Dip in sales for Britain’s own ‘playboy’
NIGHTCLUB owner Peter Stringfellow paid tribute to Playboy founder Hugh Hefner this weekend, calling him ‘iconic’.
But the feeling wasn’t mutual – Hefner once barred actor Charlie Sheen from bringing Stringfellow with him to the Playboy mansion.
Instead, recalls Stringfellow: ‘Charlie and I went to my club in Beverly Hills.’
Despite having opened several clubs in the UK and America over the past five decades, Stringfellow, now 76, is left with just one – the original in London’s Covent Garden, which claims to be ‘the most famous gentlemen’s club in the world’.
He recently closed the Peter Stringfellow’s Angels Soho nightclub because the block was being redeveloped. Accounts just filed for Stringfellow Restaurants Ltd show the firm is not immune to the impact of global events, even though demand for lapdancing clubs is relatively resilient.
It says the terrorist threat has deterred some visitors, though this was offset by the weakness of the pound, which has attracted foreign tourists to London.
Sales dipped from £7.4million to £6.5million in the 12 months to December 31, 2016, but the company booked a profit of £2.7 million, thanks in part to the sale of the Angels lease.
It paid £680,000 to Revenue & Customs to settle a dispute over the tax treatment of bonus payments to directors. A few years ago Stringfellow was exploring plans to launch a chain of cafe-bars and restaurants bearing his name across the country in cities such as Birmingham, Manchester and Sheffield.
He now spends much of his time in Majorca with his third wife, Bella, 34, and their two children: the youngest of whom, Angelo, is about to turn two.
Stringfellow began his career running club nights in his home town of Sheffield, once famously hosting The Beatles.
He owns just 1 per cent of the company now, with the rest owned by his finance director Clifford Silver.
However, as the highest-paid director Stringfellow received £104,000 for the year.