40 Jermyn Street - Mayfair

This is the location of the exclusive members only basement club known as Tramp. Opened the year that Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, John Lennon married Yoko Ono, Paul married Linda and the troubles started in Northern Ireland.

Founded in 1969 by Johnny Gold (bookie turned impresario) and Oscar Lerman (husband to Jackie Collins), just 13 days before the end of the 60s it would fill a need as the popular Ad Lib Club in nearby Leicester Square was closing for good. They had taken over the location  of the Society Club, once the haunt of Guards officers and where the Queen Mother celebrated a win on the horses. Incredibly popular then and now with celebrities, Johnny Gold once boasted “at one point we had 3 James Bonds having dinner at the same time.  Sean Connery, George Lazenby and Roger Moore, purely on accident.”

The likes of Kate Moss, Prince Andrew (rumored under scandalous circumstances and where he first met Koo Stark), Peter Sellers, Joan Collins, Ringo Star, Naomi Campbell and Jack Nicolson (just to name a few) have all passed through Tramp’s door at one time or another.  Some more often than others. It's here that Mick and Jerry hid from Bianca, Mel Brooks crawled around on the floor barking like a dog near the table where Shirley MacLaine had fallen asleep, where Princess Margaret felt confident enough to let her hair down and a 19 year old Princess Anne danced enthusiastically.. Peter Seller, Joan Collins and Liza Minnelli all threw wedding receptions here.

Keith Moon, The Who’s drummer was a regular.  He was once thrown out by Gold for, literally, swinging from the chandeliers.  The owner only relented and let Moon back in after Keith’s pleas of “but where will I go?” struck a soft spot. That didn’t exactly stop Moon’s antics.  I mean, this was Keith Moon after all.  One night Moonie rolled up, butt naked, spread eagle, on the hood of his Rolls Royce driven by his assistant Dougal Butler.  For other patrons it was a crazy night.  For Moon it was a Tuesday.

In August of 1970 Jimi Hendrix was back in London to perform at the upcoming Isle of Wight Festival.  Jimi had made previous plans to meet up with his friend Linda Keith here before heading to the festival.  Linda arrived with her fiancé, Lawrence, and Hendrix showed up with a newly acquired 24 year old Danish fashion model girlfriend named Kirsten Nefer.  On this occasion, Jimi made no secret of the special place Linda held in his heart.  He gave her one of his guitars and told her that he had drafted a will in which he made sure she was remembered.  It turned out to be a strange coincidence as a month later Linda was shocked when she heard from a friend of Jimi’s death as she arrived in St Tropez.

New ownership has just invested £12 million in a full refurbishment (2024) keeping tradition and its very storied past alive and well.

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