Ad Lib Club
The Ad Lib Club was a nightclub, made world famous through the patronage of the Beatles, on the fourth floor of 7 Leicester Place over the Prince Charles Cinema in London's Soho district. It opened in February 1964[1], and closed in its original location in January 1966 [2] following a legal battle with local residents and the Church of Notre Dame de France over the noise level emitting from the venue[2]. The manager, Brian Morris, unsuccessfully tried to reopen the club in Covent Garden.[3][4][5] The club was noted for its R&B and Soul music,[6] its inclusive atmosphere, its deviation from the traditional club model, its daring decor and its ability to attract the biggest stars of Swinging London.[7]
Mark Lewisohn describes the club as the nightclub "most strongly associated with The Beatles".[5] The Beatles ended their evening at the club following the premiere of A Hard Day's Night in July 1964.[8] Cynthia and John Lennon and George Harrison and Pattie Boyd thought the lift going up to the club was on fire during their first LSD trip in 1965, an event which Harrison called "The Dental Experience".[9] The Beatles had their own table at the club. It was at the club that Ringo Starr proposed to Maureen Cox in January 1965.[9]
The musician and writer George Melly characterised the relationship between the entertainment and social elite of Swinging London and the rest of Britain's youth as "feudal" with "edicts handed down from the Ad Lib Club ... to the teeny boppers in the outer darkness".[3] The Ad Lib was supplanted in popularity by The Scotch of St. James.[4]
History
[edit]The Prince Charles Theatre was a project of Alfred Esdaile, who had run the Prince of Wales Theatre on Coventry Street and the Royal Court Theatre, Sloane Square. Its foundation stone was laid by Dame Flora Robson on 18 December 1961 and it opened for its first performance on 26 December 1962[10].
The theatre occupied the ground floor; the floors above were intended as offices, flats and a roof garden restaurant.[11]
On 27 December 1962, Nicholas Luard, co-founder of the Establishment Club, along with his business partner, Timothy Willoughby, signed an application to acquire a licence for the nightclub Wip's, which opened in late spring 1963. The design of the club was created by Joseph Rykwert, and included a tank of piranhas and faux-fur-lined walls. [12]
Following Willoughby's death at sea in August 1963, and financial difficulties faced by Luard's other ventures, including the Establishment, Private Eye and Scene magazine, Wip's closed.[13]
An investment group led by Oscar Lerman and brothers Al and Bob Burnett (whose ventures included the Stork Club and the Pigalle), took on the site of the club which opened as the Ad Lib in February 1964. The Burnetts' nephew, Brian Morris, who had been running the Garrison nightclub at Les Ambassadeurs, was appointed to run the Ad Lib.[14]
Famous patrons
[edit]All four Beatles were regular patrons of the club along with the Rolling Stones and many of the British groups of the mid-1960s. While at the Ad Lib, the Beatles were introduced to Stephen Sondheim, April Ashley, Roman Polanski, Rudolf Nuryev and others.[15]
David Bailey and Jean Shrimpton were regulars (Shrimpton preferred to knit rather than dance while at the club).[15]
Dirk Bogarde held a party at the Ad Lib for Sybil Burton shortly before she moved to New York, where she opened her own club, Arthur, which borrowed from the aesthetics and attitude of the Ad Lib. [16]
Recent Study
[edit]In June 2026, Wip's and the Ad Lib Club featured as the subjects of Episodes 11 and 12 in the Beatles architectural podcast, There's a Place.[17]
References
[edit]- ↑ "Barbara Griggs Ad-Libbing Fashion 1964". The Evening Standard. 14 September 1964. p. 8.
- 1 2 "London Life". London Life. 15 January 1966. p. 4.
- 1 2 David Hockney (15 September 1995). David Hockney. Manchester University Press. p. 20. ISBN 978-0-7190-4405-2.
- 1 2 Andrew Loog Oldham (25 August 2014). Rolling Stoned. Gegensatz Press. p. 366. ISBN 978-1-933237-84-8.
- 1 2 Piet Schreuders; Mark Lewisohn; Adam Smith (25 March 2008). Beatles London: The Ultimate Guide to Over 400 Beatles Sites in and Around London. Pavilion Books. p. 9. ISBN 978-1-906032-26-5.
- ↑ Nancy J. Hajeski (1 October 2014). The Beatles: Here, There and Everywhere. Thunder Bay Press. p. 201. ISBN 978-1-62686-274-6.
- ↑ Melly, George. Revolt into Style. ISBN 9780571246588.
- ↑ Barry Miles (27 October 2009). The Beatles Diary Volume 1: The Beatles Years. Omnibus Press. p. 272. ISBN 978-0-85712-000-7.
- 1 2 Joe Goodden (2017). Riding So High: The Beatles and Drugs. Joe Goodden. p. 98. ISBN 978-1-9998033-1-5.
- ↑ "Theatre off the Square". The Guardian. 7 December 1962. p. 12.
- ↑ "London Letter". The Birmingham Post. 19 December 1961. p. 14.
- ↑ "Nightclubbing". AA Files (74). June 2017 – via https://www.jstor.org/stable/i40178225.
{{cite journal}}: External link in|via= - ↑ Luard, Elisabeth. "1961 - that was the year that was". The Oldie.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ Wyndham, Francis (1965). David Bailey's Box of Pin Ups. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link) - 1 2 Levy, Shawn (2002). Ready Steady Go!. Fourth Estate. ISBN 978-1841152264.
- ↑ "Birmingham News". 5 October 1964.
- ↑ Denchfield, Jim. "Brutal Beatles".
