‘Intolerable’: Neighbours go to war on new Annabel’s
PERMATANNED nightclubs tycoon Richard Caring settled his feud with rival Robin Birley over lunch at Wiltons, but he has another fight on his well-manicured hands. Rumbunctious Caring has enraged neighbours with his plans to relocate Annabel’s, the Mayfair haunt he bought from Birley’s late father, Mark Birley, in 2007.
Two Mayfair residents are so unimpressed by plans for a bigger club two doors down at 46 Berkeley Square, complete with spa and alfresco dining, that they have hired lawyers to object ‘in the strongest terms’. The company that manages 48 Berkeley Square fears residents will be kept awake until 4am by music from the basement club, and by ‘distressing’ noise from year-round dining on the outdoor terrace. ‘The level of noise and disturbance from the courtyard… will present an intolerable intrusion,’ say lawyers.
Locals were also concerned about Caring’s plans to extend the two-storey basement of the Grade I-listed town house to four, fearing the ‘iceberg’ excavations might cause neighbouring properties to collapse.
Caring has already sunk £700,000 into the scheme, so he recently tweaked the plans and scaled back the basement extension. Following his amendments, the council has indicated it will grant approval — if certain conditions are met. For four days a year, he must open the Palladian building to the public and architecture scholars. He’ll also pay £1 million to fund affordable housing in the borough — a sizeable chunk of Annabel’s £2.7 million 2015 pre-tax profit. Caring’s toxic friend Sir Philip Green paid £60,000 for Robin Birley’s half-sister, Jemima Goldsmith, to kiss Kate Moss at a 2006 charity auction at Annabel’s. But will the party go with such a swing in its new home? Caring declines to comment.