The Cheyne Arts Club

The Cheyne Arts Club is based on the Chelsea Arts Club in London. A members-only social club, I remember going there a lot with my parents when I was a kid, though I don’t remember if my parents were members, or if we were always there because friends were. I have strong memories of the bar and it’s full-sized snooker table, and a Saturday lunch where I sat next to Leonard Whiting, the actor who played Romeo in Zeffirelli’s film adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, and listened to New York nightlife doyenne Susanne Bartsch regale us with a description of a porn film she had just watched in which the performers sucked at each other’s armpits. I must have been thirteen at the time.