Becoming a successful club in the heart of Mayfair isn’t easy. The competition is fierce and the locals expect only the best in terms of quality. The Mayfair Club successfully fills a niche in this difficult marketplace, serving as an upmarket gentleman’s club. Come the weekend, they open their doors to become one of the only late night venues in the area holding more conventional club nights from 3am-7am, mopping up partygoers not quite ready to go home.

The Venue
The Mayfair Club is located at 50 Dover Street, which has seen several reincarnations over the years, from 50 Dover Street to Isis. Its latest guise is as an upmarket gentleman’s club in the same vein as Spearmint Rhino, offering a glamorous home for those looking to unwind with Champagne and attractive women. The location immediately helps to give this club its kudos, with one of the most sought after postcodes in London.

Anyone who’s been to this club in the past will know it’s not the biggest of spaces, but they work the area well to utilise what they have. Walking down a dimly lit, spiral staircase you’ll enter the basement space. The cloakroom is located to the left, neighbouring two toilets. Down a couple more steps, the space starts to open out. A central area consists of comfortable armchair-style seating with round tables and a large velour L-shaped sofa showing off the purple colour scheme. Seating here is free as long as you continue to order drinks and dances. An attractive space, a large chandelier-style light acts as a fittingly glamorous centrepiece alongside an impressive, large LED screen that displays programmed coloured images, deftly screening shapes and movement.

To the right is the VIP area where the private, red curtained booths reside; in order to sit in here you need to buy a bottle of Dom Perignon (over £300). In this area there’s a second large LED screen. There’s also the main podium up here with a pole for the floor shows, which is visible from all areas of the club. To the left is another segregated section that costs £100 an hour and offers furnished brushed velvet lilac couches and the long bar, although the main emphasis here is on table service.

The Atmosphere
The atmosphere at Mayfair Club is what you’d expect from an area like this. The moneyed come to spend a few hundred quid and unwind in a place where the girls are hot, trouble is kept to a minimum and the Champagne just keeps coming. In the week, and until 2am at weekends, this is a fully nude gentleman’s club, albeit infinity less sleazy than the title may suggest. The strict door policy with a skew towards the guest list means good clean fun is key here. The girls are friendly and don’t have that money grabbing edge that so infects lap dancers in clubs across the capital. They’re extremely attractive, representing nations from across the world. They have good bodies with a skew towards petite and slim body types. The fake boob brigade are under represented here and that unpleasant trashy element that often inhabits these types of venues is refreshingly absent. Instead, for £20 you’ll get a dance with an attractive, chilled out girl who can actually hold a conversation.

Where this club is really clever, however, is in its implementation of late night commercial events. At 2am at weekends the club closes for an hour, after which time it opens as a late night club space for those looking to drink and dance into the early hours. It’s a great idea in an area lacking in late night venues, with the majority closing at 3am. The seamless change from strip club to nightclub is testament to the efforts of the management to make this place a success in such difficult economic times and competitive marketplace. Funky house tunes play in the background and you can expect to see a selection of clubbers who have been snapped up from local venues like Vendome Mayfair, Mahiki and Mayfair Bar, not ready to hit the sack. With a decent sized dancefloor and the glamour to keep this kind of crowd happy it’s an impressive and interesting addition to this club. It’s no surprise that Mayfair Club is starting to attract interest from footballers, wannabe WAGs and A-list celebrities, it’s certainly got the potential to compete with the big guns, especially with Chinawhite, Paper and Dolce London all closing their doors for good. Spearmint Rhino and Stringfellows definitely have a new competitor to worry about.

The Music
The girls dance to commercial tunes, which provide the backdrop to the gentleman‘s club, leaning towards popular dance and RnB tunes. However, at the weekends, when the theme of Mayfair Club moves from gentleman’s venue to nightclub, the soundtrack is an easy to dance to selection of commercial funky house tunes that acts as a definite crowd pleaser and is reflective of the tastes of the clientele of the area.

The Drink
Although you’re more likely to catch the customers in here drinking one of the many bottles of Champagne, there is a decent choice of bottled beer, costing £7. Although not cheap, it’s certainly not extortionate for a club in this area of London and is within the bounds of expectation. Peroni, Corona, Bud and Becks are included in the choice and appeal to most tastes.

If you fancy something a little stronger then there’s a great selection of premium spirits and, of course, a large choice of Champagne. The Dom Perignon is a necessary choice if you want to make the most of the high end seating area, but will pack a £330 price tag.

The Last Word
Although the nightlife in Mayfair is already saturated with glamorous bars and clubs, Mayfair Club does a great job of workings its way into a niche that should stand it in good stead for success. Mayfair’s first gentleman’s club has been very clever in appealing to a wider market with its utilisation of its late night licence. An impressively put together venue.

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