London’s high-end casino crowd will have another luxurious option at their disposal this summer following the reopening of the fabled Clermont Club.
The Clermont Club was founded in 1962 by John Aspinall (whose legacy gaming operations are currently owned by Australia’s Crown Resorts) and quickly became a popular Mayfair hub for people far richer and more attractive than most of you reading this.
Legend has it that the very concept of private equity investing was hatched under its roof by some of its more ambitious private members, some of whom are probably not even in jail at the moment.
The Clermont was later acquired by UK gaming operator Rank Group, which sold it for £31m in 2006 to Malaysian billionaire Quek Leng Chan’s BIL International Ltd, which then became known as Guoco Leisure. In 2013, two years after Guoco took over full control of Rank, Quek launched a new luxury hotel brand that took its name from the Clermont Club.
But Quek shut down the Clermont Club in March 2018 after experiencing several years’ worth of operating losses – including £5m in 2017 – due to a “competitive business environment.” In May 2019, the Clermont was purchased for £23m by Mayfair Casinos Ltd, which also operates the Horizons Casino in Leicester Square.
Following a lengthy refurbishment, the Clermont plans to reopen its doors this summer with six gaming rooms spread across its three floors, as well as a top-floor library for private gaming. Dino Constantouris, the Clermont’s new director of gaming, said the property’s “new phase” would set “new standards in hospitality, taste and luxury.”
The Clermont is currently recruiting a front of house manager, pit bosses and gaming managers, all of whom will presumably need to demonstrate a profound disdain for their own personal dignity at the hands of irate VIPs with “diversified cultures and personalities.” Oh, and if you see someone who looks like a senior citizen version of Lord Lucan skulking around the basement, mum’s the word.
