Not your usual order: Lío will mix live performances and food
(Picture: Pacha Group)Café de Paris, the West End nightclub that announced its closure at the end of 2020, is to reopen as Lío, a cabaret and restaurant concept from Ibiza’s Pacha group.
The club, which opened in 1924 and at its best drew a cluster of A-list stars including Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland and Noël Coward, went into liquidation in December last year announcing the closure on Twitter “with a heavy heart” and citing “the devastating effect of Covid-19”. It was the conclusion of remarkable history that included surviving the Blitz and starring in a David Bowie video.
Now the venue, which is is owned by the late “King of Soho” Paul Raymond’s son Howard, will be home to a London outpost of Ibiza club Lío, which has found success in on the Spanish island for the past decade. No firm opening date has been set, but it’s expected to launch either at the end of this year or at the beginning of 2022.
Pacha, the group behind it, say those coming to Lío can “expect a unique and surprising display where dinner, cabaret and club come together.”
The move into the capital follows a successful Pacha pop-up at the London Cabaret Club in 2019.
Nick McCabe, Pacha Group’s chief executive said of the move: “Café de Paris has been an icon of the West End since the 1920s, so it is a great privilege to be taking it on into the next phase of its life.
“We are delighted that, true to its roots, it will remain somewhere that people can come and experience entertainment hospitality at its finest and we can’t wait to welcome people back.”
The news follows Pacha’s February announcement of its first expansion globally, with another Lio planned for Mykonos.
