They couldn't have picked a better week to open. What else would a City trader want but a safe haven from the ravages of the stock market?
That's what they got when the Berkeley Playhouse opened near London's Mayfair at the end of October. Promoted as the venue which "is taking up where the Playboy clubs left off", the venue is strictly members only, and is designed to attract the City's dealers, traders and brokers.
There's certainly more than enough to keep them busy. A downstairs restaurant which is already receiving accolades for its dishes, meeting rooms and several bars. Not to mention the "100 beautiful girls providing the very best in cabaret-style table dancing," as the press release boasts. The management has even installed Reuters and Bloomberg screens as part of a business centre for those traders who can't quite tear themselves away from work - or the girls.
And there are plenty of those, as demonstrated by the rush to invest in the club. Last year Berkeley Playhouse Xoated on Ofex, a small, unregulated stock exchange in London. It raised £2.5 million ($4 million) - the offer was 2.5 times oversubscribed - and the majority of the 400 investors were from the City.