Dukebox duo to open new restaurant, bar and club 3 Cromwell Road
The three-storey venue will open on the site of former private members' club Dorsia following a six week re-design that will see the Victorian London townhouse given a contemporary look.
The pair plan to open their new venture later this month with a nightclub in the basement and a bar on the ground floor called The Back Room, which will resemble an old-fashioned apothecary. Both areas will host DJs with the bar also putting on live performances. Drinkers will also be able to choose classic and sharing cocktails from an extensive list.
A restaurant and additional bar called The Drawing Room will open on the venue's top floor. The restaurant, which will be open every day, will only serve steak frites with a choice of three salads and three dressings with diners served by waiting staff dressed in tweed and flat caps.
New opportunity
Spooner, the name behind Chelsea nightspots Leopard Lounge and Embargo and who bought and restored the Hammersmith Palais and the Clapham Grand, said he had been looking for new opportunities to expand his business, so snapped up 3 Cromwell Road's lease when it became available in January.
He said he hoped that by providing three differing spaces within one building, it would become a 'regular haunt for many people'.
"I have always liked the site since it was Bratts in the '80s," he said. "I think it [3 Cromwell Road] gives variety, choice and seven nights of opportunity for customers to enjoy what we provide. It also opens up the age range from pure clubbing, all the way up to diners who want a more sedate, but funky vibe."
The site of 3 Cromwell Road is steeped in history. It opened as the Cromwellian in 1964 and soon became an established casino, bar and disco which was frequented by pop stars, record producers, managers, and models and hosted jamming sessions by Elton John's Bluesology, The Animals, Eric Clapton, Stevie Wonder and Jimi Hendrix.
It went on to become Bratts in the 1980s and The Hudson Club before emerging in 2002 as The Firehouse and later Dorsia.
