‘Penthouse’ wants to take up Madame Jojo’s strip club mantle

A strip club inspired by Penthouse magazine and where a bottle of tequila could cost you £1,000, has applied to open in London.

The Penthouse Club, which takes its name from the notorious adult magazine, promises nude striptease, Cirque de Soleil-style performances and once-weekly shows by LGBTQI+ performers, an application before Westminster City council shows.

It’s the latest venture by gentlemen’s club heavyweight Kirkendoll Management and appears to mark their first foray into the UK’s adult entertainment market. The Penthouse Club runs a chain of venues across the US and Australia, according to its website.

With entry at £25 per person and table reservations at a costly £150 per head, there is no mistaking The Penthouse Club is trying to attract a certain clientele.

Despite the glitzy menu, which lists a bottle of Clase Azul Reposado tequila at £1,000, a 30g portion of Imperial Oscietra caviar at £100 and a 40oz Tomahawk steak at £188, there are options the owners have dubbed as being at a “non-prohibitive price”.

This includes a range of grilled sandwiches and burgers costing roughly £12 a pop and a bottle of Chloe Prosecco for £50.

Semi-nude performances will take place on the main stage or at your table, while those seeking a full-nudity show will have to book one of the club’s four VIP rooms, according to an application by Soho Prime Entertainment Ltd, which is owned by Kirkendoll’s chief executive and founder John Kirkendoll.

The application includes main stage performances intended to be of “high production value” along the lines of those offered in the Cirque de Soleil, according to the application.

The premises selected for the new venue is 1-4 Walker’s Court, Soho, which previously homed the night club Madame Jojos, which closed in 2014 and has laid vacant since then.

The Penthouse Club has applied to occupy the upper and lower basement and customers will enter through an entrance at ground floor on Walker’s Court.

Council documents show Soho Prime Entertainment is expected to pour up to £8m into renovating the site, which it says will fund 75 full-time and part-time jobs once it’s complete.

Around 25 to 50 self-employed table-side performances are expected to be working on a typical night while the main stage will have between five and 10 main stage performances. There will be live music and Sunday evenings may include a show by drag performers to appeal to the LGBTQ+ community.

The proposal has received a raft of objections on the grounds of noise concerns and a potential increase in crime. A consultant tasked with carrying out an observation on behalf of the Soho Prime Entertainment had his phone snatched on Wardour Street, just a few metres from the proposed premises.

He then witnessed five other devices being stolen “in close proximity” but said opening The Penthouse Club would not negatively impact the council’s licensing objectives.

He wrote: “In my professional opinion, The Penthouse will perform an important function for ‘Public Safety’ in this part of Soho – providing natural surveillance and active stewardship for a prominent location in Soho that requires further safety and security measures to protect night-time visitors.”

Promotional material submitted by Soho Prime Entertainment said the concept behind the Penthouse Club “stemmed from the iconic publication founded by Bob Guccione in London in 1965,” and is where the magazine “comes to life”.

Westminster City council will review the application on Thursday.

Pictured top: A photo of one of the performers at a Penthouse Club owned by Kirkendoll Management (Picture: Kirkendoll Management)