Mayfair’s new Dear Darling VIP club night has latex-clad staff, a minimum table spend of £1,000 and a ‘secret’ cellar where photography is banned
A new private on one of London’s swankiest streets describes itself as perfect for the ‘curious and hedonistic’ – and has a ‘secret’ basement, lit in red, with almost naked performers in cages.
Dear Darling enjoyed a glitzy launch evening on Thursday, after its low-key opening in September; Famous DJs included Skepta and model and socialite Lady Mary Charteris, with the likes of Love Island star Arabella Chi.
The lavishly decorated, two-storey VIP club – with erotic art on the walls – is housed in a former Mayfair brothel on the capital’s chic Jermyn Street.
Whatever happened to dancing around your handbag? A new VIP club night has taken over a palatial Mayfair property from Thursday to Sunday and the immersive experience promises a daring night out
Dear Darling draws inspiration from Soho cabaret club The Box and the current ‘immersive’ theater trend; those who come through the doors can expect burlesque-style shows and are invited to explore their “deeper, darker desires.”
Down in the basement, the staff wears latex and is strictly forbidden from photographing performers writhing in cages.
There’s plenty of role-playing too. An invitation to this week’s launch party stated that the club’s current show revolves around a story of “identity, lust and loss” set in “the mansion of a widowed matriarch.”
The private members club opened in September but had its official opening this week, with Jammer BBK and Skepta attending the launch party
Love Island star Arabella Chi was among the guests at the launch party, where tables cost £1,000
It continues: ‘On the surface is a beautiful antique mansion, but beneath the fold lies a secret sex life that no one ever expected.’
A YouTube trailer from the club’s recent Halloween night showed actors in period costume enacting a bacchanalian scene that ended with a throat slitting.
The private members’ evening is the latest project for London’s increasingly powerful Cream Group, which also organizes the cabaret dining room show Cirque Le Soir, the Flippers roller skating club in Westfield London and The Windmill in Soho.
Open Thursday to Sunday from 11pm to late, with an ‘occasional’ party after hours. Dear Darling is guest list only and has a strict ‘smart and sexy’ dress code, with ‘high heels preferred for ladies’.
The price of a standard table in the lavishly decorated 18+ room? £1,000…with a VIP table setting, revelers will get £2,000 back – and there’s also a vague entry fee, ‘generally at the door’s discretion’.
The launch party also featured model, socialite and DJ Lady Mary Charteris on the decks
On the ground floor is cocktail lounge The Living Room, decadently decorated to look like a Victorian smoking room, with green and red velvet sofas and chairs, chandeliers and velvet curtains.
Dear Darling appears to be a natural successor to take over the premises at 91 Jermyn Street; Previous incarnations of the elegant Mayfair residence saw it used as a brothel and one-off sex club for gay men.
The chic Mayfair residence has a challenging past, it was once used as a brotherhood and was also a gay sex club
The venue is the latest pillar on the bow of the influential Cream Group, which is behind some of London’s biggest clubs and restaurants. Pictured: A macabre scene plays out in the riveting club. That’s right, a human lampshade