglesey....
, one of Bacon's friends, was a habitueé of the club in her London days.
Bacon, Belcher, and the club feature in John Maybury's 1998 film Love is the devil.
After Belcher's death, the club continued under her long-term barman Ian Board, known as Ida, until his death in 1994. It then passed to his veteran barman Michael Wojas, who had been employed at the Club from 1981. The Colony Room Club attracted low-lifes as well as artists of all types. It was a cultural magnet for the Young British Artists
Young British Artists
Young British Artists or YBAs is the name given to a loose group of visual artists who first began to exhibit together in London, in 1988...
group (YBAs), including Damien Hirst
Damien Hirst
Damien Steven Hirst is an English artist, entrepreneur and art collector. He is the most prominent member of the group known as the Young British Artists , who dominated the art scene in Britain during the 1990s. He is internationally renowned, and is reportedly Britain's richest living artist,...
, Sarah Lucas
Sarah Lucas
Sarah Lucas is an English artist. She is part of the generation of Young British Artists who emerged during the 1990s...
and Tracey Emin
Tracey Emin
Tracey Karima Emin RA is a British artist of English and Turkish Cypriot origin. She is part of the group known as Britartists or YBAs ....
.
The Colony Room Club was a tiny first-floor room, painted in what is now known as 'Colony Room Green' which enjoyed an important role in Soho society, playing host to major British talent, including Francis Bacon, Peter O'Toole
Peter O'Toole
Peter Seamus Lorcan O'Toole is an Irish actor of stage and screen. O'Toole achieved stardom in 1962 playing T. E. Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia, and then went on to become a highly-honoured film and stage actor. He has been nominated for eight Academy Awards, and holds the record for most...
, Lisa Stansfield
Lisa Stansfield
Lisa Stansfield is an English singer and songwriter.-Early years:Stansfield was born to Marion and Keith Stansfield in Heywood, Lancashire, in England, where she attended Redbrook School, Rochdale. Her first television appearance was on a talent programme in the Granada TV area in 1982...
, Tracey Emin
Tracey Emin
Tracey Karima Emin RA is a British artist of English and Turkish Cypriot origin. She is part of the group known as Britartists or YBAs ....
, Michael Andrews
Michael Andrews (artist)
Michael Andrews was a British painter.-Life and work:Michael Andrews was born in Norwich, England, the second child of Thomas Victor Andrews and his wife Gertrude Emma Green. He completed his two years' National service between 1947 and 1949, nineteen months of which was spent in Egypt...
, Lucian Freud
Lucian Freud
Lucian Michael Freud, OM, CH was a British painter. Known chiefly for his thickly impasted portrait and figure paintings, he was widely considered the pre-eminent British artist of his time...
and Damien Hirst
Damien Hirst
Damien Steven Hirst is an English artist, entrepreneur and art collector. He is the most prominent member of the group known as the Young British Artists , who dominated the art scene in Britain during the 1990s. He is internationally renowned, and is reportedly Britain's richest living artist,...
, who offered an opinion of why artists like the Colony: "It's because artists like drinking".
Other regulars included Jeffrey Bernard
Jeffrey Bernard
Jeffrey Bernard was a British journalist, best known for his weekly column "Low Life" in the Spectator magazine, and also notorious for a feckless and chaotic career and life of alcohol abuse. He became associated with the louche and bohemian atmosphere that existed in London's Soho district...
, Henri Cartier Bresson and the socialite Henrietta Moraes
Henrietta Moraes
Henrietta Moraes was a British artists' model, bohémienne, and memoirist. During the 1950s and '60s, she was the muse and inspiration for many artists of the Soho subculture, like Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon, and known for her marriages and love affairs.A femme fatale and a bon vivant, she was...
, whose portrait by Bacon is estimated to sell for £7.5million when it is auctioned at Christie's next month.
It's the club where Kate Moss
Kate Moss
Kate Moss is an English model. Moss is known for her waifish figure and popularising the heroin chic look in the 1990s. She is also known for her controversial private life, high profile relationships, party lifestyle, and drug use. Moss changed the look of modelling and started a global debate on...
did a stint as barmaid; Dylan Thomas
Dylan Thomas
Dylan Marlais Thomas was a Welsh poet and writer, Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 11 January 2008. who wrote exclusively in English. In addition to poetry, he wrote short stories and scripts for film and radio, which he often performed himself...
threw up on the carpet and Princess Margaret popped in for a pink gin. Not only a haunt of celebrities, (many members did not enjoy celebrity status when first they discovered the Colony Room), visitors ended up being captivated and bewitched by the casual and bohemian ambience, where everyone could relax and discourse on all manner of subjects with all types of people.
A fictionalised version of the club appears in the first story ("Foie Humain") of Will Self's
Will Self
William Woodard "Will" Self is an English novelist and short story writer. His fictional style is known for being satirical, grotesque, and fantastical. He is a prolific commentator on contemporary British life, with regular appearances on Newsnight and Question Time...
collection Liver
Liver: A Fictional Organ with a Surface Anatomy of Four Lobes
Liver: A Fictional Organ with a Surface Anatomy of Four Lobes is the seventh collection of short stories by Will Self. The stories in the collection are all connected to the liver and was described by the author as "...a collection of two novellas and two longer short stories, all on a liverish theme...
. The club was used as the set/venue for the ITV show Suggs in the City
Suggs in the City
Suggs in the City is a television chat show made by Reef Television for ITV London. It was shot at The Colony Room in Soho, presented by Suggs and features interviews with celebrities and musical performances....
.
Closure
Concern over possible closure were raised by the imminent end of the lease at the end of 2008.There was a national campaign funded by Colony Room Club members and fronted by dandy and artist Sebastian Horsley
Sebastian Horsley
Sebastian Horsley was a London artist best known for having undergone a voluntary crucifixion. Horsley's writing often revolved around his dysfunctional family, his drug addictions, sex, and his reliance on prostitutes.-Background:Horsley was born in Holderness in the East Riding of Yorkshire...
which attempted to secure the use of the premises in the future. According to Horsley: "it has been a vibrant, unique and historical drinking den for artists, writers, musicians, actors and their acolytes. There is nowhere else like it in the world." He also said: "The Colony is a living work of art, it's a tragedy what's happening. From Bacon to Beckett, Rimbaud to Rotten, the Colony must not be forgotten".
The members of the new Committee are Michael Beckett, Michael 'Twiggy' Peel, Chris Battye, Ian Freeman, Cindy Hacker, Johnny Thornton and Kealan Doyle. They are attempting to save the club and are currently soliciting the help of the entire artistic community.
The committee is currently negotiating to re-open the club elsewhere in Soho, while discussions with the landlord of 41 Dean Street continue. On 11 September 2009 the landlord was refused planning consent by Westminster Council to convert the club into apartments, which provides at least a little hope that, one day, the club may be able to return to its spiritual home.
Carpe Noctum Ball to help save the club
A ball was held on December 9, 2008 in central London to raise funds for the fight to save the Club. Tickets cost £100 each.Colony Room members
Well known clients of the Colony Room have included:- Francis BaconFrancis Bacon (painter)Francis Bacon , was an Irish-born British figurative painter known for his bold, austere, graphic and emotionally raw imagery. Bacon's painterly but abstract figures typically appear isolated in glass or steel geometrical cages set against flat, nondescript backgrounds...
- George MellyGeorge MellyAlan George Heywood Melly was an English jazz and blues singer, critic, writer and lecturer. From 1965 to 1973 he was a film and television critic for The Observer and lectured on art history, with an emphasis on surrealism.-Early life and career:He was born in Liverpool and was educated at Stowe...
- Lady Rose McLarenLady Rose McLarenThe Lady Rose Mary Primrose McLaren was a British aristocrat, the fourth daughter of the 6th Marquess of Anglesey....
- Jeffrey BernardJeffrey BernardJeffrey Bernard was a British journalist, best known for his weekly column "Low Life" in the Spectator magazine, and also notorious for a feckless and chaotic career and life of alcohol abuse. He became associated with the louche and bohemian atmosphere that existed in London's Soho district...
- John DeakinJohn DeakinJohn Deakin was an English photographer, best known for his work centered around members of Francis Bacon's Soho inner circle. Deakin had wanted to be a painter, and doubting the validity and status of photography as an art form, he did not hold his photographic work in high esteem; many of his...
- Henrietta MoraesHenrietta MoraesHenrietta Moraes was a British artists' model, bohémienne, and memoirist. During the 1950s and '60s, she was the muse and inspiration for many artists of the Soho subculture, like Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon, and known for her marriages and love affairs.A femme fatale and a bon vivant, she was...
- Bruce Bernard
- Lucian FreudLucian FreudLucian Michael Freud, OM, CH was a British painter. Known chiefly for his thickly impasted portrait and figure paintings, he was widely considered the pre-eminent British artist of his time...
- David RemfryDavid RemfryDavid Remfry, MBE RA is a British painter currently living in New York City. Best known for his life-size watercolors of urban scenes and nightclubs, his work is held by many museums in the United States of America and United Kingdom.-Exhibitions:Remfry's work is based on the figure...
- Ian Board
- Daniel FarsonDaniel FarsonDaniel Negley Farson a British writer and broadcaster, was a popular television personality and prominent public figure in the late 1950s and early 1960s.-Early life:...
- Frank NormanFrank NormanFrank Norman was a British novelist and playwright.His reputation rests on his first memoir Bang to Rights and his musical play Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be , but much of the remainder of his work remains fresh and readable...
- John MintonJohn Minton (artist)Francis John Minton was an English painter, illustrator, stage designer and teacher. After studying in France, he became a teacher in London, and at the same time maintained a consistently large output of works...
- Michael AndrewsMichael Andrews (artist)Michael Andrews was a British painter.-Life and work:Michael Andrews was born in Norwich, England, the second child of Thomas Victor Andrews and his wife Gertrude Emma Green. He completed his two years' National service between 1947 and 1949, nineteen months of which was spent in Egypt...
- Robert ColquhounRobert ColquhounRobert Colquhoun was a Scottish painter, printmaker and theatre set designer.Colquhoun was born in Kilmarnock and was educated at Kilmarnock Academy...
- Robert MacBrydeRobert MacBrydeRobert MacBryde was a Scottish still-life and figure painter and a theatre set designer.MacBryde was born in Maybole and worked in a factory for 5 years after leaving school. He studied art at Glasgow School of Art from 1932 to 1937...
- Barry FlanaganBarry FlanaganBarry Flanagan RA OBE was a Welsh sculptor, best known for his bronze statues of hares.-Biography:Barry Flanagan was born in Prestatyn, North Wales. He studied at Birmingham College of Art and Crafts before going on to St. Martin's School of Art in London in 1964. Flanagan graduated in 1966 and...
- Frank AuerbachFrank AuerbachFrank Helmut Auerbach is a painter born in Germany although he has been a naturalised British citizen since 1947.-Biography:Auerbach was born in Berlin, the son of Max Auerbach, a patent lawyer, and Charlotte Nora Burchardt, who had trained as an artist...
- Timothy BehrensTimothy BehrensTimothy Behrens is a British painter resident in Spain.Behrens was a student at the Slade School of Fine Art and formed part of the tightly knit group of artists and intellectuals who frequented the Colony Room , the infamous Soho drinking club where Lucian Freud and...
- Patrick CaulfieldPatrick CaulfieldPatrick Joseph Caulfield, CBE, RA was an English painter and printmaker known for his bold canvases, which often incorporated elements of Photorealism within a pared down scene.-Life and work:...
- Ron Kitaj
- Christian FurrChristian FurrChristian Furr is an English painter. He was, at the age of 28, the youngest artist to officially paint Queen Elizabeth II.He was born in Heswall, Wirral, England....
- Tom BakerTom BakerThomas Stewart "Tom" Baker is a British actor. He is best known for playing the fourth incarnation of the Doctor in the science fiction television series Doctor Who, a role he played from 1974 to 1981.-Early life:...
- Tom Driberg
- Suggs
- Trevor HowardTrevor HowardTrevor Howard , born Trevor Wallace Howard-Smith, was an English film, stage and television actor.-Early life:...
- Lisa StansfieldLisa StansfieldLisa Stansfield is an English singer and songwriter.-Early years:Stansfield was born to Marion and Keith Stansfield in Heywood, Lancashire, in England, where she attended Redbrook School, Rochdale. Her first television appearance was on a talent programme in the Granada TV area in 1982...
- Christopher IsherwoodChristopher IsherwoodChristopher William Bradshaw Isherwood was an English-American novelist.-Early life and work:Born at Wyberslegh Hall, High Lane, Cheshire in North West England, Isherwood spent his childhood in various towns where his father, a Lieutenant-Colonel in the British Army, was stationed...
- Tracey EminTracey EminTracey Karima Emin RA is a British artist of English and Turkish Cypriot origin. She is part of the group known as Britartists or YBAs ....
- Damien HirstDamien HirstDamien Steven Hirst is an English artist, entrepreneur and art collector. He is the most prominent member of the group known as the Young British Artists , who dominated the art scene in Britain during the 1990s. He is internationally renowned, and is reportedly Britain's richest living artist,...
- Alex JamesAlex JamesAlex James may refer to:*Alex James , bassist in English band Blur, newspaper columnist and cheesemaker*Alex James , songwriter and producer...
- Sarah LucasSarah LucasSarah Lucas is an English artist. She is part of the generation of Young British Artists who emerged during the 1990s...
- Sebastian HorsleySebastian HorsleySebastian Horsley was a London artist best known for having undergone a voluntary crucifixion. Horsley's writing often revolved around his dysfunctional family, his drug addictions, sex, and his reliance on prostitutes.-Background:Horsley was born in Holderness in the East Riding of Yorkshire...
- Tim Noble
- Anthony Haden-GuestAnthony Haden-GuestAnthony Haden-Guest is a British-American writer, reporter, cartoonist, art critic, poet, and socialite who lives in New York and London. He is a frequent contributor to major magazines and has had several books published.-Family:...
- William 'Bill' CorbettWilliam 'Bill' CorbettWilliam 'Bill' Corbett is a musician, historian, disc jockey and photographer who lives in London, England.Corbett was one of the founding members of The Apostles, an anarcho-punk band that formed in Hackney in 1979...
- John MayburyJohn MayburyJohn Maybury is an English filmmaker. In 2005 he was listed as one of the 100 most influential gay and lesbian people in Britain.-Early life:...
- Ben Langlands
- Nikke Bell
- Sue Webster
- Will SelfWill SelfWilliam Woodard "Will" Self is an English novelist and short story writer. His fictional style is known for being satirical, grotesque, and fantastical. He is a prolific commentator on contemporary British life, with regular appearances on Newsnight and Question Time...
- Patrick SwiftPatrick SwiftPatrick Swift was an artist born in Dublin, Ireland. Patrick Swift was a painter and key cultural figure in Dublin and London before moving to the Algarve in southern Portugal, where he is buried in the town of Porches...