Club king Birley declares Battle of Berkeley Square

REVENGE is a dish served cold in nightclub owner Robin Birley’s long-simmering feud with rival Richard Caring, as the pair continue

their battle to be crowned London’s ‘King of Clubs’. Despite supposedly reaching an ‘uneasy’ truce with Caring over lunch, Birley has parked his tanks on Caring’s manicured lawn with plans to take on the tycoon’s trophy asset, the iconic Annabel’s on Berkeley Square, by opening a rival club right on its doorstep. My man in Mayfair says Birley dispatched letters to selected members of his Shepherd Market haunt 5 Hertford Street this week, inviting them to join his new club at 42 Berkeley Square.

Unlike Hertford Street, the preferred party boite of the fun-loving Duchess of York, Birley’s Berkeley Square club will be a place for the hedge fund crowd to hold business meetings, and will also include a gym, restaurant and bar.

Birley, 59, will take the leasehold on the building for an undisclosed sum. He plans to renovate the Georgian townhouse and open the as-yetunnamed club in around 18 months.

Spokesmen for Birley and Caring decline to comment. Birley’s gauntlet-throwing comes months before Annabel’s re-opens at 46 Berkeley Square in November following a £55 million refurbishment.

Caring, 68, hopes to attract a younger crowd at the ‘New Annabel’s’, and is said to be culling existing members deemed ‘uncool’.

He bought the original Annabel’s, founded by Robin’s late father Mark Birley in 1963 in the basement at 44 Berkeley Square, as part of a £100 million deal in 2007. The feud with Robin was ignited when Birley was banned from using the family name for any future ventures.

Robin Birley retaliated by luring some aristocratic members of Annabel’s to 5 Hertford Street when it opened in 2012, and is now plotting further raids on Caring’s clubs empire.

In addition to the club on Berkeley Square, Birley is opening a club for fine wine lovers on Albemarle Street, near Green Park, and a 5 Hertford Street outpost in New York.

Let the Battle of Berkeley Square commence.