WallPaper 1

For decades, the spot near the golden Buddha

at Annabel’s was the epicentre of London

nightlife – a certain sort of London nightlife

anyway. The club’s inner circle would

congregate there to flirt and drink, to recount

misadventures with sharks on their private

Caribbean islands and memories of picking

up their trust funds with nannies in tow. A

few martinis down, they would pile into the

phone box on Berkeley Square for an illicit

smoke, transforming it into a steamy ‘hotbox’.

Then they would hit the dance floor, with

its light-up panels, and boogie until 4am.

With its no phone rule and strict door policy,

Annabel’s encouraged naughtiness in all

its forms. Oh, if only that Buddha could talk.

Times have changed, however, and a new

incarnation of the famous club, opening in

early 2018 two doors down from the original,

allows phones and laptops – although they

are restricted to the top floor, and until

6pm only. It’s open from 7am to 4am, and

Instagram opportunities abound. Pleated silk

walls, plaster panels painted with fruit and

flowers, and two huge candelabra, featured

in the 1964 film Paris When It Sizzles, mark

the entrance, while members check their

coats into a ‘pagoda’ under a grand Georgian

staircase (the building is Grade 1 listed).

All this new finery has been created

by Martin Brudnizki, the Swedish interior

architect who has been collaborating

with the club’s owner Richard Caring for

more than a decade. Their hotspots include

London’s Ivy, which Brudnizki updated,

Sexy Fish and 34 Mayfair, but Annabel’s

is their most ambitious, and carefully

themed, venture yet. ‘Richard loves

Labradors and gardens,’ says Brudnizki.

‘In that way, he’s quintessentially British,

so I decided Annabel’s should be about

animals and gardens, flora and fauna.’ (^) »
DESIGNER MARTIN BRUDNIZKI IN THE STUDIO
OF MURAL ARTIST GARY MYATT, WITH SOME
OF THE ELEMENTS HE HAS CHOSEN FOR
THE INTERIORS OF THE NEW ANNABEL’S CLUB

CLUB

REMIX

Martin Brudnizki helps

Mayfair haunt Annabel’s turn

over a maximalist new leaf

PHOTOGRAPHY: LEON CHEW WRITER: EMMA O’KELLY

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