Turning ‘21’ into Brit club

LOULOU’S, one of the most exclusive and successful nightclubs in London, might soon have an outpost in New York — if Robin Birley buys the legendary ‘21’ Club.

Birley opened Loulou’s, named after his cousin Loulou de la Falaise, in 2012, in the basement of private club 5 Hertford St., with a party attended by Mick Jagger, Kate Moss (below, right) and Daphne Guinness. It’s a favorite hot spot of Britain’s young royals, where you might catch a glimpse of princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, Prince William and Kate Middleton — or even Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

The ‘21’ Club, a former speak-easy on West 52nd Street, is part of Belmond Ltd., formerly Orient-Express Hotels, which also owns the Belmond Hotel Cipriani in Venice and the Belmond Copacabana Palace in Rio de Janeiro.

In August, Belmond hired Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase to explore a sale. Bids are due this month.

Birley — who is said to be opening a club in Union Square, The Post reported earlier this year — has talked to various friends about the idea of buying ‘21.’ “He’s very interested,” said one longtime customer who had dinner with him earlier this month. “He’s coming to New York to check it out.”

A Belmond spokeswoman told me, “We do not comment on market rumor or speculation, as a matter of policy.” She also said the investment banks were conducting a “stra- tegic review,” which might not result in the sale of any assets. Birley also had no comment. The club owner, whose late father, Mark Birley, founded Annabel’s in London, has the rare distinction of surviving an attack by a tiger when he was 12 at the private zoo of family friend John Aspinall. The bones of his face were crushed. Ken Aretsky, who ran ‘21’ in the 1980s for previous owner Marshall Cogan, said, “Birley would be a great operator. I would hate to see ‘21’ go to a corporation.”