The Groucho Club, a storied celebrity art haunt in London’s central Soho neighborhood, has been shut down over allegations it was the scene of a “serious crime.”
On Tuesday, London’s Westminster council ruled that the license of the private club, which is owned by Hauser and Wirth co-founders Iwan and Manuela Wirth, should be immediately suspended for 28 days following a request from the Metropolitan Police. The police said it had applied for the suspension “on the grounds that the venue had breached its licensing conditions and had been the scene of a recent serious criminal offense.”
Elli Jafari, the club’s CEO said the license review is being taken “very seriously.”
“As a consequence, the club’s license has been suspended by agreement with Westminster City Council and we have made the decision to close the club pending a full hearing before Christmas,” she said.
Less than two years ago, the Groucho Club was sold in a deal reportedly worth £40 million (around $50 million) to mega-gallery owners Iwan and Manuela Wirth, owners of Hauser and Wirth, which operates galleries around the wold. Their company Artfarm also operates hospitality venues such as the Roth Bar and Grill in Bruton, Somerset and the Fife Arms, a five-star hotel in Scotland.
Earlier this year, Artfarm announced plans to open an offshoot of the Groucho Club in the countryside outpost near Wakefield, Yorkshire in northern England. The club and hotel is to be housed in the 300-year-old manor house Bretton Hall, which sits on the same parkland estate as Yorkshire Sculpture Park, with an opening planned for 2026.
Artfarm declined to comment on the Soho Groucho Club’s closure and any impact it may have on the Bretton Hall outpost.
According to a report in the Daily Mail, a paper notice appears in the club’s window indicating that “The Police believe that the premises have failed to uphold the prevention of crime and disorder licensing objective.” The report also states that, just a few months ago, Ewan Venters, the CEO of Artfarm and former head of Fortnum and Mason, announced he was leaving the company.
The nature of the criminal offense that has led to the club’s closure remains undisclosed while the police investigation is ongoing.
“We have heard some rumors about what was occurring there,” claimed the authors of the Substack newsletter Off The Fence, an offshoot of the Soho-based quarterly lifestyle magazine The Fence. “On the basis of what we’ve been told, we would be very surprised if the Groucho reopened.”
The Groucho Club was founded in 1985 by a group of publishers and agents, and took its name from Groucho Marx, who famously said he would did not want to belong to any club that would have him as a member. It has been frequented by successive generations of artists, musicians, and celebrities, among them Harry Styles, Cara Delevingne, Francis Bacon, and Damien Hirst. It has also played a supporting role in the history of contemporary British art as a social hub for creatives during the YBA era in the 1990s. Membership fees total around £1,550 ($1,900) annually.
Over the years, the club has amassed an extensive art collection under the curation of Nicky Carter, who is also part of the artist duo Rob and Nick Carter. Around 150 works are included in its holdings, by artists such as Gavin Turk, Martin Creed, Gordon Cheung, and Tracy Emin, among many others. Artists whose works are acquired for the club receive a lifetime membership in exchange for their work.
