Stringfellows strip club secretly sold for millions two years after founder Peter Stringfellow died
BRITAIN’S most famous nightclub Stringfellows has been secretly sold in a multi-million pound deal, almost two years after its legendary founder’s death.
A deal for the iconic London club went through last week and saw it snapped up by a consortium led by businessman George Georgiou.
Sources said the club’s new boss had been in to oversee changes — but the club would keep its world-famous Stringfellows name.
The sale comes after Peter Stringfellow — who bravely launched the club during a recession in 1980 — lost his battle with lung cancer in June 2018.
Colourful ladies man Stringfellow welcomed a galaxy of stars to his strip bar, which he called the ‘World’s Premier Gentleman’s Club’.
They included Ollie Reed, Rod Stewart, Simon Cowell, Chris Evans and then-wife Billie Piper and model Kelly Brook.
Hollywood A-listers Jack Nicholas and Mickey Rourke also visited - as die Kiefer Sutherland, who was famously snapped topless while being ejected from ‘Stringy’s’ in 2010.
But three-times married Stringfellow — who once asked Princess Diana to dance in his other club The Hippodrome — once said physicist Stephen Hawking was the most “impressive” guest he had encountered at the club.
Recalling their encounter, he said: “I went and introduced myself and said, ‘Mr Hawking, it’s an honour to meet you.
“‘If you could spare a minute or two, I’d love to chat with you about the universe’.
“Then I paused for a bit and joked, ‘Or would you rather look at the girls?’
“There was silence for a moment, and then he answered, ‘The Girls’”.
STRINGY'S 'HAREM'
With its topless girls and lavish late night entertainment, Stringfellows became a byword for debauchery and sexual kicks.
And flamboyant Stringfellow — said to have bedded more than 2,000 women — also confessed in his biography ‘King of Clubs’ that he used the nightspot as his “harem”.
Stringy, referring to his marriage to his second wife, said: “Every weekend I'd go back to Manchester to see Coral and the children, Karen and Scott.
“In the week I lived in a rented cottage in Islington, North London, and used the club as my private harem. I'd look at the bar, see which blonde was tallest and make a beeline for her.”
Since Stringfellow’s death, the club — currently closed due to the Coronavirus outbreak — has been run by his lifelong friend Cliff Silver, alongside director Julian Russell.
Stringy’s son Scott, 52 — a former racing driver — still works at the world-famous club as a house manager.
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Peter’s widow — his third wife Bella, 38, who is mum to his young son and daughter — is rarely now seen at Stringfellows.
Our source said: “The new owners have been in and are refreshing the club’s interior whilst maintaining the opulent décor that Stringfellows is renowned for — I'm sure Peter would be raising a glass in approval up in heaven.”
Stringfellows’ Operation Manager Sadat Banda said: “Once the Coronavirus crisis is over, we hope to take a well-run and established business to a new level.”
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