MANAGERS PULL THE PLUG ON THE OPENING OF NEW £25M SOHO CLUB
IT SEEMS The Capitalist spoke too soon about the resurgence in Piccadilly’s entertainment scene. Just hours before the champagne was due to be uncorked at the new £25m club Dstrkt on Rupert Street, as reported yesterday (15 December), the long-awaited launch was abruptly cancelled.
No official word on why last night’s opening didn’t go ahead – it was a result of “unforeseen circumstances outside of our organisation’s control”, said a spokesperson for the venue.
Presumably the club was operational when it hosted the X Factor wrap party on Tuesday evening, so these mysterious circumstances must have been dramatic indeed.
The club’s co-owners Fraser Donaldson and Ivaylo Krastev were yesterday unavailable to shed more light on the matter. But The Capitalist understands a “disagreement” between the club’s owners and its PR firm played its part in the no-show.
RUSSIAN DANCERS
DANNY Corrigan, Icap’s managing director of rouble products, was initially cagey about his movements when The Capitalist caught up with him yesterday lunchtime. But he opened up in the end, revealing that he was about to witness a group of Russians dance around a Christmas tree at Gow’s restaurant on Old Broad Street.
The festive dance was the highlight of the annual Christmas dinner hosted by TheCityUK’s Russian group, whose guests had stayed on in London after the previous day’s meeting at Mansion House with Lord Mayor David Wootton to progress talks about the alliance between the financial centres of Moscow and London.
The Russian delegation included Nikolay Sobolev, director of Finex Consulting Group and Dmitry Stepanov, partner at Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners, while London’s representatives included Robert Barnes, managing director of equities at UBS and Chris Cummings, chief executive of TheCityUK. “The EU’s loss could be Russia’s gain,” said a source close to the Christmas tree set.
BROAD CHURCH
QUINTESSENTIALLY founder Ben Elliot was among the congregation at Chelsea church St Luke’s for the Christmas carol service backed by Coutts in aid of music therapy charity Nordoff Robbins.
Readings from actors Bill Nighy, Minnie Driver and Jonathan Pryce and performances from the Dragon School choir and singers Noah Stewart and Eliza Doolittle helped Coutts – represented by UK chief executive Michael Morley and Rory Tapner, CEO of RBS’s wealth division – raise £70,000 for music therapy programmes.