If it came to a contest between a glamour property and porn queen (who is wealther than Queen Elizabeth II) and the job-wielding, clipboard-wielding members of her local council she would be the victor, I couldn’t say honestly who I think would prevail.
But this is exactly what’s happening in London’s party district, as India Rose James, who once described herself as the ‘Princess of Soho’, is in a war with planners over her bid to revive a historic private members’ club.
India Rose, 30 — whose £329 million fortune inherited from her porn and property mogul grandfather, Paul Raymond, in 2008 made her richer than the monarch — has acquired the old St James & Soho club, a listed building which has remained unloved and empty for more than seven years.
The club, which opened in 1864, was where the working men of Soho went to drink, until it fell into disrepair and was purchased by James’s business Soho Estates.
India Rose James attended the Dazed Fashion East, Browns Fashion Celebration of 20 Years of Fashion East at The Standard London in London, England on September 20, 2021.
India Rose, 30 — whose £329 million fortune inherited from her porn and property mogul grandfather, Paul Raymond, in 2008 made her richer than the monarch — has acquired the old St James & Soho club, a listed building which has remained unloved and empty for more than seven years
It’s currently being refurbished, and India says ‘exciting things are coming’ for the building. But the council, hoping to curb the number of drinkers in the bustling streets, has ruled that it can be used only for ‘educational purposes’, for example as an art gallery or school.
Philip Thompson, a director of Soho Estates, tells me: ‘We would love it to be brought back as a members’ club [but]These rules were very strict. Council planners won’t let us use it for anything that isn’t an educational use, or a gallery, but we would love to bring it back as a members’ club if we could get the planners to agree.’
If the killjoys at Westminster Council stick to their guns, he says the building will still be ‘used for something cool’, with India planning to open it as a pop-up art gallery and event space, an extension of her Soho Revue gallery, in the meantime.
But should she win, India could turn it into a rival for Soho House, the venue where Prince Harry and Meghan met on a ‘blind date’.
India Rose James is at Kiehl’s “We Are Proud” party in celebration of Pride, July 5, 2018, London, England
Clarkson gets lover to flog his shop gear – on holiday
JEREMY Clarkson was forced to close his Oxfordshire Diddly Squat farm shop for two months after the local council demanded its roof was replaced, but he’s managed to find an alluring way to promote his products nevertheless.
The petrolhead has shared this photograph, from his sunshine holiday overseas, of his girlfriend Lisa Hogan wearing a £20 bucket hat embroidered with the Diddly Squat logo.
The petrolhead has shared this photograph, from his sunshine holiday overseas, of his girlfriend Lisa Hogan wearing a £20 bucket hat embroidered with the Diddly Squat logo.
Jeremy Clarkson and Lisa Hogan attended The Sunday Times AA Gill Award ceremony for emerging food critics, held at The River Cafe on 16 June 2019, London.
‘Old lady in a hat’, Clarkson, 61, wrote unflatteringly next to the picture of the 49-year-old former model and actress.
He hasn’t divulged their location, but they’ve previously enjoyed January holidays in the Caribbean.
Hogan can be seen behind the counter of the highly-respected farm shop. However, even during the summer Hogan does put on more clothes.
Diddly Squat has a Merchandise Hat
Luke’s son is the lord’s protégé.
Parties may be a source of embarrassment in Downing Street, but elsewhere they’re something to celebrate.
Lib Dem grandee Lord Oakeshott’s son Luke attended an outrageous fancy-dress bash at the weekend where he went as a pimp, while his Norwegian model wife Sylvia Flote was dressed as a Sixties starlet.
‘Now that Covid restrictions have been dropped it feels like a new era of fun is coming,’ Flote, 38, tells me.
The ex-girlfriend of comedian David Walliams adds: ‘We’re having a revival of London, similar to what was happening in the Sixties.’
Lib Dem grandee Lord Oakeshott’s son Luke attended an outrageous fancy-dress bash at the weekend where he went as a pimp, while his Norwegian model wife Sylvia Flote was dressed as a Sixties starlet
‘Now that Covid restrictions have been dropped it feels like a new era of fun is coming,’ Flote, 38, said
Nadine takes revenge on Dave’s dodgy style
Is it the well-padded guy in the baseball cap with the lumberjack shirt?
Nadine Dorries from Culture says he is a little too wide for his age.
‘Whether it’s a major music festival, sporting event or concert, it’s important people pay a fair price to see the events they love,’ she tweeted next to the snap.
‘Please remain vigilant when considering to buy from ticket touts.’
Picture of David Cameron taken at Cocklebarrow Races (Gloucestershire).
Although she wasn’t known to like Dorries, the former PM once suggested in Commons that it was because of her frustration with sexual relationships.
David Cameron at the Cocklebarrow Races of Gloucestershire.
Mick’s blast of joy from an unwoke past
Having dropped Brown Sugar from the Stones’ set list because of the song’s links to slavery, Sir Mick Jagger will be mortified that an interview has been unearthed from the Sixties in which he talked in rather un-PC language about signing autographs for fans who claimed to have disabled or sick children.
‘I get used to it,’ he said of the autograph-hunters. ‘ “It’s not for me, it’s for my son in hospital with a hole in his head.” Or, “Do it for Johnny, he’s disabled; and his sister, she’s got leukaemia.” ’
‘It’s amazing how many people’s children are disabled…
‘People are very funny. When some of them say it’s not for them, it really is.’
Michelle Dockery plays Lady Mary the Downton Abbey Heiress on screen and is now moving up in real life.
I hear the actress, 40, has moved to a £3 million, five-bed townhouse in West London, where her neighbours will include fellow TV stars including Declan Donnelly and Phillip Schofield.
Dockery, who lived previously in the North East of the capital’s North-East, made her announcement of engagement to Jasper Waller Bridge (34), brother of Fleabag creator Phoebe.
Ed Sheeran’s plans to dig a burial chamber beneath the new boat-shaped church which is being erected in the grounds of his vast £3.7 million Suffolk estate have failed to impress all the locals.
One of them, Anna Woods, has formally complained to the council, calling it ‘inappropriate’. She says: ‘There is no need for a well-known person to create his own island of calm when lovely places of worship abound in the area.
It will also have a burial place. Are celebrities now so detached from reality that their every living breath and now even the act of dying be apart from the rest of us?’
MORE than 16 months after they signed a reputed £100 million deal with Netflix, Prince Harry and Meghan are finally taking steps to produce some shows.
They’ve placed an ad for a production designer for their debut, Pearl, about a young girl.
The job ad states the person ‘will help to develop, create and support the aesthetic vision of the executive producer team’. You are welcome!