EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Chelsea nightclub adored by royal family to be reopened by Guy Ritchie’s best man

Beloved by royals including Prince Harry, who once retreated via the fire escape, 151 was the basement nightclub on London’s King’s Road from which George Michael was repressed.

“He had an earring,” said Giorgio Burlo, who excluded men with earrings or tattoos from the club he founded in 1985.

The place has been closed since the horror of lockdown, with Burlo retiring after nearly 40 years as keeper of the company’s secrets.

Now, however, I can reveal that 151 will reopen in the new year, thanks to a nightclub veteran behind some of the royal family’s favorite watering holes.

Piers Adam, 60, who was a witness when his friend Guy Ritchie married Madonna, will relaunch 151 in February in a bid to restore some glamor to an increasingly corporate Chelsea.

“London is the greatest city in the world and the King’s Road is the artery of fashion and style,” he tells me. ‘151 holds a special place in my heart, as it does for many other Londoners, and I can’t wait to reopen it. We want people to feel like they don’t need to go to the West End to have a good night out.

Adam’s partner in the venture is Marc Burton, 40, with whom he worked at Mahiki and Whiskey Mist in Mayfair.

With his royal friend Guy Pelly, Burton then opened Tonteria, a Mexican-themed nightclub in Sloane Square, of which Harry was a regular.

Known for hosting some of the capital’s wildest nights, Tonteria regularly featured dancers dressed in bondage-style lingerie. A bottle of tequila cost £5,000 – and VIP customers could have their drinks delivered to their table by a small train.

Such was Harry’s affection for the club that he visited on a Monday, Thursday and Saturday for a week in 2014.

At a World Cup party, Burton allegedly snatched the phones from two excited Chelsea girls who dared to point them at Harry as he walked past them to join his entourage of friends in the small VIP room .

The girls ended up crying and their phones were eventually returned, but only after the blurry photos were deleted.

At 151 p.m., the opening night took place in the presence of Princess Diana’s former lover, James Hewitt. Convicted socialite Tara Palmer-Tomkinson “lived there,” Burlo mused, while Bob Geldof threw “a lot of parties” at the club.

Last year he told me about their royal clients: “Harry came several times. He was walking around, talking to people. Guillaume was serious. He was sitting there in the corner. He behaved like a prince; like someone who would one day be king.

Another member of the royal family, not normally associated with late-night antics, has arrived. “Prince Edward came,” Burlo recalled, adding that he was accompanied by “an entourage” of friends.

There were also much older visitors, including actor Leslie Phillips, forever known for his fruity catchphrase “Ding Dong,” who reached 151 when he was in his 50s, and lawyer George Carman, who secured the acquittal of former Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe. , when Thorpe was accused of conspiracy to murder his former lover, Norman Scott.

Strictly’s Samba wasn’t unfair to Chris, says Nadiya

Strictly was branded “discriminatory, unfair and in bad taste” by some viewers for having Chris McCausland take part in a “sambathon” on the dance floor last weekend along with six other couples.

McCausland, blind and lacking spatial awareness, was the first to be eliminated.

But Nadiya Bychkova, strictly pro, defends the producers’ decision.

Speaking at an evening organized by the Chelsea Dental Clinic and the London Laundry Club, she suggested that spatial awareness was not necessary for a samba. Referring to Chris’ elimination, she said: “I don’t think that had anything to do with it. The show would never put him at a disadvantage.

“He blows my mind every week.”

Where is Rupert? It’s the wally in the red hat!

Did Rupert Everett do his best Where’s Wally impersonation?

The My Best Friend’s Wedding star attended the launch party for her friend John Seilern’s travel memoir, Crumbs From The Banquet.

However, Everett, 65, insisted on wearing his woolen hat inside the JGM Gallery in Battersea, south London, as did Wally, the children’s puzzle character who wears a bobble hat and glasses.

Single Mia is on exchange

The separation from Romeo Beckham does not seem to have affected Mia Regan financially.

The 22-year-old Prada and Gucci model, whose relationship with David and Victoria Beckham’s second son ended this year, is boasting enviable figures.

The latest accounts for Mia Regan Ltd, the private company to which she pays her income, reveal an annual profit of £522,000 – almost double the £295,000 she earned in 2023 – and take her accumulated profits to 1,000. £2 million.

Naming her lifestyle business after the sought-after corner of California where she lives with Prince Harry is proving a challenge for the Duchess of Sussex.

I heard that Meghan asked the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for three more months to register American Riviera Orchard, which she announced with great fanfare nine months ago. Last month I told how a company that owns the Royal Riviera brand opposed its move. Its owner, the fruit merchant Harry & David, is a

American institution with an annual turnover of £1.7 billion.

Sir Brian May admits he had designs on Mary Austin, manager of the Biba fashion store in Kensington, west London, who became Freddie Mercury’s first girlfriend.

“I actually asked Mary out,” the Queen guitarist recalls. “Then Freddie said, ‘Oh, is she with you?’ I would like to ask her out. I said, “I think you should…we’re really just friends.” And the rest is history. Mercury later told Austin he was bisexual, but they remained close. In fact, the singer left him half of his estate, including his £25million London mansion.

Sex Pistols star John Lydon may have built a career as an anti-establishment rocker, but he says he now takes inspiration from Bob Monkhouse and Tommy Cooper.

The 68-year-old punk, known as Johnny Rotten in the band, says he bases his one-man show on them. He adds: “Monkhouse was incredibly rude, he was very funny. Cooper, I could never understand him. Was this so brilliantly staged and directed, or was it chaotic, comical anarchy? The key is that it’s a touch of both.

George Carman toasted The Cavalry and Guards club as his friend Karen Phillipps launched Get Carman, her book about the late libel lawyer. One day he wanted to cross-examine Mohamed al Fayed’s banker, but it was almost lunch.

The judge agreed after Carman said: “This witness will be very short. » When he took the oath, he was barely visible above the witness stand!