The Gargoyle Club

Artistic haunt that has seen the greats visit.

Location: 69 Dean Street, Soho, London, W1D 3SE

Description: Spectacularly situated at the hub of the West End, 'The Soho Lounge' is a chic and intimate lounge bar destined to remain one of London's hottest haunts.

Smart and sophisticated, there's a fusion of vitality and style and ambience that recreates the energy and magic that once made Soho the pulse of London. So maybe that's why so many Celebs and wannabes hang out here.

Located on Dean Street, with a discreet entrance on Meard Street, if you can get in here, you must be a celebrity yourself. Or a member of an entourage. This place is dripping with fame with George Michael, Jude Law, Jay-Z and countless others treading the lounge carpets in previous years.

The rooftop once hosted the infamous Gargoyle Club which opened in 1925, boasting the French painter Henri Matisse not only as a member but as the inspiration for the Moorish interior of its ballroom.

An excerpt from 'The Lives of Lucian Freud' by William Feaver delightfully tells that Francis Bacon said 'Jean Paul Sartre was there with his governess Simone de Beauvoir, sitting with Sonia Orwell. Lucian and I were both invited over to their table. Sartre got up and sat on it, waggling his short legs, and said 'Who is that good-looking one?' jabbing his Gauloise at Lucian. She, Simone de Beauvoir, complained about the failings of Englishmen and disappeared with him into the night'.

A steel and brass staircase was still in evidence when the Comedy Store took over the club in 1979.